Dramatic Genres

1. Dramatic Genres Unit 2 – A Midsummer Night’s Dream

2. Unit 2 requires you to consider ‘ways of contextualising comedy.’ To achieve this we must have an awareness of how A Midsummer Night’s Dream sits within the wider literary discourse of dramatic theory. Shakespeare’s plays are not in the rigorous sense either tragedies or comedies, but comparisons of a distinct kind, exhibiting the real sense of sublunary nature. ― Johnson, The Works of Shakespeare, 1765

3. Dramatic theory, as an academic discourse, begins with Aristotle's seminal work Poetics. Understanding tragic dramatic genre is essential in fully recognising its comic counterpart. • Comedy aims at representing men as worse, tragedy as better than in actual life. ― Aristotle, Poetics, 330BC • The relationship between the two genres continued to be acknowledged during and after Shakespeare’s writing career. • Comedy participates in many things with the rules of tragedy. • ― Gildon, An Essay on the Art, Rise and Progress of the Stage in Greece, Rome and England, 1710

4. Of the tragic genre Aristotle states: “A tragedy is the imitation of an action that is serious and also, as having magnitude, complete in itself; in appropriate and pleasurable language;...in a dramatic rather than narrative form; with incidents arousing pity and fear, wherewith to accomplish a catharsis of these emotions.”

5. Having considered Aristotle’s definition of tragic dramatic genre, write a definition for comic dramatic genre. Share and discuss your views.

6. As for Comedy, it is (as has been observed) an imitation of men worse than the average; worse, however, not as regards any and every sort of fault, but only as regards one particular kind, the Ridiculous, which is a species of the Ugly. The Ridiculous may be defined as a mistake or deformity not productive of pain or harm to others; the mask, for instance, that excites laughter, is something ugly and distorted without causing pain.― Aristotle, Poetics, 330BC

7. Within the comic genre there are sub-genres: farce, romantic and satirical comedy. Arguably, A Midsummer Night’s Dream contains elements of each sub-genre. Generally, the play is accepted as a romantic comedy. • Our form is a dramatic one: A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a play and includes dramatic conventions of the stage associated with its genre: • Multiple plots with twists and turns; • Family drama; • Mistaken identity; • Deception and disguise; • Clever and witty banter; • Light, humorous tone; • Love overcomes obstacles; • Reunification of families; • Marriage • You have 9 explanations of how the above conventions feature in the play. Label each explanation to indicate which of the above conventions it links to.

8. Explanations of how A Midsummer Night’s Dream meets dramatic comedic conventions:

9. Answers Deception and disguise: Hermia and Lysander try to sneak away from Athens to elope (behind Egeus's back). Also, Titania and the young lovers have no idea they've been drugged by Oberon and his magic love juice. Mistaken identity: In most of Shakespeare's other comedies, someone usually runs around in a disguise to mask his or her identity. (Sometimes, a lover is even tricked into sleeping with the wrong person by mistake.) This isn't necessarily the case in A Midsummer Night's Dream, unless we count the fact that the love juice causes Titania to fall head over heels in love with an "ass." In other words, Titania mistakes Bottom for a creature who is worthy of her love and affection. The same can be said of the other lovers who are dosed with Oberon's magic love potion. Light, humorous tone: The play features fairy magic (Oberon's love potion), silly pranks (the transformation of a man's head into that of an ass), and the botched performance of a play-within-the-play by the mechanicals. Clever dialogue and witty banter: Shakespeare is a huge fan of punning and snappy wordplay, so naturally, his characters know how to use witty repartee. Shakespeare reserves some of the best dialogue for his warring lovers, especially Oberon and Titania, and even the "rude mechanicals" manage to engage audiences with their clever banter.

10. Love overcomes obstacles: From the play's very outset, Shakespeare presents love as all-conquering. The only reason Theseus is even engaged to Hippolyta is because he conquered her people (the Amazons) and basically won her in battle. Just a few moments after we hear about Theseus and Hippolyta, we learn that Hermia and Lysander must also overcome a major obstacle if they want to be together because Hermia's father wants her to marry someone else. Moreover, Shakespeare presents his audience with a group of mischievous fairies running around the wood sloshing magic love juice into the eyes of hapless humans, causing them to fall in and out of love with the first creature that comes into view. In the end, though, love wins out and Theseus and each of the four young lovers unite with a loving partner. Marriage: No matter what else happens, Shakespeare's comedies ALWAYS end with one or more marriages (or the promise of marriage). This is Shakespeare's way of restoring social order to the world of his plays (after turning order on its head for a few hours). At the end of A Midsummer Night's Dream, Theseus finally gets to marry Hippolyta and spends the night with her (which he's been talking about since the play's opening lines). As for the four humans who have been chasing each other around the forest and falling in and out of love, they finally settle down : Hermia marries Lysander and Demetrius weds Helena.

11. Family drama: Hermia and her father Egeus have conflicting views about who she should and shouldn't marry. Egeus is concerned about his daughter's disobedience that he wants Duke Theseus to uphold the Athenian law that says daughters have to do what their fathers say or be sentenced to death. Fortunately, Midsummer Night's Dream isn't a tragedy, otherwise, this domestic dispute would end badly: Romeo and Juliet. Reunification of families: Since A Midsummer Night's Dream is a comedy, Egeus eventually backs down and gives in to the idea that Hermia is going to marry for love. It should be noted that Egeus only changes his mind after Duke Theseus orders him to back off (4.1), but still, Egeus attends his daughter's wedding. Multiple plots with twists and turns: There are several lines of action in A Midsummer Night's Dream and Shakespeare invites us to sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride. The first plot involves Theseus and Hippolyta's upcoming wedding. The second plot line involves the young Athenian lovers who run around the wood in confusion. The third plot follows Oberon's argument with his wife, Titania. As a fourth plot line, Shakespeare works in a group of craftsmens (the Mechanicals), who plan to perform a play at Theseus's prestigious wedding.

12. Read Act1, Scene1, Identify Hermia’s basic dilemma. What are the choices outlined for her by Theseus and her father? What choice does Lysander suggest?

13. Summer Assignment Gervinus, Shakespeare Commentaries (1887), contends that the humour in Shakespeare’s comedies stems from the playwright’s focus on female characters: ‘all have more or less something of unwomanly forwardness in their nature, something of domineering superiority; and therefore the men in contact with them play more or less a subordinate part.’ How far would you agree with this view in A Midsummer Night’s Dream?