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The Moon-Lit Woodland

This document summarizes an essay analyzing Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. It discusses how Shakespeare crafts different spaces in the play, transitioning from daylight in Athens to the magical moonlit woodland inhabited by fairies. In the woodland, the fairy king and queen Oberon and Titania cause madness and disasters among the four star-crossed lovers. The moon is a recurring image in the play and serves to mark the passage of time, highlighting the theme of dreams with touches of nightmares as referenced in a lullaby scene.

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Mark Mirando
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64 views1 page

The Moon-Lit Woodland

This document summarizes an essay analyzing Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. It discusses how Shakespeare crafts different spaces in the play, transitioning from daylight in Athens to the magical moonlit woodland inhabited by fairies. In the woodland, the fairy king and queen Oberon and Titania cause madness and disasters among the four star-crossed lovers. The moon is a recurring image in the play and serves to mark the passage of time, highlighting the theme of dreams with touches of nightmares as referenced in a lullaby scene.

Uploaded by

Mark Mirando
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Mirando, Mark B.

Eng 23

2013-00862 Prof. Judy Ick

“The Moonlit Woodland: the moon as the regent of A Midsummer Night’s Dream”

One of the most interesting aspects of the MND is Shakespeare’s ability to craft different

planes of spaces in a single play. He begins with Athens in daylight and transitions his play into the

magical realm of the moonlit woodland. This wood has become an integral space for most of the

major scenes in the MND. This woodland elicited magical elements as it inhabits legions of fairies

headed by the long-wedded Titania and Oberon. These two fairies are the parent of disasters and

madness that will stir the lives of the star-crossed lovers namely Helena, Hermia, Lysander, and

Demetrius.

The image of the moon has been a recurring image in the MND. The play begins with the

image of the moon in Theseus’s opening speech and in Hippolyta’s reply as they wait for the day of

their nuptial. The moon has also been an integral tool for Shakespeare’s marking of time. His usage

of the night-time also highlights his theme of the dream with a touch of a nightmare as he makes

one of the fairies utters images of night creatures such as spotted snakes, thorny hedgehogs, and

spiders in the lullaby scene. The moon is not only a part of Shakespeare’s poetry but also suits the

madness to be enacted here.

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