A Midsummer Night's Dream Has Passed It's Use by Date

There are many points for and against the statement, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream has passed its use by date.” Themes, language features, characters and writing techniques can all make a big difference in the final decision. However, in my opinion there are stronger arguments for the negative.

Firstly, A Midsummer Night’s Dream has numerous themes and morals that still apply to life in the twenty-first century. An example is the confusion and difficulty of love, which is shown in the love of the young Athenians: Hermia loves Lysander, Lysander loves Hermia, Helena loves Demetrius, and Demetrius loves Hermia instead of Helena. Even Lysander says this in the book when he states, “The course of true love never did run smooth”. Another theme is that love triumphs in the end, which is easily shown at the end of the story, where all the couples become wedded happily. One of the other themes are “reason and love keep little company” which Bottom states when Titania falls for him, while he has the donkeys head. He says this because he thinks that Titania has no reason for loving an ass, but quickly changes his mind when he sees that she is serious. This theme still applies to our modern lives. While there may not be physical reasons why people love each other, it all comes from their heart, as shown by Titania. Another important theme is jealousy. Jealousy is naturally occurring. When someone has something you don’t it is natural to feel jealous or to want that particular “thing” for yourself. Helena loves Demetrius but he is trying to win over the heart of Hermia, and despises Helena. The jealousy that Helena felt towards Hermia could have destroyed their friendship, had it not been for the love juice that had put things right.

Secondly, some of the personalities of the characters in the story can be seen today. Bottom for example is an overconfident imbecile who wants all the attention to himself, such as the part were he wants to act out every character in the play. Even today there are numerous people with the same type of attitude. Also there is the character of Puck, who is a mischievous fairy who just likes to cause trouble. Puck can easily represent the “troublemaker” every school seems to have. Another interesting character is Oberon. He is the figure with a lot of power and authority, who puts everyone else below him. He controls Puck and gets him to make his life easier. There is also the character of Egeus. He rules his daughter and forces her to do everything that he wishes. He is abusing his power over her and does not listen to anything she has to say, much like a dictator. Also there is Theseus, the Duke of Athens. He is a kind and listening person, and tries to help people. An example is when he offers the options of marrying Demetrius or becoming a Nun to Hermia whereas her father gave her the choice of marrying Demetrius or dying.

Moreover, there is also excellent poetic language that enriches the play and adds more meaning to the messages and morals. Similes such as “Swifter than arrow from the Tartar’s bow” and metaphors such as “I’ll put a girdle round the Earth in forty minutes” are excellent ways in which Shakespeare adds flavour to the conversations held in the play. It can also portray the personalities of different characters. Puck said the previous examples which show him as a loyal minion. Other examples of metaphors are “I am your spaniel: and, Demetrius, The more you beat me I will fawn on you.” Helena says this when Demetrius keeps on rejecting her, showing her character as a girl hopelessly in love, who is desperate for the love of Demetrius.

Another point is that the plot is very engaging and entertaining. There is the adventure of four young Athenians lost in the depths of love, the magical world