A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare

I always thought this play was pretty silly, but this time around I appreciated what good fun it is. “Lord, what fools these mortals be!” The seeming randomness of the direction love’s arrows take works mayhem in a way that is all too real even with the element of magic thrown in, but since this is a comedy and not a tragedy everything is restored to its rightful place in the end, with unrequited love eventually being requited and the thwarted lovers eventually being mercifully brought together. The play within a play of Pyramus and Thisbe is laugh-out-loud funny…the “base mechanicals” provide most of the comic relief, while the plight of the lovers runs its course and in its own way provides amusement, although one cannot help but feel compassion for the devoted and jilted Helena. I always wondered why this was one of Shakespeare’s more popular plays, since it seems so obviously devoid of any serious significance…question answered.

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