The Role of the Forest in Midsummer Nights Dream and As...

William Shakespeare often compares imagination and reality in his plays. He explores this comparison through the role and purpose of the forests in Midsummer Nights Dream and As You Like It. Midsummer Nights Dream focuses on imagination and escape, while As You like It focuses on reality and self discovery. Imagination plays a key role in Midsummer Nights Dream. Puck, a fairy servant and friend of Oberon watches six Athenian men practice a play to be performed for Theseus wedding in the forest. Puck turns Nick Bottoms head into that of an ass. The other players see Bottom and run away screaming. He follows them saying, Sometime a horse Ill be, sometime a hound, a hog, a headless bear, sometime a fire. And neigh, and bark,†¦show more content†¦Corin says, Sir, I am a true laborer. I earn that I eat, get that I wear, owe no man hate, envy no mans happiness, glad of other mans good, content with my harm, and the greatest of my pride is to see my ewes graze and my lambs suck (3.2.73-77). Meanwhile Duke Senior and others lords are discussing how much they love life in the forest. †¦and this our life, exempt from public haunt, finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in every thing (2.1.15-17). A lord reports that melancholy Jaques came ac ross a dying deer. †¦to the which place a poor sequestred stag, that from the hunters aim had taen a hurt, did come to languish... (2.1.34-36). At the end of the play Hymen, god of marriage, brings in Rosalind. Good duke, receive thy daughter. †¦yea, brought her hither, that thou mightst join her hand with his, whose heart within his bosom is (5.4.115-119). Self discovery is another important aspect of the play. Duke Frederick, has banished his older brother, Duke Senior. †¦the old Duke is banishd by his younger brother the new Duke†¦ (1.1.98-99). Duke Senior is living in the forest with many other lords. When Duke Frederick hears so many respectable lords are joining Duke Senior, he sets out to kill him. Duke Frederick, hearing how that every day men of great worth resorted to this forest†¦in his own conduct, purposely to take his brother here, and put him to the sword†¦ (5.4.159-163). AlongShow MoreRelatedFantasy vs. Reality in a Midsummer Nights Dream Essay1126 Words   |  5 Pagesand Reality in A Midsummer Night’s Dream In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare easily blurs the lines of reality by inviting the audience into a dream. He seamlessly toys with the boundaries between fantasy and reality. Among the patterns within the play, one is controlled and ordered by a series of contrasts: the conflict of the sleeping and waking states, the interchange of reality and illusion, and the mirrored worlds of Fairy and Human. A Midsummer Nights Dream gives us insightRead MoreA Midsummer Night s Dream1094 Words   |  5 PagesJeana Jago Theater History J. 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