Scholarly debates concerning the key aspects of A Midsummer Night's Dream will doubtless yield new insights and engender new theories of interpretation. But the changing perspectives of scholarship do not seem to affect-the enduring popularity of this play, which for many remains emblematic of Shakespeare's comic genius. Appealing to a primordial human desire to cross the boundary between reality and fantasy, A Midsummer Night's Dream also brilliantly expresses the profound human uncertainty about love. What makes this work truly immortal, however, is the poetry which enlightens the soul while transforming the entire universe of passions and emotions, ranging from primitive to noble, into a suggestive discourse of extraordinary artistic beauty.

(See also Shakespearean Criticism, Vols. 3, 12)