William Shakespeares A Midsummer Nights Dream Essay -- Midsumme

William Shakespeares A midsummer Nights Dream There are so many references to the eyes in A Midsummer Nights Dream that one would expect there to be a solid and consistent reason for their appearance. However, this does not picturem to be the case. Indeed, the images associated with the eyes are so varied, and shift so frequently, that it is practically unrealistic to define what it is they represent. This difficulty reflects the problem of distinguishing between what is real and what is illusion -- a central theme of the flirt. Confusion and misunderstanding abound throughout A Midsummer Nights Dream. The lovers chase through the forest is perhaps the most plain example. The mechanicks bumbling performance of Pyramus and Thisbe is perhaps the most comic. However, as the play commences, it is a misunderstanding between Egeus and Hermia that threatens to throw the court into turmoil. This particular misunderstanding revolves slightly Hermias love for Lysander. Although Egeus has arranged for his daughter to wed Demetrius, it is Lysander that Hermia really wants to marry. However, Egeus refuses to ascent to their marriage, lowering to enforce on his daughter the ancient privilege of Athens (1.1.41) if she does not condescend to his original choice. Even though this would entail her entering a nunnery (or perhaps even being executed), Egeus opinion cannot be swayed. His stubbornness leads Hermia to vociferate I would my father looked but with mine eyes (1.1.56). Clearly, Hermia believes that if her father could see Lysander in the same light as her, then he would speedily form a different opinion of him. In this instance, then, the eyes defend judgment. Theseus response to Hermia not only ... ...e, nor his heart to report what my dream was (4.1.204-207). Here, he confuses the senses in his attempt to get a grip on earth, consequently demonstrating the blurred boundary between reality and illusion. Clearly, then, the eye alone cannot be trusted to provide adequate information about the nature of reality. The fluid, forever shifting imagery of the eyes serves to represent this problem, adding to the dreamlike quality of the play in the process. Possibly, it is left to the poets eye (5.1.12) to make the distinction between reality and illusion The forms of things unknown, the poets pen/Turns them to shapes, and gives to airy nothing/A local domicil and a name (5.1.15-17). Works CitedShakespeare, William. A Midsummer Nights Dream. The Norton Shakespeare. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt. New York W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1997. 814-861.