Brief Summary Thematic Analysis of A Midsummer Nights...

â€Å"Lord, what fools these mortals be!† This line, uttered by the fairy king’s servant and trickster Robin Goodfellow, is very telling of how ridiculous the central four characters in William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream are in their thoughts and actions. The true motivation behind their actions, though, is not found in witty quips by knavish fairies, but rather in the symbolic nature of the play’s setting. The varied settings in the play, from Duke Theseus’s regal estate to Fairy Queen Titania’s forest bower, serve to set the mood of every scene, and to accentuate the characters actions throughout the play. By observing the rich yet subtle backdrops of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, it is possible to glean greater understanding of†¦show more content†¦Once everyone is back in the confines of the city walls, order returns to the character’s actions – this is seen in their inability to justify or s ubstantiate their supposed dream, which they cannot see being possible now that they are thinking with normal reasoning. However, there are two events that in particular show that disorder is never truly gone - first, Thesus’ refusal to follow both the demands of Egeus and the Athenean law regarding Hermia’s marriage, and second, Robin’s final soliloquy, which encourages the audience to believe that the whole play was just an irrational dream driven by the streak of disorder inside all of us. It is on that thought, then, that I wish to concentrate. Shakespeare shows that both extremes – complete order, as represented by Theseus’ estate and the greater city of Athens, and complete disorder, as represented by the wild forest and the world of the fairies, both have problems in pure form. When Egeus demands that Theseus uphold the absolute, complete, and unyielding order of ancient Athenean law, while not bothering to think of his daughter’s tr ue feelings, Shakespeare shows that by-the-book proper behavior and law is often ridiculously unreasonable. Conversely, when the raw disorder of the fairy world is channeledShow MoreRelatedDeveloping Management Skills404131 Words   |  1617 PagesWhat Are Management Skills? 9 Improving Management Skills 12 An Approach to Skill Development 13 Leadership and Management 16 Contents of the Book 18 Organization of the Book 19 Practice and Application 21 Diversity and Individual Differences 21 Summary 23 SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL 24 Diagnostic Survey and Exercises 24 Personal Assessment of Management Skills (PAMS) 24 What Does It Take to Be an Effective Manager? 28 SSS Software In-Basket Exercise 30 SCORING KEY AND COMPARISON DATA 42 Personal Assessment