Instability, Disruption, Dissonance: A Reading of A Midsummer Night's Dream

The paper focuses on the unstable nature of love, the changeability of affection, and the "alarming mobility of desire" in A Midsummer Night's Dream. The play explores moods and passions that have their roots in the subconscious and unconscious. It is unique among the comedies in its...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:English studies 2023-01, Vol.104 (1), p.63-75
Main Author: Kaul, Mythili
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
comedy of compromise
dissonance
Instability
Literary criticism
mobility of desire
rejection
Shakespeare plays
Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)
subconscious/unconscious
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Summary:The paper focuses on the unstable nature of love, the changeability of affection, and the "alarming mobility of desire" in A Midsummer Night's Dream. The play explores moods and passions that have their roots in the subconscious and unconscious. It is unique among the comedies in its presentation of the savagery of men towards women and the verbal violence and threat of physical violence of women towards each other. The disruption and dissonance that mark the play throughout, together with the issues that remain unresolved at the conclusion, make this one of the most disturbing of Shakespeare's plays.
ISSN:0013-838X
1744-4217
DOI:10.1080/0013838X.2022.2154043