William Shakespeares A Midsummer Nights Dream Essay -- Midsumme

William Shakespe ares A Midsummer Nights Dream There are so many references to the eye in A Midsummer Nights Dream that one would expect there to be a solid and consistent reason for their appearance. However, this does not travel tom to be the case. Indeed, the images associated with the eyes are so varied, and shift so frequently, that it is practically impossible to define what it is they represent. This difficulty reflects the problem of distinguishing between what is real and what is illusion -- a central theme of the play. mental confusion and misunderstanding abound throughout A Midsummer Nights Dream. The lovers chase through the forest is perhaps the nigh obvious example. The mechanicks bumbling performance of Pyramus and Thisbe is perhaps the most comic. However, as the play commences, it is a misunderstanding between Egeus and Hermia that threatens to throw the court into turmoil. This particular misunderstanding revolves around Hermias love for Lysander. Although Eg eus has arranged for his daughter to wed Demetrius, it is Lysander that Hermia authentically wants to marry. However, Egeus refuses to ascent to their marriage, threatening to enforce on his daughter the ancient privilege of Athens (1.1.41) if she does not condescend to his original choice. Even though this would entail her introduction a nunnery (or perhaps even being executed), Egeus opinion cannot be swayed. His stubbornness leads Hermia to exclaim I would my father looked but with mine eyes (1.1.56). Clearly, Hermia believes that if her father could see Lysander in the same light as her, then he would quickly form a different opinion of him. In this instance, then, the eyes symbolize judgment. Theseus resolution to Hermia not only ... ...e, nor his heart to report what my dream was (4.1.204-207). Here, he confuses the senses in his attempt to get a grip on reality, thus demonstrating the blurred leaping between reality and illusion. Clearly, then, the eye alone cannot be trusted to provide adequate information about the nature of reality. The fluid, endlessly shifting imagery of the eyes serves to represent this problem, adding to the dreamlike quality of the play in the process. Possibly, it is left to the poets eye (5.1.12) to make the distinction between reality and illusion The forms of things unknown, the poets pen/Turns them to shapes, and gives to airy aught/A local habitation and a name (5.1.15-17). Works CitedShakespeare, William. A Midsummer Nights Dream. The Norton Shakespeare. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt. New York W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1997. 814-861.