MEDIA REVIEW: A Midsummer Night's Dream

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It's a Pucked-Up World

The 1999 film-adaptation of William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream succeeded in its portrayal of how silly young love can be. The all-star cast included Kevin Kline ( Nick Bottom), Michelle Pfeiffer (Titiana), Stanley Tucci (Puck), Sophie Marceau (Hippolyta), Christian Bale (Demetrius), and Calista Flockhart (Helena). Shakespeare’s themes of dreams and magic take the viewer on an entertaining journey of how silly love can be. The audience enjoys the ensemble of actors who masterfully portray the characters while adding a little twist of 'contemporary', such as the use of bicycles, setting the film in Italy with reference to the original Athens setting, and a mud-wrestling scene!

Dreams are one of the main themes used to rationalize otherwise unbelievable events within the forest. Hippolyta mentions dreams in the first scene which sets a tone for the rest of the play: “Four days will quickly steep themselves in night, / Four nights will quickly dream away the time” (I. i. 7-8). Another mention of a dream came from Bottom, as his own logic attempts to explain away the events of the previous night: “I have had a dream, past the wit of man to say what / dream it was” (IV. i. 90-92).

As magic is another central theme in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare uses a love potion to symbolize the magical properties of love. Puck sprinkles the liquid from the flower onto various mortals’ eyelids while they sleep with the intention of helping the mortals realize their true loves. Oberon convinces Puck to spread the magic to Titiana when the behavior of faries in love become equally silly. One of Titiana’s notorious quotes is “My Oberon! What visions have I seen! / Methoughts I was enamoured of an ass” (IV. i. 59-60).

In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare’s themes of dreams and magic exemplify how the various states of love might be. The intensity of love can motivate the actions of lovers and sometimes does nothing but discombobulate a person’s perception of reality. Once the initial phases run their course, the real reality takes over! Enjoy the film clip of Michelle Pfeiffer "enamoured with an ass", and a mud-wrestling scene!

Shakespeare's remarkable talent and vision, as well as his understanding of human nature (both male AND female), are timeless and will survive through the ages!

Works Cited

A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Dir. Michael Hoffman. Perf. Kevin Kline, Michelle Pfeiffer, Calista Flockhart,

Sophie Marceau, and Christian Bale. Fox Searchlight Pictures. 1999.

Shakespeare, William. “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. 3rd

ed. Ed. Stanley Wells and Gary Taylor. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. 311-333.