Throughout the entire play, Shakespeare shows that sleep is important to the development of the events in the story. Arguably, sleep serves as the channel that runs through the life of each character in different ways. As the characters sleep, they become unaware of the events that happen. In turn, the characters attribute the events in their sleep to dreams as they are unable to explain the events in their sleep. Sleep and dreams overshadows the main idea in the play and lead to the theme of dreams versus reality. The title of the play suggests that the events in the play revolve around dreams. For the most part, the characters experience negative events which appear real, but they believe that these are all a part of a dream. Shakespeare uses the title of the play to foreshadow the different events that occur and unintentionally creates the scenario before the play actually starts. The fairies manipulate “A Midsummer Night's Dream” the events of the play as they create the arguments and the resolution.
Puck and Oberon are responsible for the conflict in the play with the magical flower. Oberon, the king of the fairies, sees the way Demetrius treats Helena poorly, and he instructs Puck to apply the magical potion on his wife for revenge and Demetrius. Oberon's ultimate goal was to repair the problems Helena has with her love problems. However, he trusts that Puck would "know the man / By the Athenian garments he hath on" (Shakespeare, II.i.268-29). One sees that neither Puck nor Oberon realizes that there were two sets of Athenian lovers resting in the forest. Consequently, Puck makes a mess of the situation as Lysander and Demetrius fall in love with Helena. The confusion causes emotional turmoil and physical turmoil in the play as the childhood friendship between Helena and Hermia fails the test of friendship. In addition, there is conflict among Hermia and Lysander and Demetrius as both men grow to hate Hermia. The reality is that the good intentions of the fairies only serve to heighten the tensions among the Athenian lovers.
Oberon describes the power of the magic flower that the fairies place on the “sleeping” eyelids of the lovers in the forest. The magic cannot work unless the persons fall asleep because the dreams come to life when individuals sleep. One could say that it is the fairies’ magical interference with the sleep patterns of the characters that creates the situations that are most humorous in the play. Similarly, Oberon and Pucks actions help to create the magical and almost dreamlike and surreal atmosphere in the play. Oberon places the love potion on Titania’s eyelid to teach her a lesson because she openly defies his authority as the king of the fairies when she refuses to hand over the changeling boy. Puck quietly whispers into her ears as she sleeps and when she awakens, she falls in love with something despicable, in the form of Bottom, with the asses head. She is asleep as he whispers into her ears, and therefore, his words could be heard in a dream. This action by Puck helps to clarify the way the characters perceive the events of the night.
Nonetheless, the reader sees the magic potion adding peace to the relationship between Titania and Oberon, as she learns the valuable lesson of obedience to her male counterpart. The magic causes chaos when Puck accidentally uses it on Lysander. In contrast, some literary critics point out that Puck deliberately adds the potion to Lysander’s eyelids to heighten the reader’s perception of him as a mischievous creature. One realizes that the first time the fairies intervene in the dreams of the other characters happens with Puck. The mischievous fairy creates much tension between the young Athenian lovers, nonetheless, his mischief solves Helena’s problem of unrequited love. By doing placing the potion on Lysander’s eyelids, Puck frees Lysander and Hermia from the bondages of their love. As a result, they are happy and peaceful in the end.
Dreams are an important theme in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Shakespeare uses dreams to treat the ideas about the different types of love relationships in the play. In Hippolyta’s first speech in the play, she talks about the four nights which “will quickly dream away the time,” (Shakespeare, I.i.7). Theseus, in turn, tells Philostrate to “stir up the Athenian youth to merriments;/Turn melancholy forth to funerals,” (Shakespeare, I.i.14-15), and establishes the idea that sleep serves to deprive an individual of the realities of life. Through Theseus and Hippolyta, Shakespeare gear the audience for the references to sleep that comes later in the play.
Lysander and Hermia stop in the forest to rest for the night and fall victims to the mischief of Puck. Lysander innocently notes “here is my bed: sleep give thee all his rest,” (Shakespeare, II.11.70). But, while they sleep separately, Puck places the magical juice on Lysander's eyelids as wants the readers to believe that his actions are good. One could easily think that Puck truly attempts to mend a relationship that he misinterprets as he believes that the distance between the two stems from a dispute. Helena awakens from her sleep first as she is frightened for Lysander. He stirs from his sleep to find himself in love with Helena and not his betrothed, Hermia. Of course, this causes much of the chaotic events as Hermia and Helena, and Lysander and Demetrius get into physical conflicts during the play. In fact, one could say that his dreamlike love becomes a waking reality as dawn lights.
Further conflict arises from the actions of Puck in the forest. Hermia is alone when she awakens in the forest. She looks for betrothed Lysander. Her dream of the serpent foreshadows the turmoil that occurs because she falls asleep. She seeks comfort in her lover, but finds that the interfering fairy placed Lysander in a position that leaves her feeling abandoned and lonely. Shakespeare shows the way the fairies impact on the lives of the humans as he presents a serpent eating at her heart as Lysander does nothing, but sits "smiling at his cruel prey," (Shakespeare, II.ii.156). She is frightened and alone. Her nightmare foreshadows the treatment she will soon receive from Lysander and adds to the importance of her dreams.
Sleep brings chaos in the play, but it also brings a happy ending for the characters. The interference from the fairy starts and ends with Puck and Oberon. In Act III scene i-ii, Oberon fixes his error as he uses the sleeping or dreamlike state to fix his wrongdoings. He orders Puck to reverse the chaos that he has caused on Bottom and Lysander. Again, the two men fall asleep and Puck places the magic potion on Lysander’s eyes. In addition, Oberon returns the world of the fairies to normalcy after he does so with the mortal world. In the end, Oberon plans to have the magical events translated into a sleeping experience.
In concluding, Shakespeare uses the fairies to add conflict and humor to the events in the play. The antics of Oberon and Puck impact on the Athenian world and the fairy world. In fact, Oberon’s desire conflict in the play as he attempts to teach his wife a lesson, while he tries to restore love and peace between the Athenian lovers. The plans go awry and Puck sets the stage for the rest of the turmoil in the play. Bottom, is a victim of the fairies plot, but he turns the events around as he notes “I will get Peter Quince to write a ballad of this dream: it shall be called Bottom’s Dream as it hath no bottom,” (Shakespeare, IV.i.219-221). One can say that the events also end well for the Athenian lovers as Egeus, Theseus, and Hippolyta, realizes that the lovers sleep peacefully in the woods as they awaken to a new and happy world. They awaken from their supernatural sleep and get married to their true loves. Through Puck, Shakespeare pulls his audience into the world of sleep and dreams as in the closing lines Puck asks the audience not to take offence by the events of the play, but to treat the events as a dream. All in all, the conflicts in the play lead to a happy ending. The readers learn that sleep and dreams take people to strange places, and causes confusion between reality and fantasy.
Works Cited
Shakespeare, William “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” Viewed at <http://shakespeare.mit.edu>
Accessed October 1, 2014
