Summary:
An essay about William Shakespeare's use of magic in "A Midsummer Night's Dream."
Magic, witches, sorcery, demons, devils, fairies, and all immortal beings who have a sense of higher belonging are all things that little boys and girls imagine and dream about, but not adults. Adults have mortgages, insurance bills, and other "big responsibilities", and have no time for such childish and trivial ideas like fairies, or magic and witches. Shakespeare thinks that these adults need to be reminded of these beings. They need to remember that the immortal beings are watching! Quite often they're doing more than just watching; in Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream the young Athenian lovers all know who they have and don't have undying loves for, however their conscious decisions are played with by the magic that the immortal fairies possess. Shakespeare uses the magic and the fairies to show the idea of higher forces playing roles in people's lives without the people ever knowing it. The use and misuse of this magic by the fairies creates some of the funniest moments of the play, and also creates some of the most humbling and sincere. The use of this magic on humans to make their decisions is also used to make the audience or reader doubt for a second, or question whether their wife, or their girlfriend is a result of true love or magic, or if they have had very good fortune, is it a result of their hard work or of them being blessed by fairies"
One of the ways that the fairies are able to control who the characters love is by putting a love potion on them. Puck, who is sent by his master Oberon to put a love potion on an Athenian youth, sees Lysander sleeping on the ground near Hermia and concludes that these must be the people that his master is speaking about. Puck then puts the love potion on Lysander and states
This is he, my master said,
Despised the Athenian maid;
And here the maiden, sleeping sound,
On the dank and dirty ground.
Pretty soul! she durst not lie
Near this lack-love, this kill-courtesy.
Churl, upon thy eyes I throw
All the power this charm doth owe.
When thou wakest, let love forbid
Sleep his seat on thy eyelid:
So awake when I am gone (2.2.71-81)
Lysander is now a victim of the fairy's magic and will now love the first person he sees which ends up being Helena. Before this Lysander has announced his undying love for Hermia without any magic being used on him. This means that Lysander, who really loves Hermia, is now in love with Helena by the use and misuse of magic. This misuse of magic is only of one example. Another example is when Oberon puts the magic potion on his wife, Titania. Titania and Oberon, who are fairy rulers, are quarreling about the possession of a young Indian boy and Oberon figures that he can get the boy if he can distract Titania. Oberon decides that putting Titania in love with someone else is the best way to distract her. To make her fall in love with someone else Oberon uses the magic flower and wipes it on her eyes while she is asleep and says
What thou seest when thou dost wake,
Do it for thy true-love take,
Love and languish for his sake:
Be it ounce, or cat, or bear,
Pard, or boar with bristled hair,
In thy eye that shall appear
When thou wakest, it is thy dear:
Wake when some vile thing is near (2.2.26-33)
Oberon is essentially saying the love spell, and is saying that Titania is to wake when anything vile is near, and no matter what this vile thing is she will be wildly in love with it. This quote also shows Oberon using magic against someone who can weld magic, which presents to the audience a question: if fairies can use magic to control one another, then how are they to be regulated or governed? If there is insecurity in a world that is higher than mortal men, then how can mortal men be sure of their own security? As for Titania she will awake and fall in love with a mortal who has magically, thanks to Puck, had his head changed into a donkey's head.
The magic that the fairies possess can also be used without being detected by the mortal characters. Both Puck and Oberon used their magic for comedy and prosperity without anyone except the fairies, and the audience knowing. At the end of the story Oberon takes the potion off of his wife, and both of the fairy rulers make amends. the two fairy rulers along with their courts go through the mortals castle and bless all of them, and instead of controlling the thoughts of the mortal characters, Oberon brings the Athenian lovers, Theseus and Hippolyta good fortune and prosperity for letting them use their magic on them and says
Every fairy take his gait;
And each several chamber bless
Through this palace, with sweet peace;
And the owner of it blest
Ever shall in safety rest (5.1.402-406)
These lines are some the last ones in the play, and are Oberon says that all his fairies will go through the house and will bless and protect the Athenian lovers, Hippolyta, and especially Theseus. The blessing of Theseus is kind of an ironic action because Theseus already claimed that he didn't believe in the fairies. Despite Theseus' mature view on the fairies, the fairies bless him anyways, but they are not controlling the thoughts and actions of him or any of the other mortals, the fairies are altering the mortal's destiny. To Shakespeare's audience or reader one would then question whether they have been blessed, or cursed depending on whether their fortune was very good, or very bad. They would doubt whether their hard work was the reason why they are so successful. Some people may or may not want to hear this depending on the quality and state of their life .Another alteration of a mortals destiny that the audience or reader sees, but the character has no knowledge about is when Puck uses his magic to change Bottoms head into that of an ass'. Although the audience or reader does not directly see this change it can be assumed since both Bottom and Puck step off, and when Bottom comes back his head has taken on such a radical change that only magic can be the answer to why Bottom now the head of an ass. When Bottom comes back onto stage he is followed by Puck who states to the audience and reader
I'll follow you, I'll lead you about a round,
Through bog, through bush, through brake, through brier:
Sometime a horse I'll be, sometime a hound,
A hog, a headless bear, sometime a fire;
And neigh, and bark, and grunt, and roar, and burn,
Like horse, hound, hog, bear, fire, at every turn (3.1.125-135)
In this quote Puck does not claim that he changed Bottoms head however he is the only fairy near at the time, and in this quote Puck says he'll follow you and play these nasty little tricks on you. It does not matter where you are, because he'll be there, he can be in the form and disguise of anything so that you won't know that he's there. Too many audience members or readers Puck can now be a scapegoat for whenever a freak incident occurs, however relating to the play this shows the same audience or reader that magic can be used on you without you ever knowing. In the next few lines after Bottom's head has been changed and his friends see his new face and mass hysteria breaks out among them, they can be quoted as saying "O monstrous! O strange! we are haunted. Pray,/
masters! fly, masters! Help!" (3.1.121-122). In the next lines following this quote Bottom is confused and dumfounded because his friends have all run away from him in fright, and he has no knowledge as to why, because he doesn't know that his head has been changed. To change Bottoms destiny even more as soon as he is abandoned by his friends Titania awakes and becomes passionately in love with Bottom. The use of magic in this play shows how anyone can be subject to the use of magic, and how it can used on that person without them ever knowing.
The use of magic in this play helps to question whether one's destiny has been altered and changed forever by forces outside of there control; or is it still in their control. Shakespeare uses magic throughout the entire play, and this magic brings most of the comedy to the play, while it also will bring a feeling of insecurity to an audience or reader. This insecurity would be felt by adults seeing or reading this play, because people who once thought that they had their life in control and in their own hands were given a reality check and reminded that just because you can't see a higher force at work doesn't mean that they're not there. Every single time that magic was used in this play it went undetected. The use and affects of the magic were undetectable by any mortals, just like it would be if it actually were to happen.
This is the complete article, containing 1,526 words
(approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page).
