Presentazione Cin

Salvatore Cosentino ; Cristiano Caviglia

START

William Shakespeare

A MIDSUMMER

NIGHT'S DREAM

MAIN CHARACTERS

INTRODUCTION

LOCATION

MAIN THEMES

SYNTHETIC PLOT

CONCLUSION

STYLE + LANGUAGE

INDEX

Between 1595 and 1596

William Shakespeare

A Midsummer Nights' Dream

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INTRODUCTION

A Midsummer Night's Dream is one of Shakespeare's most famous comedies, a story full of love, magic and transformations, set between the world of reality and that of dreams. The work takes place between Athens and an enchanted forest, and brings together the stories of different characters, both human and supernatural. Thanks to its mix of comic, romantic and fantastic elements, this work is considered one of the best representations of Shakespeare's ability to explore complex themes with humour.

MAIN CHARACTERS

LISANDRO

DEMETRIO

ELENA

IPPOLITA

TESEO

ERMIA

MAIN CHARACTERS

TITANIA

EGEO

OBERON

PUCK

SYNTHETIC PLOT

The opera intertwines several plots, creating a world in which love, magic and theater come together. The story follows four main groups of characters, each involved in a web of misunderstandings and transformations.

A Midsummer Night's Dream" by William Shakespeare is a comedy that takes place in Athens and an enchanted forest. The story begins with Theseus, Duke of Athens, preparing to marry Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons. Egeus, an Athenian citizen, asks Theseus for help for his daughter Hermia, who loves Lysander, but must marry Demetrius, chosen by her father. To escape this pressure, Hermia and Lysander flee into the woods, followed by Helena, who loves Demetrius, hoping to win his love. In the woods, Oberon, king of the fairies, and Titania, his queen, are in conflict over a young orphan..

Oberon decides to use a magic potion on Titania, so that she will fall in love with the first creature she sees. In a misunderstanding, Puck, Oberon's servant, makes Lysander fall in love with Helena instead of maintaining his love for Hermia. After various misunderstandings and arguments, Oberon intervenes and corrects the spells: Lysander returns to love Hermia and Demetrius sincerely falls in love with Helena. In the end, all the young people return to Athens to celebrate their weddings with Theseus and Hippolyta. The comedy ends with the craftsmen presenting their funny performance and Puck inviting the audience to reflect on the thin line between dream and reality.

LOCATION

A Midsummer Night's Dream primarily takes place in three distinct settings, reflecting the different groups of characters and their intertwining stories. Here are the main settings

How the Love Juice Turns Hatred into Love William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream (1595-96)

The following is the central passage of the play as concerns the irrationality of love - how easily people may fall in and out of love without acknowledging or even realizing the inconsistency of their behaviour. Puck drops the juice on Lysander's eyelids. Lysander has fallen asleep in love with Hermia but when he wakes up the first person he sees is Helena, and because of the magic properties of the juice he falls at once for her. Poor Helena is disconcerted: the minute before he was madly in love with Hermia, now he professes eternal love to her. Is he making fun of her? Or is just love that is irrational, as the whole play seems to imply?

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main themes

Love and Chaos The work shows how love can be changeable and capricious. Lovers suddenly change their feelings due to magic, underscoring how love can be unpredictable and irrational.

Illusion vs Reality Shakespeare plays on the border between what is real and what is illusory. The enchanted forest becomes the place where the distinction between dreams and reality is lost, emphasizing the fragility of human perceptions.

Magic and Fantasy Magic dominates much of the action. It is thanks to the spells of Oberon and Puck that the characters' lives intertwine in comical and unexpected ways. Magic symbolizes the unstoppable force of destiny and love.

Role of the Theatre The artisans, with their amateur representation of the tragedy of Pyramus and Thisbe, offer a reflection on the theater itself, demonstrating how art can imitate, but also distort real life.

Shakespeare uses a combination of poetic verse and prose to differentiate characters and their situations:

STYLE + LANGUAGE

Romantic Comedy The work is characterized by a light and playful tone, in which love is at the center of the narrative. The comical situations and romantic misunderstandings are resolved in a happy ending.

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Verse and Prose Nobles and fairies speak primarily in poetic verse, using language rich in imagery and metaphor. The artisans, however, speak in prose, creating a clear contrast between the elevated language of the nobility and the simplicity of the people.

CONCLUSIONS

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM

A Midsummer Night's Dream is a celebration of love, magic and the transformative power of theatre. Shakespeare shows us how love can be a source of joy and chaos, and how dreams and reality are intertwined in our experience of life. At the end of the opera, harmony is re-established, but not without leaving traces of what happened during that magical night.

THE END!

TITANIA

BOTTOM

Titania is the queen of the fairies, strong and independent. In conflict with Oberon, they cast a spell on him that makes her fall in love with Bottom, a man transformed into a donkey, a symbol of the power of love and magic. Bottom is the comic character of the story

DEMETRIUS

Demetrius is a young Athenian in love with Hermia and determined to conquer her, despite her not being interested. His perseverance leads him to look for Hermia in the woods, but in the end he finds himself changing his mind thanks to the intervention of magic.

OBERON

Oberon is the fairy king and authority figure in the wizarding world. Motivated by jealousy and the desire to reunite with Titania, he uses magic to manipulate events and restore harmony between fairies and humans.

HYPPOLYTA

Hippolyta is the queen of the Amazons and will be the wife of Theseus. Strong and independent, she represents a model of female power, and her union with Theseus symbolizes the harmony between the male and female worlds.

HELENA

Helena is a friend of Hermia and in love with Demetrius. Desperate and vulnerable, she decides to follow Demetrio into the woods, hoping that her love can finally be mutual..

THESEUS

Theseus is the powerful Duke of Athens, an important and respected figure. He prepares to marry Hippolyta, and is the mediator between the other characters' conflicts, trying to maintain order and justice.

EGEUS

Egeus is Hermia's father, a determined man. His insistence on Hermia's marriage to Demetrius represents the social pressure that is the key element in the conflict of the play.

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PUCK

Puck, or Robin Goodfellow, is the servant of Oberon, king of the fairies. Restless and intelligent, he enjoys causing confusion with magic, but his actions cause chaos between lovers and people.

HERMIA

Hermia is a young Athenian in love with Lysander. Determined and courageous, she decides to escape into the woods to avoid the impositions of her father, Egeo, who wants to marry her to Demetrio.

LYSANDER

Lysander is Hermia's lover, a good and romantic young man. Ready to do anything for love, he decides to escape with Hermia into the woods to prevent their love being stopped