The author of the article tries to prove the idea of William Shakespeare's heritage being relevant for modern readers, despite the fact that those works were written five centuries ago. The immortality of Shakespeare's plays is illustrated by examples from William Shakespeare´s comedy «A Midsummer Night's Dream».
Keywords: play, Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream, comedy, classic English literature.
В статье автор приводит аргументы в пользу того, что проблемы, освещаемые в произведениях Уильяма Шекспира, до сих пор находят отклик у современных читателей, несмотря на то, что он написал их пять веков назад. Актуальность работ Шекспира рассматривается на примере комедии «Сон в летнюю ночь».
Ключевые слова: пьеса, Шекспир, Сон в летнюю ночь, комедия, классическая английская литература.
«A Midsummer Night’s Dream» is a romantic comedy written by William Shakespeare c. 1595 or 1596. The play has its setting in Athens and can be subdivided into several plot lines revolving around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. The first one is based on a conflict among four lovers from Athens. The second one involves a group of six amateur actors preparing for the performance planned for the wedding. The action takes place in a forest inhabited by fairies who have a power to manipulate the humans and also have their own conflicts. «A Midsummer Night’s Dream» is one of the most famous Shakespeare's plays and even though it was composed at the end of the 16th century, it is still widely performed and attracts reader's attention all over the world. In this article we will try to find out the reasons of its success.
To begin with, according to Collins English Dictionary, a comedy is a light and amusing play in which the main characters triumph over adversity [3]. Although jokes and plot twists are not a distinguishing mark of this genre unlike its happy ending, while reading «A Midsummer Night’s Dream» the reader can laugh out loud because the humour is not trite or outmoded, take, for example, Act 5 Scene 1, «A tedious brief scene of young Pyramus and his love Thisbe; very tragical mirth», in which «hard-handed men that work in Athens» (Bottom, Quince and others) played. One of the hilarious details of this scene is a talking wall, which is not a piece of scenery, but a character played by an actor, which is funny in itself. Besides, the «tragical mirth» became even more ridiculous thanks to the comments of the spectators. As Shakespeare is typically associated with gloomy tragedies or serious historical plays, many modern readers find the humour of his comedies surprising and, thus, continue reading his works.
«A Midsummer Night’s Dream» is a romantic comedy, so the love story is another reason of Shakespeare's plays being fascinating for nowadays readers. In literature, there are many variations on this theme, however the Shakespeare's interpretation is more attractive for the readers because, on the one hand, it is not without problems, which makes it captivating, and on the other hand, it is so common that every reader may find examples of such lovers in real life. The love story of Helena and Demetrius is pitifully rife. A young woman is in love with a man who at first reciprocated her but later fell in love with another woman. Nevertheless, Helena stayed devoted to Demetrius:
And even for that do I love you the more.
I am your spaniel; and, Demetrius,
The more you beat me, I will fawn on you:
Use me but as your spaniel, spurn me, strike me,
Neglect me, lose me; only give me leave,
Unworthy as I am, to follow you [2].
The relationship, in which one sacrifices personal interests in order to be with a person who remains indifferent, is commonplace, so the readers are used to it but they still need some hope. That is why they love to refer to Shakespeare's comedy where they look forward to a happy ending and their expectations are met. Thankfully, in the play Demetrius falls in love with Helena, and her feelings become mutual. Therefore, one more reason why «A Midsummer Night’s Dream» and other works of the playwright are so widely read up to the present day is that it gives hope to people whose feelings are not mutual.
Interestingly, in the play there are lines about love that coincide with ones from «Eugene Onegin» by Alexander Pushkin. These are the Hermia’s words from Shakespeare’s «A Midsummer Night’s Dream»:
I frown upon him, yet he loves me still.
I give him curses, yet he gives me love.
The more I hate, the more he follows me [2].
Compare it with a quotation from Pushkin’s «Eugene Onegin»:
The less we care about a woman
The easier to touch her heart [1].
The idea behind both quotes is extremely similar: people who are ignored become even more interested in a person than if their passion was mutual. The comedy was written in the 16th century, «Eugene Onegin» — in the 19th, hence the dramatist expressed the concept which have been relevant for centuries. Thus, it is widely read not because people want to find some new ideas, but to make sure that some concepts have always been true, and so it is possible to find solutions to their personal issues in classic literature.
In addition to the romantic relationship, there are also family relations in «A Midsummer Night’s Dream». Egeus, Hermia’s father says the following:
I beg the ancient privilege of Athens,
As she is mine, I may dispose of her:
Which shall be either to this gentleman
Or to her death, according to our law
Immediately provided in that case [2].
At the time of Shakespeare daughters were valuable possessions of their fathers. Egeus is against the love between Hermia and Lysander, because he wants her to marry Demetrius. Father is not interested in the daughter’s feelings. Nowadays in some patriarch societies, parents still choose husbands and wives for their children or just ignore their children’s choice. The comedy is a good example for such parents: if a child is not free in the choice of a person for marriage, he or she will do everything in order to be with the lover, and the parents will not be able to stop them. The family issue in the play also demonstrates its significance for modern readers.
Classic literature is time-tested and read by generations of people, its humour, love stories and family plot lines have been relevant for centuries, William Shakespeare's works are no exception. «A Midsummer Night’s Dream» is an illustrative example of people getting back to one and the same stories not for some fresh or unusual ideas but because there are some things that are universal for all epochs and places.
References:
- Pushkin, A. Eugene Onegin. Translated from the Russian of Alexander Pushkin by Dorothea Prall Radin and George Z. Patrick. / A. Pushkin. — Berkeley: University of California press, 1937. — 226 c. — Текст: непосредственный.
- Shakespeare, W. A Midsummer Night's Dream / W. Shakespeare. —: Harper Collins UK, 2011. — 224 c. — Текст: непосредственный.
- Definition of 'comedy'. — Текст: электронный // Collins Online Dictionary: [сайт]. — URL: https://www.collinsdictionary.com/ (дата обращения: 20.01.2023).
