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There are many themes in William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream(1595 or 1596), the main theme of the play is love. The main plot of the play is composed of the interaction of two Athenian couples(Hermia and Lysander, Helena, and Demetrius), and Theseus(the duke of Athens), Hippolyta(Theseus' soon to be wife), and Egeus(Hermias father who does not consent of her love to Lysander. Whose romantic purposes are complicated even more when they enter the woods, in which the King and Queen of the fairies(Oberon, and Titania), and Puck,(also known as Robin Goodfellow)the mischievous imp all reside. Then all goes wrong when the fairies interfere between the lovers, but in the end all is restored back to its natural order. In the subplot of the play, another set of characters-Bottom the weaver and his band of "rude mechanicals"-stumble into the main doings when they go into the same enchanted woods to rehearse a play that is based on the myth of Pyramus and Thisbe, their hilarious piece takes up Act V of Shakespeare's romantic comedy. In this play, Shakespeare creates three worlds: the noble, aristocratic world of the Athenian court, the mundane world of the mechanicals, and the fantastical fairy world. Through the language of the inhabitants Shakespeare give each world its distinct atmosphere.
Through the language of: Theseus, Hippolyta, and Egeus, Shakespeare creates an atmosphere of order and authority and reveals a side of Athens exclusive to the upper class. The language spoken by the characters of the Athenian court is very formal, "EGEUS: Happy be Theseus, our renowned duke!/ THESEUS: Thanks, good Egeus. What's the news with thee?" The characters speak in a formal tone with each other which dignifies that the Athenian court is very aristocratic. Also the language spoken by the characters of the Athenian court is spoken in blank verse, which is unrhymed verse based on the iambic pentameter,
"Now, fair Hippolyta, our nuptial hour
Draws on apace; four happy days bring in
Another moon: but O, methinks, how slow
This old moon wanes! She lingers my desires,
Like to a step-dame or a dowager
Long withering-out a young man's revenue." In Shakespeare's plays he would often use different forms of speech to inform the audience of the class of the character or characters, this blank verse tells the audience that the character is of the upper class. This use of language by Shakespeare states that the Athenian court is a noble, and aristocratic world exclusive to the upper class.
Through the language of the rude mechanicals, Shakespeare creates an atmosphere of coarseness and the ordinary and reveals the working class side of Athens. The mechanicals, appropriately enough, speak in prose, except when they try their hand at the rhymed verse of "Pyramus and Thisbe." Here is an example of prose used by Bottom the weaver and Peter Quince, "QUINCE: Is all our company here?/BOTTOM: You were best to call them generally, man by/ man, according to the scrip." This use of prose by Shakespeare informs the audience that the world of the rude mechanicals is working class. The rude mechanicals speak in a very informal tone, "This was lofty! Now name the rest of the players. This is/ Ercles' vein, a tyrants vein. A lover is more condoling." In this quote from the play Bottom is commanding of Peter Quince to name the rest of the actors, and is being very arrogant. This states that the mechanicals are of low, common, or inferior quality. Also the mechanicals sometimes speak in malapropisms which are mistakes by the characters to state the level of the character or characters speaking. Through all of this Shakespeare states that the world of the rude mechanicals is very coarse and mundane.
Finally through the language of Oberon, Titania, and Puck, Shakespeare creates an exotic and surreal atmosphere that suggests a world of fantasy. The language of the fairies is poetic, which informs the audience that this group of characters is very mytical and full of fantasy, "I am that merry wanderer of the night." in this quote Puck speaks in a poetic tone, and states of himself being the magical wanderer of the night named Robin Goodfellow. The fairy woods is a very leisurely, carefree, and supernatural place. One example of this is when Puck changes Bottom's head into the head of an ass, this creates a very comedic and supernatural atmosphere to the wood. Overall the woods are a very carefree, leisurely, mystical, supernatural, and fantastical place in the play.
In conclusion A Midsummer Night's Dream is an elite, mundane, and mystical play, and through the characters in the play Shakespeare informs the audience of this. He creates three distinct worlds, one very aristocratic made up of the elite, another very mundane made up of the working class, and the last, a very fantastical world of mischief and fairies. Shakespeare intertwines these three worlds in this play to create a romantic comedy that the whole world would love called A Midsummer Night's Dream.
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