Essay on "Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare"
Essay 3 pages (1113 words) Sources: 1+
[EXCERPT] . . . .
Midsummer Night's Dream" by William Shakespeare. Specifically it will discuss how an all male cast affects three pivotal scenes and explain how this staging tactic demands that audiences respond in a particular way. This play is one of Shakespeare's most famous and most loved. It is funny, entertaining, and fanciful. Using only men in all the roles would have been common in Shakespeare's time, but today, it seems to take away from the impact and humor of the play.Clearly, the implications and consequences of the play are different when all the cast members are one gender. Some of the passion goes out of the play, and some of the scenes may even seem ridiculous or far-fetched. Personally, the play is funny and emotional, and some of that might just seem like farce to the audience when the cast was all male. It might seem more like "The Bird Cage" or other gay films. Giving hints of femaleness may work with some of the cast, but in other scenes, giving hints may simply take away the dramatic effect and lessen the impact of the play. The femaleness of the female characters is very important to the play, but it can be overcome with actors who believe in what they are doing and deliver their lines with conviction. Tongue-in-cheek lines will ruin the entire meaning and impact of the play.
The first scene chosen is in Act I, Scene i, and this scene is pivotal because it sets the entire action of the play in motion. In this scene, Helena, who loves Demetrius, hopes to win his love back, and so she will tell him Hermia is running away with Lysander, because Demetrius loves Hermia. She says, "I will go tell him of fair Hermia's flight. / Then to the wood will he tomorrow night / Pursu
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The second scene takes place in Act II, Scene i. This is the scene when Oberon first decides to use the love potion on Titania, and it is also pivotal, because it creates the sub-plot that continues throughout the forest. Oberon tells Puck, "And with the juice of this I'll streak her eyes / And make her full of hateful fantasies" (Shakespeare 1410). This scene at first just seems to be between two men, so it would not be a… READ MORE
Quoted Instructions for "Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare" Assignment:
“. You have just seen a performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream done so that characters in the performance are represented as all male or all female (not Renaissance cross-dressing, but you can see how this is related). Choose three pivotal scenes and write an essay in which you explain how this staging tactic demands that audiences respond in a particular way (that is, write an essay in which you characterize the interpretive significance of this staging by drawing on the language of three of the play’s scenes
What are the implications and consequences of characters who
are all one gender? How does the audience respond to male-to-male or
female-to-female contact? How can you modify the audience response? Is
it better to try for realism or just give hints of (fe)maleness?
(Realism might be hard to achieve, and presentational staging might not
"demand" the audience response you desire; they might focus on the
actor's actual gender.) What kind of language will you look for in
choosing scenes? What makes a scene "pivotal" in this context? How,
finally, will you stage this? What kinds of choices will you make, and
what are the considerations in staging (delivery of lines, gestures,
choreography, interactions ...)?
How to Reference "Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare" Essay in a Bibliography
“Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare.” A1-TermPaper.com, 2005, https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/midsummer-night-dream-william/357795. Accessed 4 Oct 2024.
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