A Summer-y

ACT I

Scene i.

Theseus the duke of Athens is going to marry Hippolyta and the preparation for the marriage Eugeus Harmia’s father persuades him to enforce Hermia to marry Demetrius who is a powerful man and so on. The problem is that Hermia loves Lysander, not Demetrius, her friend Helena loves Demetrius. The whole theme is to overcome power with love. These people, the characters involved, are the educated ones. Their lines rhyme and have a good structure. The whole scene is just arguments between all the characters, fighting for the love or the will of the other:

“LYSANDER
A good persuasion: therefore, hear me, Hermia.
I have a widow aunt, a dowager
Of great revenue, and she hath no child:
From Athens is her house remote seven leagues;
And she respects me as her only son.
There, gentle Hermia, may I marry thee;
And to that place the sharp Athenian law
Cannot pursue us. If thou lovest me then,
Steal forth thy father's house to-morrow night;
And in the wood, a league without the town,
Where I did meet thee once with Helena,
To do observance to a morn of May,
There will I stay for thee.”

This is the art of persuasion, he uses ethos (the red shaded part) to persuade Hermia to love him above Demetrius and marry him instead. He also uses pathos, as if selling her blame, (the green colored part). As if, “if you don’t love me then…” Which can be very effective, and ends up being so.

Scene ii.

The play changes completele the characters into uneducated ones, tradesmen, and they start organizing a theater play. Quince is the director and yet Bottom wants to direct instead of him and do all the parts because he is very egocentric:

“BOTTOM
That will ask some tears in the true performing of
it: if I do it, let the audience look to their
eyes; I will move storms, I will condole in some
measure. To the rest: yet my chief humour is for a
tyrant: I could play Ercles rarely, or a part to
tear a cat in, to make all split.”

He annoyes Quince because of his arrogance and petulance, he does not let him direct the way he is supposed to:
“BOTTOM
An I may hide my face, let me play Thisby too, I'll
speak in a monstrous little voice. 'Thisne,
Thisne;' 'Ah, Pyramus, lover dear! thy Thisby dear,
and lady dear!

QUINCE
No, no; you must play Pyramus: and, Flute, you Thisby.”

It is a funny scene. Something we all noticed was that compared to the previous scene it is completely different because it is evident the lack of rhythm the lines are and the meter is not logical.

ACT II

Scene i.

Shakespeare changes against eh characters; they are not nobles, nor tradesmen, nor mortals they are fairies. And the scene is very weird; every event is random and unexpected and has no logic at all. There is a queen of the fairies, Titania, and a king of the fairies, Oberon. Titania happens to have in her power an Indian boy, but Oberon wants it! And what was supposed to be a plan to get the Indian boy form Titania ends up being a jinx for Demetrius to fall in love with Helena, who loved him. In this scene is where one group of characters joins up with another group of characters. The Fairies with the nobles, and start having a relationship.

“DEMETRIUS
I'll run from thee and hide me in the brakes,
And leave thee to the mercy of wild beasts.”

Demetrius at first has absolutely no intention to fall in love with Hermia and yet, Oberon, who can be everywhere, invisible and visible knows this and is going to use a magic spell on him.
It is absolutely ridiculous, the play AMND is absurd and cheesy.

Scene ii.

“OBERON
What thou seest when thou dost wake,
Do it for thy true-love take,
Love and languish for his sake:
Be it ounce, or cat, or bear,
Pard, or boar with bristled hair,
In thy eye that shall appear
When thou wakest, it is thy dear:
Wake when some vile thing is near.”

The spell is given to the worng person, it was given to Lysander instead of Demetrius and he falls inlove with Helena, which is the wrong women, Hermia doesn’t know. This play is thought to be about tragedy, about romance and death, anything but this. Shakespeare has a lot of faces. AMND is no doubt one of the most different and unexpected one.

ACT III

Scene i.

Going back to the trademen, they are rehearsing their play, which is stupid ans very lame. Robin, who is a spirit that does what he wants decide to turn Bottom’s head into an ass.

“BOTTOM
I see their knavery: this is to make an ass of me;
to fright me, if they could. But I will not stir
from this place, do what they can: I will walk up
and down here, and I will sing, that they shall hear
I am not afraid.”

They run away from him because they are afraid, and he doesn’t show to care. His character of petulance could not give a damn if they run away or not. He even makes fun of it. Titania, queen of the fairies falls inlove with him because of the same spell htat was given to Lysander. Bottom takes adavantage that the faities do what ever he askes them to.


Scene ii.

Demetrius is jealous of the fact that Hermia loves Lysander and does not love him, she still instists that she loves Lysander and is very mad with him because of insulting Lysander and not giving up with her. She has no idea where Lysander is and looks for him and Demetrius would not tell her where he is.
Meanwhile Oberon scolds Robin because of making the wrong decistions regarding the spells and the person involved.

“OBERON
What hast thou done? thou hast mistaken quite
And laid the love-juice on some true-love's sight:
Of thy misprision must perforce ensue
Some true love turn'd and not a false turn'd true.”

Oberon then gives the spell to Demetrious to fall inlove with Helena, he was the right man originally. Then the two men are deeply inlove with Helena, and she thinks it is a joke! Hermia finds out that her beloved is after Helena nad not her, which destoyes her and she fights with Helena. Helena still thinks that it is joke and Demetrius and Lysander don’t stop wooing her and askinge her for love to a point where Lysander tells hermia that he hates her, she is completely destroyed and scorns Helena and insults her because of her stature. The whole scene, when played most be very funny, all twisted and confusing.

“HELENA
I pray you, though you mock me, gentlemen,
Let her not hurt me: I was never curst;
I have no gift at all in shrewishness;
I am a right maid for my cowardice:
Let her not strike me. You perhaps may think,
Because she is something lower than myself,
That I can match her.”

ACT IV

Scene i.

Everything comes back to normal, Lysander loving Hermia and Demetrius loving Helena. Bottom with a normal head and Titania no longer in love with him.

The problem is that Egues find the 4 lovers sleeping and when finds out that Hermia and Lysander had run away. Egues want to badly punish them, asks the duke. Theseus to do so, but then Demetrius announces that he loves Helena and not Hermia. Egues realizes that he cannot do anything now that the love was established. Theseus then proposes that the four lovers marry respectively.

Something that called my attention was that in this play Ancient Greek mythology in mentioned more than once, the play within this play is about one of the myths.

“HIPPOLYTA
I was with Hercules and Cadmus once,
When in a wood of Crete they bay'd the bear
With hounds of Sparta: never did I hear
Such gallant chiding: for, besides the groves,
The skies, the fountains, every region near
Seem'd all one mutual cry: I never heard
So musical a discord, such sweet thunder.”

The setting of the play is in Athens, Theseus is the Duke of Athens, and Egues and the rest are part of the nobles. The names are evidently Greek. Funny that a very English men such as Shakespeare, bases his work on Greece.

Scene ii.

The tradesman are missing Bottom, and have no idea were he is. It is funny that after all the egocentrism that Bottom had shown and yet they miss him a lot and are sad because he is not going to be able to be the part he is in the play. Life has paradox! I learned that in the Tao.

“QUINCE
It is not possible: you have not a man in all
Athens able to discharge Pyramus but he.”

And finally he comes back. As it would obviously happen. And telling everyone that they would perform for Theseus the duke himself.

ACT V

Scene i.

The play is then performed; it is a total disaster as it would have been expected. In real life, the play is famous because of being the “worst” play ever performed. In my group at the class this is out scene and I find it hilarious. IT IS A WALL! A person has to act as a wall. How stupid can it be?

“LYSANDER
He hath rid his prologue like a rough colt; he knows
not the stop. A good moral, my lord: it is not
enough to speak, but to speak true.”

And yet being so stupid and ridiculous, it reflects what in reality happens. People put down people because of their status. Lysander and the nobles are clear that the actors are poor, that is way they criticize them so harsh.