Personally, I have never been much of a Shakespeare fan.
Just the sound of his name has frightened me in the past. The language can be
so difficult to understand that it is easy to be discouraged. Up to this point,
though, I have found that A Midsummer
Night’s Dream has not been as bad as I had originally prepared myself for.
I find it quite interesting and the story is very entertaining to read.
Unfortunately, Act V was quite disappointing. The play doesn’t end as I had
hoped it would. In addition, I felt a little confused as I was reading. I would
like to share some of the parts of Act V that I found disappointing or
confusing.
The
beginning of Act V was okay, and I found the names of the plays Theseus had to
choose from humorous (5.1 44-57). The first time I was confused occurred during
the speech addressed by Quince. His speech is so poorly spoken that I had a
hard time figuring out what was meant by it. Quince states, “We do not come as
minding to content you, our true intent is. All for your delight we are not
here” (5.1 112-115). Isn’t he practically saying that the actors are not here
to make Theseus and the others happy? He states that the men are not here to
delight their audience. As I was reading the speech, I thought I was reading
something wrong or maybe even going crazy. As I continued to read, I realized
that there is a purpose to this confusing and poorly written speech. I am
assuming it is meant to be humorous to the audience who hear it spoken during a
live performance of the play. I can imagine that it would have had a more
positive effect on me had I heard it rather than read it. I wonder if this part
of the play is really necessary. Personally,
I believe that reading something that is intended to be funny should not be
confusing as well. It just takes away from the humor when too much time is
spent being confused. That is especially true when reading the difficult language
Shakespeare uses in his plays.
I did
find the play put on by the artisans to be funny and entertaining, as well as
the comments made by the audience. What I didn’t like, though, is how Act V
ends. I was hoping to have read about the wedding between the couples or
whether or not Titania is angry about losing the boy to Oberon. These things
just never came up. I wonder if there is a purpose as to why we never really
get to the wedding. What could that purpose be? Did the wedding happen before
the play was put on for them and we just weren’t told about it? I am very confused
by this.
Lastly,
I really don’t like Puck’s Epilogue at the closing of the play. What does it
mean? What purpose does it serve? He states, “And this weak and idle theme, no
more yielding but a dream” (5.1 5-6). Are readers and audience members of the
play meant to consider the play as a dream? I am just confused by this.
Act V
seemed to give me more trouble than any other acts but, overall, A Midsummer Night’s Dream was enjoyable
to read.
