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Replies | Post Reply | Shakespeare Queries From Genuinely Interested Students 3.15.97: Top | Help
I'd go along with Hamlet on this. Also, the whole play is about weddings versus one-night stands. The Lovers get caught up with the wrong counterparts, for the wrong reasons, and then get straightened out; Bottom and Titania get it on, but eventually Titania returns to Oberon. The wedding also gives a reason why the Mechanicals are putting together "Pyramus & Thisbe"; and it gives us an ending with a triple wedding, plus a blessing by the Fairies.In some productions I've seen, Theseus and Hippolyta double as Oberon and Titania. I don't know whether this was the original arrangement, but it seems probable. The characters are placed so that the actors have time to change costumes; and they are similar enough in range that an actor who can play Oberon can play Theseus & vice versa, ditto the actor/tress playing Titania & Hippolyta. Shakespeare probably used doubling as he used all the other conventions of his theatre: to say more than he might have without the conventions.
And, again, Hamlet's right about Theseus changing the rules. Many fairy tales rely on the King changing the rules at the end so that the lovers can marry. It's the old "Deus ex Machina"; it's about true love triumphing over old men's laws.
Posted by John Lazarus on March 28, 1997 at 11:44:57
In Reply to "Midsummer Night/Theseus" posted by Mary Ellen on March 27, 1997 at 17:53:24
Replies | Post Reply | Shakespeare Queries From Genuinely Interested Students 3.15.97: Top | Help