1 Amanda Bunker English 195 Dr.

Elaine Ostry Thursday, April 30, 2009 There is no doubt that William Shakespeares A Midsummer Nights Dream is a comedy. It is routine that in Shakespearean comedies, the play begins in a state of disorder, moving to increasing disorder, and finally falls back into order by the close of the play, usually resulting in marriage. A Midsummer Nights Dream follows this model, only making the play appear to be somewhat tragic, not so much to Demetrius but to us. The scene largely represents dramatic irony because Demetrius only thinks he is in love, but he never would have fallen in love with Helena were it not for Oberons magic flower juices. Demetrius is still stuck in a dream. He is not thinking clearly in the play when he confesses his love to Helena. The audience is made aware of where his heart truly lies in 3.2. To us the end result of the play may be viewed as comic, yet tragic because he is stuck in a marriage where his thoughts are clouded. This particular scene is essential to the play because it exhibits the state of heightened chaos common to Shakespearean comedies. If this scene were omitted from the play, the audience would lose the core of what makes this play so comedic. When Oberon infects Lysander with the flowers juices, he intentionally infects Demetrius to swoon over Helena as well, without first curing Lysander. There should not be such a state of disorder that the audience finds themselves confused as to what is going on. At one moment, Demetrius is trying to woo Hermia, Hermia is trying to get Lysanders love

2 back, and Lysander is trying to woo Helena. Without this scene, the next time they would cross our paths would be when the four woke up in the woods. At the beginning of the scene Demetrius has his heart set on Hermia. However, at the end of the scene Demetrius is infected and finds himself saying: Lysander, keep thy Hermia; I will none. / If eer I loved her, all that love is gone. / My heart to her but as guestwise is sojourned, / And now to Helen is it home returned, / There to remain (3.2. 169-73). The way in which Demetrius reacts after waking up is considered dramatic irony because we are aware of why he is acting this way, but as a character, he is unaware. Critic Michael Taylor suggests that Demetrius, undrugged, is as irrational as Demetrius drugged (266). Demetrius can be compared to an irrational child; he is indecisive about who he wants to love even before Oberon infected him. As for Helena, she responds to her newfound lovers thinking that they are simply working together to anger her, including Hermia. It is also ironic that Helena was reminiscing upon what a great friend Hermia was. Now Helena states, Lo, she is one of the confederacy! / Now I perceive they have conjoined all three / To fashion this false sport, in spite of me. / Injurious Hermia, most ungrateful maid! / Have you conspired, have you with these contrived / To bait me with this foul derision? (3.2. 192-97). This really goes to show what a selfcentered character Helena really is. She is set on the fact that this whole situation is revolving around her. Again, this is dramatic irony because we know that Oberon is really to blame. This scene incorporates the two most common themes within A Midsummer Nights Dream, love and fantasy. Both the love and fantasy aspects originate from

3 Oberon. Although Oberon values true love, he interrupts its pattern and Demetrius unwillingly falls in love with Helena. Oberon uses the flowers magic to control Demetrius affections. Before the love juice was applied, he told Hermia, why rebuke you him that loves you so? (3.2. 43). Yet after the love juice was applied, Demetrius simply and very quickly changed his mind and claimed to Helena, O Helen, goddess, nymph, perfect, divine! / To what, my love, shall I compare thine eyne? / Crystal is muddy. Oh, how ripe in show / Thy lips, those kissing cherries, tempting grow! (3.2. 137-40). This language seems to show that Demetrius is over exaggerating. These words are not natural to him. It is as if he is speaking subconsciously. Love is something that should not be controlled. Sometimes a person cannot help who they love, such as Helena. When Helena has the two men fighting over her she realizes that something is not right and that it could not be true that Demetrius would love her. She still loves him while he has the spell on him, but she does not pursue him. However, when Lysander is cured and she still sees that Demetrius wants her, she gives in to him, neither of them realizing that his love for her is false. Taylor proposes that love is as much a dream as are the midsummer nights happenings (272). This may be true for Demetrius and Helena; they were not destined to be together Demetrius only thinks he wants to be with her because he is still dreaming. He will always be dreaming and never get to choose for himself. He will always be thinking irrationally. While it is part of Oberons job to keep everything in harmony, this time he dabbled in something that wasnt his place. His job is to use his magic to keep the fairies and nature in harmony, not the humans love lives. However, outer harmony was established because of Oberon and the flower, but not because he used it on Demetrius.

4 As for the mood the scene sets, it is extremely chaotic. It is difficult for a play to settle on a particular mood when so much is going on. This scene acts as both the climax and the turning point of the play. It is in this scene where the reader is exposed to the height of the commotion. From this point on, everything will dwindle down and fall into place. During this scene, though, there is simply a lot of confusion as to who is going to fall in love with whom. While Helena is questioning the mens behavior she comes of as self-centered she decides everyone is conspiring against her and the action shifts from Lysander and Demetrius to Hermia and Helena. At the height of the chaos, Lysander and Demetrius offer to protect Helena, [yet] they are so absorbed in [themselves and] their feud with each other that they ex[it] leaving the two women alone (Taylor 267). Demetrius has always wanted to harm Lysander: before the love juice he was jealous of Lysander having Hermia, but now Demetrius wants to bring harm to Lysander because he wants to win Helena. This scene represents a turning point for Demetrius as well because he does not know that his love for Helena is really only an illusion because of the flower. He does not even know there is a flower. To him, he thinks he has really had a change of heart. The audience knows better and cannot help but feel a little sympathy for Demetrius because we know he will never experience true love without the influence of the flowers' juice. However, this change of heart is false, hence the chaos. However, Demetrius' change of heart helps everything wrap up neatly, too perfect to be natural. This scene can really bring out the worst and best in the characters when properly acted out on the stage. Every director interprets plays differently. If I were to direct this play, having the characters correctly blocked would be the first step. I would begin at line 122 with Lysanders line. I would make sure to have the actor who is playing Lysander

5 pivot his body out toward the audience while still somewhat angled at Helena. This way it can seem as though Lysander is confessing his love for Helena to the world. In rebuttal, it would be effective to have Helena cross the stage away from Lysander, because she sees him as untrustworthy and is rejecting him. At line 134, I would have Lysander reach out to Helena, arms outstretched, still from across the stage. As Lysander and Helenas conversation continues I would constantly have Helena move away from Lysander every time he tries to get close to her. Meanwhile, Demetrius would be sleeping in the shadows to the far side of the stage, neglected by Lysander and Helena. As he awakes, the light will shift onto Demetrius as well as Lysander and Helena. Helena is center stage, and standing still. When Demetrius sees her for the first time since Oberon placed the flowers juices on his eyelids, her body is illuminated by a light with a pinkish hue. At the same time, the orchestra would crescendo into a love song, to demonstrate Demetrius change of heart. On one side of Helena, Demetrius confesses his love for Helena. He is on bended knee, one hand to his chest and the other outstretched towards her singing her the same love song, that the orchestra is playing. On the other side of Helena, Lysander pulls Helena away from Demetrius, and literally begs her to choose him. In response to this, Helena covers her face with her hands and runs to the far side of the stage. On the opposite side of the stage, Hermia would enter and run towards Lysander trying to distract his attention from Helena and direct it towards herself. However, he pushes her away and runs towards Helenas side, trying to console her. When Helenas monologue comes around (lines 192-219), she would get up in Hermias face. This would escalate to Hermia getting back up in Helenas face and Demetrius and Lysander trying

6 to defend Helena. As Hermia and Helena start to fight, Demetrius would jump in pick Hermia up and gently toss her towards the other side of the stage. He would proceed to run to Helena and cradle her in his arms. Meanwhile she is flailing around. When Lysander sees Demetrius with Helena, he tackles him, sending Helena to the ground. Overall, all of the characters would be frantically rushing around the stage from person to person. Battle music would be playing in the background as the characters duel it out. Although some would say that Oberons magic flower brings out true love in the characters, I believe that it merely disorients them, especially Demetrius. It is true that he is able to make a fool of himself without any spell while he chases after Hermia. But it was Oberons doing that he intentionally infected him at the same time as Lysander to fall in love with the same woman. Although it makes the play a comedy, to us it may seem somewhat tragic for Demetrius because he is in love with someone he really does not love and is not aware of it. With most comedic plays order has to be restored. It just happened that the quickest and easiest way to do this was by having Demetrius remain infected, so that Helena has a partner, even though it is not true love and not destined to be.