Monday, 3 June 2013

A Midsummer nights dream


The title of this play has many meanings. First of all the term 'midsummer' comes from the trope cycle where the spring is birth and winter is death, so midsummer is the peak, when everything is at its best. Nighttime is when things happen, we most often associate magic and the supernatural with night and the evening, night is when things happen. And dream, dream can mean many things, in old English 'dream' meant music and entertainment and in old high German 'dream' meant a ghost. A dream can be that affects your whole day and has a positive impact but on the other hand, a dream can be very negative and traumatising, for example a nightmare. But dreams can get confused with reality and become deceptions. All of theses themes must be taken into consideration when looking at the title of a midsummer nights dream.

No comments:

Post a Comment