tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3763524608484932801.post3208877913528980875..comments2024-02-06T23:18:42.946-08:00Comments on Shakespeare Calling: Midsummer Night's Dream - LoveRuby Jandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12107354716859269385noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3763524608484932801.post-86728543607163821232022-04-20T05:05:41.522-07:002022-04-20T05:05:41.522-07:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3763524608484932801.post-36726238979611989052022-04-20T05:05:16.171-07:002022-04-20T05:05:16.171-07:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3763524608484932801.post-43030394178256588172012-11-12T03:50:54.968-08:002012-11-12T03:50:54.968-08:00Rereading Shakespeare always gives more, and with ...Rereading Shakespeare always gives more, and with each reading one tends to want to delve deeper. Which explains this whole blog. These analyses are after the second (or more) reading and I’m already curious about what my take will be next time around. I’m looking forward to your comments when you’ve read AMND next time. And on M in V!Ruby Jandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12107354716859269385noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3763524608484932801.post-19948189707549368412012-11-05T18:53:18.401-08:002012-11-05T18:53:18.401-08:00I have just finished my first reading of this play...I have just finished my first reading of this play, just as an introduction to get a basic idea of major details (plots, characters, twists); then on re-reading I pay special attention to certain points and usually put on file something like a review as a record of my reactions; that's my general reading system when it comes to Shakespeare. Well, when the time to re-read "A Midsummer Night's Dream" comes, this terrific post will be of much use, of that I'm pretty sure. Only I don't know when it will happen. It was an accident, really. I am currently re-re-reading "The Merchant of Venice", fascinating yet perplexing creature, with the bold intention of reviewing it. I was just curious to see how "A Midsummer Night's Dream" starts and - BANG! Couldn't put the damn thing down. Very short, exquisite, a bit too many rhymed passages and the final act is a bit of an anti-climax, but on the whole extremely compelling, funny and, last but not least, serious and even disturbing. Nothing's more serious than great humour, as Bernard Shaw once observed.Alexanderhttp://www.librarything.com/profile/Waldsteinnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3763524608484932801.post-1240849170956382632011-11-28T04:50:57.026-08:002011-11-28T04:50:57.026-08:00Of course it is :-) And I'm looking forward to...Of course it is :-) And I'm looking forward to your new take on the play when you have time to read it again.Ruby Jandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12107354716859269385noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3763524608484932801.post-48089338460710056012011-11-22T07:09:21.789-08:002011-11-22T07:09:21.789-08:00Nothing to add, really, but wanted to note that I ...Nothing to add, really, but wanted to note that I agree with you! I should re-read this play at some point, with all the experience I've gained since I saw it the last time. I'm sure it'll be quite different from how I remember it. Glad you agree with my analysis, though not sure it's worthy of being called one. :-PKallehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04000481394353210281noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3763524608484932801.post-89120224140046400162011-11-21T05:31:35.417-08:002011-11-21T05:31:35.417-08:00Oh, the hidden treasures in the childhoods of our ...Oh, the hidden treasures in the childhoods of our friends! I'm jealous, Kalle! It is so cool that you can now approach this play with that experience. Your analysis here is spot on. We are indeed monsters and angels and Shakespeare is a master at the veiling you mention, as well as the famous layering.Ruby Jandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12107354716859269385noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3763524608484932801.post-27282363134410605902011-11-14T11:17:01.608-08:002011-11-14T11:17:01.608-08:00A midsummer night's dream is sort of a part of...A midsummer night's dream is sort of a part of my childhood, and thus it has many conflicting meanings in my mind. The part it played in my childhood was a very practical one -- in that I played in it several times! -- but as a child, especially as a young child, I didn't exactly look far into the story itself. But I remember each of those incarnations of the play, and I remember the differences between them, and that somehow gives me some multi-spectral sense of what it is about, even though I've never analyzed it.<br /><br />To me it eventually turned out to be a story about the human heart -- not love, per se, though love is arguably the strongest emotion we can (be) possess(ed with).<br /><br />Basically, provide us with a reason, any reason, and we become monsters, or angels, or both. And *that* is the human heart. Here, the reason is the spell (curse), and there is quite a bit of purity and monstrosity come from it ("Hang off, thou cat, thou burr; vile thing, let loose,<br />Or I will shake thee from me like a serpent." is "monstrous", in this sense). <br /><br />I may be jumping to conclusions though, because Shakespeare is so good at veiling something real and grim and depressing and gloomy and real-worldly in something comical and light-hearted and amusing. <br /><br />Here, I can't help but see the grim and gloomy fact being that we humans are fickle angel-monsters despite our best intentions, and this is made amusing with the fae trickery.<br /><br />I'm also potentially influenced by the standard "Shakespeare was a master at writing plays that both the nobility and the common peons could enjoy, by writing 'in layers' so that cruel humor intermingled with sophisticated poetry" part, which applies quite heavily here.<br /><br />Anyway, enough for now. :)<br /><br />-Kalle.Kallehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04000481394353210281noreply@blogger.com