William Shakespeares A Midsummer Nights Dream Essay -- Midsumme

William Shakespeares A Midsummer Nights Dream There are so many references to the eyeball in A Midsummer Nights Dream that one would expect there to be a solid and consistent reason for their appearance. However, this does not seem to be the case. Indeed, the images associated with the look are so varied, and shift so frequently, that it is practically impossible to define what it is they represent. This difficulty reflects the problem of distinguishing between what is real and what is illusion -- a interchange theme of the play. Confusion and misunderstanding abound throughout A Midsummer Nights Dream. The lovers chase through the forest is perhaps the most obvious example. The mechanicks bumbling act of Pyramus and Thisbe is perhaps the most comic. However, as the play commences, it is a misunderstanding between Egeus and Hermia that threatens to throw the court into turmoil. This particular misunderstanding revolves around Hermias love for Lysander. Although Egeus has arran ged for his miss to wed Demetrius, it is Lysander that Hermia really wants to marry. However, Egeus refuses to ascent to their marriage, threatening to enforce on his daughter the ancient privilege of Athens (1.1.41) if she does not condescend to his original choice. Even though this would entail her entering a nunnery (or perhaps even being executed), Egeus opinion cannot be swayed. His stubbornness leads Hermia to exclaim I would my father looked but with mine look (1.1.56). Clearly, Hermia believes that if her father could see Lysander in the same light as her, then he would quickly form a different opinion of him. In this instance, then, the eyes symbolize judgment. Theseus response to Hermia not only ... ...e, nor his heart to report what my dream was (4.1.204-207). Here, he confuses the senses in his attempt to get a grip on reality, thus demonstrating the blurred boundary between reality and illusion. Clearly, then, the eye alone cannot be trusted to provide adequate in formation about the nature of reality. The fluid, endlessly switch imagery of the eyes serves to represent this problem, adding to the dreamlike quality of the play in the process. Possibly, it is left to the poets eye (5.1.12) to make the distinction between reality and illusion The forms of things unknown, the poets spell/Turns them to shapes, and gives to airy nothing/A local habitation and a name (5.1.15-17). Works CitedShakespeare, William. A Midsummer Nights Dream. The Norton Shakespeare. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt. New York W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1997. 814-861.