Monday, August 30, 2010

Shakespeare and the Jersey Shore

What is better than sitting down and watching people fall in and out of love with one another, while adding tricks, arguments and deception to lighten the evening? He loves her, but leaves for another woman. She loves him, but falls in love with another man; who in turn falls in love with another. In the past few years reality television has become a phenomenon, a way of living vicariously through other peoples dramatic love triangles the consequences and actions which are related to the insanity of their lives. Shows such as Jersey Shore follow the lives of people as they go in and out of love, relationships, friendships and argue over who is right and wrong. However, this inclination of watching others complicated lives and the dramatic elements which make up the shows plot is nothing new; it is something which has been seen before, in plays such as Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. One could receive just as much entertainment; see the dramatic love triangle and drama when reading this play and still find the comedy which is seen in these reality shows. The play is a testament that this complicated weaving of different people’s emotions in one set area is nothing new and has been seen and written about since Shakespeare’s time.

The essential plot of A Midsummer Night’s Dream depicts the drama of a group of people lives and how they are all in essence connected. In the beginning the reader is presented with the one and only happy couple, Theseus and Hippolyta. Almost immediately there is controversy. Hermia, daughter of Egeus is expected to marry Diemetrius, but, she is in love with Lysander and refuses to enter a marriage with Diemetrius. Her father Egeus goes to Theseus to explain to Hermia that she must obey her father’s wishes. In retaliation Hermia and Lysander decide to run away together. Meanwhile, we discover Diemetrius was once betrothed to another, Helena, who is still in love with him. Separately, Oberon and Tatania the King and Queen of fairies are in a heated argument over a knight who was stolen and cannot be settled amongst the two. In order to win Oberon puts a potion on Tatania’s eyelids so she will fall in love with the next person she sees, or as he hopes an animal. Puck gets a hold of the potion as well and places it on Lysander’s eyes while he sleeps, but not before the story adds some sexual tension between Lysander and Hermia as he invites her to sleep close to him by the bank of the river. As result of the potion Lysander wakes up and see’s Helena, the potion makes him instantly fall in love with her and of course the love triangle continues.

It is no secret that our culture loves to watch other people and critic their lives. This is nothing new and our fascination with drama and conflict in the lives of others has stood the test of time. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is merely a testament that this intrigue has been felt since Shakespeare’s time and his play exemplifies that Snookie, “The Situation” and others are a small part of this trend which has evolved and changed throughout the course of time.

5 comments:

Holly Langan said...

I absolutely loved your post, it definitely made me laugh and I knew it was going to be good once I saw the title of it. I totally agree with you that as an audience, we enjoy watching the love triangles, drama and gossip within entertainment. One may think that this stuff doesn't happen anymore because Shakespeare was written so long ago but it is still happening every single day and even Maury and Jerry Springer prove it to us! Although,it may not be as extreme and daughters may not be threatened to be killed by their own fathers; it is still present in our society, especially the control factor from the family.When I think about the love potion, it makes me think about the crazy things that people actually do for the ones they love and/or want to be with. Shakespeare is truly one of a kind and we can relate it to many things in our society presently.

amarcinak89 said...

The title of this post really drew me in. You're right, and as Holly has stated, love triangles are the things that audiences are truly interested in seeing played out. Not only in reality tv do we see this, but on scripted shows as well. Although the extremes of Shakespeare's times may not be present, we've all had to deal with similar types of drama occurring in our own lives. There are just certain things that we can all relate to. I think the thing that people tend to forget that the people in Shakespeare's time were humans too. Just because it was so long ago, that doesn't mean our lives may not have paralleled theirs in one way or another. Something I find most interesting.

Emma Snowshine said...

The title of this post is what drew me in, also. It was very funny and completely true that we watch reality TV to be voyeurs in a way. This got me thinking though, does this mean that all books are reality TV? I mean most of the books that I read are based on character's lives, so I suppose the only difference between books and reality TV are why they're read. If it's a play I guess it's closer to reality TV than other fiction literature. Also, and this is completely unrelated, can you believe there was a time without reality TV? I remember before Survivor!

Kaitlin Clifford said...

I really like your comparison to reality tv shows and I completely agree with you. Our society has become so consumed with watch reality tv and it seems like there is a reality show about everything. It’s so true that we watch them for own entertainment, and we keep watching them week after week because of the "love triangles" or because of the fighting , relationships and friendships as you mentioned. And you are completely right that this plot is nothing new and we are experiencing the same kind of plot through A Midsummer Night’s dream, however this love triangle that we already got a taste of it far more complicated than any I’ve ever seen on television.

Sandra Hamlett said...

I think humans have been attracted to the idea of story since the beginning of our history. Battles that took place hundreds or even thousands of years ago would be recounted as though they had happened the other day. I think Shakespeare was a master of human nature and understood the desire for stories. The story can only be as appealing as the characters that inhabit it. Most people meet, fall and love and get married but that's not a story. The audience wants the drama- the good characters, the bad characters. We have always loved people behaving badly as long as they do it with some spunk. That's exactly what Shakespeare did and reality tv does (except the scale is a lot smaller- gossip instead of tales of life, death and love.)