Shakespeare A to Z | Midsummer Night’s Dream, A
Scholar R. A. Foakes observed in 1984 that A Midsummer Night’s Dream is as complex a comedy as Hamlet is a tragedy. Four sets of characters are woven together in a story that includes the royalty of ancient Athens, the rulers of a kingdom of FAIRIES, and four very appealing young people in love. Shakespeare’s plot involves a total of nine lovers in ever-shifting romantic pairings. It challenges theater and film directors to create imaginative fantasy worlds, with music, dance, and spectacle. For today’s audiences it raises such issues as gender, power, and sex, opening...
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