Night in William Shakespeares A Midsummer Nights Dream Essay examples

Night in William Shakespeares A Midsummer Nights DreamOne of the recurring themes throughout Shakespeares A Midsummer Nights Dream is the time of day during which the plays major action takes place night. This being the case, there are certain words that are immediately linked to this theme that appear numerous times throughout the script. Four such words are moonlight, moonlight, moonshine, and lunatic. Each comes from a feminine root that serves to appoint the women in the play as prizes to be won and controlled.It becomes clear when looking up the term moon in the Oxford side Dictionary that the word is associated with the feminine. In poetry, for instance, the moon is often personified, always as young-bearing(prenominal) (1050). It is important to note that the play upsets traditional cultural customs in this regard, for May was the time of female fertility over which the moon presided, but the play begins with an image of lunar age and sterility, a dowager, a cold fruitles s moon (Paster and Howard, Popular Festivals 93). It is thinkable that Shakespeare applied such images intentionally to make it clear to his audience that the women in this play are not as free as the May daytime festivities might make them out to be. The female fertility that is expressed freely in Shakespeares blend of May Day and Midsummers eventide is outside of the controlled realm of marriage. Instead of the unrestrained women that both holidays celebrate, however, Shakespeare bookends the play with a woman tamed by a man.In the first scene, the moon is mouth of by Theseus and Hippolyta as a measurement of time when Theseus announces, four happy days bring in / Another moon but, O, methinks, how slow / This old moon wanes She linger... ...more.Works CitedBrown, Lesley, ed. The New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary. 5th ed. Oxford Clarendon, 1993.moon, moonlight, moonshine, and lunatic. Shakespeare Concordance. 23 Feb. 2006 .Paster, Gail Kern, and Skiles Howard. Female Att achments and Family Ties. A Midsummer Nights Dream Texts and Contexts. Ed. Gail Kern Paster, and Skiles Howard. Boston and New York Bedford/St. Martins, 1999. 192-264.---. Popular Festivals and royal court Celebrations. A Midsummer Nights Dream Texts and Contexts. Ed. Gail Kern Paster, and Skiles Howard. Boston and New York Bedford/St. Martins, 1999. 89-99.Shakespeare, William. A Midsummer Nights Dream. A Midsummer Nights Dream Texts and Contexts. Ed. Gail Kern Paster, and Skiles Howard. Boston and New York Bedford/St. Martins, 1999. 1-86.The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. 1989.