Major Themes in A Midsummer Night's Dream

In the entire range of Shakespearean comedy, there is hardly any comedy which deals with as many diverse issues as A Midsummer Night’s Dream does .The plot of the play concerns four main stories which run parallel and are interlinked within themselves .These are the story of marriage between Theseus and Hippolyta , the amorous confusion related to the fairies , and the preparation of theatre by the rustic Mechanicals .The theme that run strong within this framework are that of the complexity of love , an inter-relationship between the world of reality and romance where the supernatural beings are important players , issue of gender and  power , and finally , the nature of art and the role of imagination in the creation of it .All these disparate issues are fused together beautifully in the play which is dominated by a mood of mirthful, fantastic , luxuriant comedy.

      The theme of love is presented as a complex yet  hilarious issue in the play . There is ambivalence in the presentation of love , since it is at once sweet and violent .It is genuine ,emotional , yet obsessive and cruel .Theseus vows to marry Hippolyta with pomp , triumph and reveling ,he admits that he courted her with “sword” and won her love “doing …injury”. Hermia can defy her father in her love for Lysander, and Helena is so devoted to Demetrius that only in order to spend a brief interval with him, she can turn untrustworthy .But, on the other side, Demetrius is brutal to Hermia , and when complication arises, all the lovers begin to suspect others ,and involve in an altercation . The juice of the flower which is the cause of amorous confusion in the play symbolizes irrationality and lack of logic associated with love .  All  the  complications , however , end happily and consummate into happy marriages.

With this theme of love is associated the theme of gender and power .Though the play was written under the realm of a female monarch , we see here a suppression of the female voice .A daughter in Athens cannot marry the person of her own  choice; she must compromise with her father’s will. We can sense that Hippolyta was forced to give her consent in marriage . While lecturing  Hermia, Theseus highlights the role of a father in the rearing up of a child , but completely omits the role of a mother .Even , the demand of Oberon for the changeling boy on the ground that he is Titania’s “lord” might appear illogical and forceful. This unjust claim leads him to employ power and employ puck to achieve the boy. Even the way he causes his wife to woo an ass appears vulgar to a refined eye.

        The fusion of the world of reality and that of dream and romance is one of the major attractions of the play .While the world of reality is represented by the courtiers and lovers temporarily a part of the dream world . This dream itself is torn by the quarrel between the king and the queen , Oberon and Titania .This confusion not only affects the human world , it also creates a disorder in the natural world resulting in natural calamity. It is a world which is finer , more refined than the world of the mortals . This fact becomes evident in Puck’s observation:

"Lord, what fools these mortals be! (act3,Scene ii)"

The process of artistic creation and role of imagination in the process appears as one of the engaging themes of the play . The play –within –a play is an important aspect of this theme. Creation of art Requires a lot of organization , exemplified by the theatrical preparation of the rustics .But the most important part in the formation of art is played by the imagination . Bottom thinks himself to be an accomplished actor only because he has a strong flight of imagination . Puck at the end entreats the audience to take the play as a dream , thereby appealing to their faculty of imagination . Another important statement on art is made by Bottom’s inability to express  his stay with Titania . This experience , he believes , can be expressed effectively through a ballad. It implies that art is capable of capturing that which world of reality fails to express.