Night in William Shakespeares A Midsummer Nights Dream Essay examples

dark in William Shakespeares A midsummer Nights hallucinationOne of the recurring themes throughout Shakespeares A Midsummer Nights romance is the conviction of day during which the butterflys study action takes place night. This being the case, there are certain linguistic process that are directly linked to this theme that appear numerous clock throughout the script. Four such words are bootleg, moonlight, moonshine, and lunatic. Each comes from a feminine root that serves to identify the women in the walkover as prizes to be won and controlled.It becomes clear when looking up the term moon in the Oxford English Dictionary that the word is associated with the feminine. In poetry, for instance, the moon is often personified, unendingly as female (1050). It is important to note that the play upsets traditional cultural customs in this regard, for May was the time of female fertility oer which the moon presided, but the play begins with an image of lunar age and sterilit y, a dowager, a cold fruitless moon (Paster and Howard, Popular Festivals 93). It is possible that Shakespeare use such images intentionally to make it clear to his audience that the women in this play are not as free as the May twenty-four hours festivities might make them out to be. The female fertility that is expressed freely in Shakespeares blend of May Day and Midsummers Eve is outside of the controlled realm of marriage. Instead of the unrestrained women that both holidays celebrate, however, Shakespeare bookends the play with a woman tamed by a man.In the origin scene, the moon is spoken of by Theseus and Hippolyta as a measurement of time when Theseus announces, four happy days bring in / Another moon but, O, methinks, how slow / This old moon wanes She linger... ...more.Works CitedBrown, Lesley, ed. The New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary. fifth ed. Oxford Clarendon, 1993.moon, moonlight, moonshine, and lunatic. Shakespeare Concordance. 23 Feb. 2006 .Paster, Gail sup ply, and Skiles Howard. Female Attachments and Family Ties. A Midsummer Nights Dream Texts and Contexts. Ed. Gail Kern Paster, and Skiles Howard. Boston and New York Bedford/St. Martins, 1999. 192-264.---. Popular Festivals and Court Celebrations. A Midsummer Nights Dream Texts and Contexts. Ed. Gail Kern Paster, and Skiles Howard. Boston and New York Bedford/St. Martins, 1999. 89-99.Shakespeare, William. A Midsummer Nights Dream. A Midsummer Nights Dream Texts and Contexts. Ed. Gail Kern Paster, and Skiles Howard. Boston and New York Bedford/St. Martins, 1999. 1-86.The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. 1989.