· Lysander sees no reason why he should not reject Hermia (in spite of his rash promise: “And then end life, when I end loyalty”) as love justifies this conduct, an exaggerated version of Demetrius’s disloyalty to Helena previously.
· Demetrius loves Helena, and wishes to resume his earlier claim on her affections. Each man loves her and cannot see why she doubts him.
· Hermia has no doubt that they love Helena, but believes Helena to have used doubtful means to steal Lysander’s love (Egeus has earlier accused Lysander of doing this to woo his daughter).
· Helena disbelieves all three, assuming that Hermia’s complaints are feigned, and that “she is one of this confederacy”. The characters have no proper understanding of what they feel; the whole episode is a Night’smare magnification of the madness love ordinarily can lead to. And when the men “seek a place to fight”, they are serious in their purpose. But the audience is assured by Oberon’s vigilance and Puck’s activity that “all shall be well”. And the proper response to them is to agree with Puck: “Lord, what fools these mortals be”. The actors should play the parts without any sense of irony, however.[11]
For a more sympathetic view of the lovers, we should consider Theseus’s attempt (1.1) to show Hermia how much she would lose, to “endure the livery of a nun”. The appeals to “desire”, “youth” and “blood” show his awareness of the sexual desire of a young woman, while his comparison of the “rose distill’d” to that on the “virgin thorn” delicately advertises the attraction of maternity. Hermia’s reply shows her understanding of his reason, and her determination. In the duke’s presence she is shown at her best; when he leaves, her conversation with Lysander is touching initially, as they comfort each other, but soon becomes overwrought, exaggerating their passion. In Act 4, suddenly with no cause for further enmity, there is no hint of a grudge on the part of any; each has, impossibly, it seems, the prospect of immediate marriage to the preferred partner, while the feuding of the previous Night’s is remembered but, in its many confusions (changes of desire, seeming betrayals, quarrels, voices from nowhere) thought of as a dream. This view is anticipated by the pair of six-line stanzas spoken by Helena and Hermia at the end of Act 3. Each is a moving expression of despair and resignation (though Helena’s “O weary Night’s, O long and tedious Night’s” has a hint of Pyramus’s “O grim-looked Night’s, O Night’s with hue so black!” about it. If Puck hints at how we are to see the lovers in the wood, Theseus is able, in the final act, to articulate our happiness at the comic resolution: “Joy, gentle friends, joy and fresh days of love/Accompany your hearts”, while we inwardly endorse the fairies’ blessing and Oberon’s promise that the lovers’ “issue” shall “ever…be fortunate”, the couples “ever true in loving”. We rejoice to see Lysander’s pessimistic utterance contradicted.
Conclusion
1.3. Having said about Shakespeare’s comedies we dare to say that it is the most important milestone in the creative activity of him. But even amongst his immortal works of this kind the play “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” stands in the special play. The first reason of this lies in the period of writing of it. The play is referred to the third, last period of creative activity, it is seemingly summarizes the whole life of the dramatist and the death of the main heroes at the fourth act is a hint for the closest death of Shakespeare himself. So one another reason for the significance of the comedy follows just after: it maybe the only work of Shakespeare where the humour and laughter are being mixed with the tragedy. And this mixing appears on the background of the exact description of humans life and characters which are closely similar to the historic chronicles. In our work we tried to demonstrate this spirit of comedy mixed with the tragedic chronicles of the author himself.
Our work aimed to show the novelity of the play though it was written three-four centuries ago, we tried to prove that even being a dream the narration does not lose the real character. We made our conclusion that fairy tales cannot but link with the real life and the problems of life, love, happiness, sadness, revenge exist in both at the Heavens and the Earth.
2.3. In our qualification work we tried to give some light to the following items:
a) To show the unusual, unique compositional structure of the play on the example of the most significant scenes of each act of the play.
b) To analyze the main themes of the play.
c) To prove the brilliant nature of the Shakespeare’s language.
d) To compare the different features of the main heroes in their controversy and similarity.
Having worked on our qualification work we could do the following conclusion and notes:
1) Being not volumable play it remained in our hearts as one of the most
brilliant things created by the “Avon Bard”.
2) The main idea of the play was to show the interrelations between life and dream, the different state of minds of illiterate but kind and passionate wandering actors and foolish, cruel, envious power “handers”.
3) The main themes of the play are order and disorder, love and marriage, appearance and reality.
4) The genius of the author is concluded in mixing and installation of one narration into another, assistance of prose and poetry with single repliques and comments.
5) The heroes of the play are not happy even having got the things they dreamt.
In the very end of our qualification work we would like to say that the play “A Midsummer Night’s Dream ” seems to us as the most meaningful not only for those who is interested in Shakespeare but for the whole humanity.
1. William Shakespeare A Midsummer Night’s Dream Yale University Press,
New Haven 1958, pp.1, 3-5, 7-9, 23-26, 45-87
2. Alfred Bates The Drama: Its History, Literature and Influence on Civilization, vol. 13. ed.. London: Historical Publishing Company, 1996. pp. 152-157.
3. Вильям Шекспир Комедии, хроники, трагедии. Собр. соч. в 2тт., Т.1 М. ИХЛ. 1988 стр7-31
4. Д.Урнов Шекспир М. ИПЛ. Стр.23-27
5. ADAMS, JOSEPH QUINCY. A Life of William Shakespeare. New York; Houghton-Mifflin Co., 1923.
6. ALEXANDER, PETER. Shakespeare. London: Oxford University Press,
1964.
7. BARBER, C. L. Shakespeare's Festive Comedy. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1959.
8. BENTLEY, GERALD EADES. Shakespeare, a Biographical Handbook. Theobold Lewis, ed. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1961.
9. BETHELL, S. L. Shakespeare and [he Popular Tradition. London: King and Staples, 1944.
10. BROWN, JOHN RUSSELL. Shakespeare and His Comedies. London: Methuen and Co., 1957.
11. CLEMEN, WOLFGANG. The Development of Shakespeare's Imagery. London: Methuen and Co., 1951.
12. CRAIG, HARDIN. An Interpretation of Shakespeare. New York: Dryden Press, 1948.
13. ELLIS-FERMOR, UNA M. Shakespeare the Dramatist. London: Geoffrey Cumberlege, 1948.
14. PALMER, JOHN. Comic Characters of Shakespeare. London: The Macmillan Company, 1946.
15. PARROTT, THOMAS MARC. Shakespearean Comedy. New York: Oxford University Press, 1949.
16. PRIESTLEY, J. B. The English Comic Characters. London: The Bodley Head, 1925; reprinted 1963.
17. PURDOM, C. B. What Happens in Shakespeare. London: John Baker, 1963.
18. SITWELL, EDITH. A Notebook on William Shakespeare. London: Oxford University Press, 1928.
19. WATKINS, RONALD. Moonlight at the Globe. London: Michael Joseph, 1946.
20. WELSFORD, ENID. The Court Masque. Cambridge: University Press, 1927.
21. WILSON, J. DOVER. The Essential Shakespeare. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1932.
21. Аракин В.Д. История английского языка. М., 1985
22.Иванова И.П. Чахоян Л.П. История английского языка. М., 1976
23.Ильиш Б.А. История английского языка. М., 1968
24. Морозов М.М. Статьи о Шекспире. М., 1964
25. Смирницкий А.И. История английского языка. (Среднеанглийский и новоанглийский период). Курс лекций. М., 1965
26. Ярцева В.Н. Историческая морфология английского языка. М., 1960
27. Ярцева В.Н. Исторический синтаксис английского языка. М., 1961
28. Ярцева В.Н. История английского литературного языка IX – XV веков.М., 1985
29. Abbott E. A Shakespearean Grammar. L., 1929
30. Rastorgyeva T.A. A History of English. M., 1983
31. William Shakespeare Two Tragedies. М., 1985
32. Морозов М.М. Парфенов А.Т. Комментарий. ЯзыкШекспира
[1]William Shakespeare A Midsummer Night Dream Yale University Press
[2]Alfred Bates The Drama: Its History, Literature and Influence on Civilization, vol. 13. ed.. London: Historical Publishing Company, 1996. pp. 152-157.
[3]Вильям Шекспир Комедии, хроники, трагедии. Собр. соч. в 2тт., Т.1 М. ИХЛ. 1988 стр7-31
[4]BENTLEY, GERALD EADES. Shakespeare, a Biographical Handbook. Theobold Lewis, ed. New Haven: Yale University
[5]BROWN, JOHN RUSSELL. Shakespeare and His Comedies. London: Methuen and Co., 1957.
[6]. CLEMEN, WOLFGANG. The Development of Shakespeare's Imagery. London: Methuen and Co., 1951
[7]ELLIS-FERMOR, UNA M. Shakespeare the Dramatist. London: Geoffrey Cumberlege, 1948.
[8]PARROTT, THOMAS MARC. Shakespearean Comedy. New York: Oxford University Press, 1949.
[9]PURDOM, C. B. What Happens in Shakespeare. London: John Baker, 1963.
[10]WATKINS, RONALD. Moonlight at the Globe. London: Michael Joseph, 1946
[11]WELSFORD, ENID. The Court Masque. Cambridge: University Press, 1927.