A Midsummer Night's Dream: Themes (Cambridge (CIE) IGCSE English Literature)

Themes

Exam responses that are led by themes, or the ideas that Shakespeare explores in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, are more likely to achieve higher marks in the mark scheme. If you can revise the play thematically, and focus on responding to the key theme/s in the question being asked, you will be able to write with greater fluency and assurance about Shakespeare’s celebrated comedy.

Below are some of the key themes that could be explored in A Midsummer Night’s Dream: 

• Love

• Dreams

• Order and disorder

Love

Love is one of the main themes in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Shakespeare explores it through a range of characters. As the play is a Shakespearean comedy, love is presented as whimsical and humorous rather than serious and passionate. 

Knowledge and evidence:

• Shakespeare explores the multifaceted nature of love:

  • Different characters experience love in various forms, such as romantic, unrequited and enchanted  

• The play features different characters with different experiences of love: 

  • Hermia and Lysander represent true love

  • Helena experiences the pain of unrequited love

  • Oberon and Titania’s love is jealous and unstable

  • Several characters experience false love or a fleeting infatuation as a result of Oberon’s magical intervention 

• Love is influenced by magic in the form of Oberon’s love potion:

  • The potion causes humorous and chaotic situations, highlighting the unpredictable nature of love

• The play also challenges traditional norms of love and marriage:

  • Hermia and Lysander reject parental expectations to pursue their love

• The play features multiple layers of love stories, creating parallel narratives:

  • The intertwining plots emphasise the impact of love on different characters 

• The characters experience sudden shifts in their feelings, which emphasise the fickleness of love:

  • Demetrius, for example, shifts from pursuing Hermia to falling in love with Helena

• Ultimately, the play resolves its central conflicts through the power of love:

  • The chaotic events have been fixed and the characters find happiness through love and marriage

What is Shakespeare’s intention? 

• Shakespeare uses the fairy world and Puck’s mischief to portray love as unpredictable and chaotic:

  • The misapplied love potion creates confusion and highlights the irrational nature of love

• He infuses the theme of love with humour:

  • The comedic elements arise from the romantic conflicts and dialogue between the characters

• Shakespeare presents contrasting love stories to explore different layers of love:

  • He uses mismatched couples, fairy royalty and the Athenian court to showcase a variety of diverse relationships and their challenges

• The magical interference of the fairy world emphasises the transformative, otherworldly aspects of love:

  • Oberon and Puck’s actions create an enchanted atmosphere that underscores the magic nature of love and romantic relationships

• Shakespeare also makes fun of societal expectations regarding love and marriage:

  • The play challenges conventional ideas about arranged marriages and the influence of social status on romantic relationships 

• Shakespeare uses poetic and romantic language to convey the emotional depth of love:

  • The characters’ speeches and dialogue are rich in metaphor and imagery, enhancing the presentation of love in the play 

Dreams

Dreams are a key theme in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and the idea of dreams is prevalent throughout the whole play, with many characters referencing dreams throughout the different acts.

Knowledge and evidence:

• The very title of the play suggests a dreamlike quality associated with the events that unfold:

  • The setting is midsummer, a time associated with magic and fairies, which contributes to the dream-like atmosphere

• The fairy world that Oberon, Titania and Puck live in adds a fantastical and dreamlike dimension to the play:

  • The interactions in the fairy realm are marked by magical elements, which enhances the dreamlike quality

• Puck’s actions, such as applying the potion to the wrong character and transforming Bottom’s head, contribute to the fantasy of the play

• The intertwining love stories are often described using dream imagery:

  • Characters reference dreams to explain the whimsical and irrational nature of love, highlighting the link between romantic emotions and the surreal quality of dreams

• Characters often use dreams as a form of escapism from their reality:

  • For example, Hermia dreams of a serpent eating her heart, reflecting her fear of Lysander leaving her

What is Shakespeare’s intention?

• Shakespeare uses dreamlike imagery and poetic language throughout the play:

  • The use of metaphors, similes and vivid descriptions contributes to the dreamy atmosphere and enhances the overall sense of fantasy

• The play concludes with a reference to waking from a dream:

  • Puck’s closing lines acknowledge the dreamlike quality of the events and suggest that the audience should consider the play as a fleeting, fantastical experience

• The play combines elements of reality and fantasy, creating a sense of magical realism:

  • The coexistence of the ordinary world and the enchanted forest blurs the boundaries between dreams and reality

• Shakespeare may have been trying to highlight the dreamlike quality of being in love, and the irrational behaviour of those who are in love is evident through the characters

Order and disorder

Shakespeare explores the theme of order and disorder in the play through various dramatic elements, characters and the interplay between the human and fairy worlds. Order and disorder can also be linked to the rational and irrational and the need for balance.

Knowledge and evidence:

• The play begins in the ordered, civilised, structured city of Athens:

  • The city is a reflection of societal norms and expectations, where people must follow the rules imposed upon them

  • The city contrasts the disorderly and magical forest 

• The fairy world, ruled by Oberon and Titania, introduces an element of disorder and unpredictability:

  • Puck’s involvement and the use of the love potion disrupt the natural order of events, leading to chaotic consequences

  • Puck’s actions, such as transforming Bottom’s head, also contribute to the disorder and confusion

• The play within the play, performed by the Mechanicals, is also marked by disorder and incompetence

• The conflict between Oberon and Titania over the small child disrupts the natural order in the fairy realm:

  • The power struggle between the fairy king and queen introduces disorder and conflict into their once harmonious relationship

• The use of magic disrupts the rational and logical order of human emotions:

  • Love becomes unpredictable and irrational

  • The potion creates a reversal of love and hate as Lysander’s affections move from Hermia to Helena

• The resolution of the play involves the restoration of order:

  • The marriages of the four lovers and the reconciliation of Oberon and Titania signify a return to a harmonious state after the disorder and confusion

• The play concludes with references to the morning and waking from a dream:

  • This symbolises the return to reality and the restoration of order after the events of the night

What is Shakespeare’s intention?

• The play explores the disruptive nature of love, as the romantic incidents challenge societal expectations and disrupt established norms:

  • The love triangles and misdirected affections create disorder among the characters

• Shakespeare may have used the contrasting settings to highlight the unpredictability of love and how it cannot be made to conform to societal expectations:

  • While the scenes in the forest are filled with confusion and disorder, it is ultimately a transformative setting, helping the characters to reach a happy resolution