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A Midsummer Night's Dream (Dover Thrift Editions)
Binding: Paperback
Author: William Shakespeare
Manufacturer: Dover Publications
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Average Rating: 4.5
Total Customer Reviews: 22
List Price: $1.50
Our Price: $1.50
Sales Rank: 17415
Product Description
Among the most popular of all Shakespeare’s comedies, this play humorously celebrates the vagaries of love. With its several pairs of lovers, on-again, off-again romances, magic spells, fairies, and a bumbling troupe of would-be actors, the play continues to enchant audiences. Unabridged reprint of an authoritative British edition, complete with explanatory footnotes.
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Users Product Reviews: |
Product Review Summary: A Timeless Classic What can be said about Shakespeare that hasn't been said or written?
Of all Shakespeare plays Midsummer Night's Dream is my favorite. All the fairies' spells wrecking havoc in the forest is the best plotline ever created by such genious. Enough said.
Product Review Summary: Great Any true reader will enjoy this boko. It is a little hard to follow at first but once you get the reading it is a great book.
Product Review Summary: " What mortal fool we are" A midsummer Night's Dream has a lot of spunk!! I think it was a little difficult to understand all of what they were saying sometimes but watching the movie really put in prospective for me. I thought is was one of those mudhy ushy love stories where they fall in love and kiss but it had a lot of twists and turns. My teacher, Mr. Paden, told us to do a scene from shakespear. I thought it was the same but he added a twist to it, we had to use only 15 props and that counted costumes. We had to eluminate the whole stage with something or do it outside. We could not change the words around either. We did outside in the rain and my skit was under a hang over while the audience stood in the rain. It was like the real thing because we had to do it outside and we were under the hangover just like in shakespeare time. I understood it after we watched the movie with each scene and do a skit on a scene. I think shakespeare moral is we are fools when we are in love. Just like Puck says. We make promises we can not keep when we are in love and overlook the facuities of the other person. The faries made a little mistakes and had to fix it so Lysander loves Hermia and Demetrius loves Helena again. It is funny and exciting with romantic, actors, and faries.
Product Review Summary: Lo, What Fools These Mortals Be In Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, four different people constantly fall in and out of love, all the while being confused and toyed with by some fairies. The story is good for a laugh, as well as being a rather clever insight into some of the nuances of love.
At the start of the play, there is a dilemma. Egeus' daughter Hermia is in love with Lysander, who is in love with her. But her father believes she should marry Demetrius, another courter. To complicate matters, Hermia's friend Helena has slept with Demetrius before, and is completely enamored with him. By a strange turn of events, all four end up in the woods late at night, when the fairies are about. Oberon, the king of the fairies, sends his number one servant Puck, to bewitch Demetrius to fall in love with Helena. But Puck makes a mistake, and instead makes Lysander fall in love with Helena. Attempting to correct things, Puck makes Demetrius also fall in love with her, leaving poor Hermia confused and angry. Helena thinks everyone is playing a trick on her, Lysander and Demetrius are professing their love for Helena, and Hermia is trying to claw out Helena's eyes. The scenes are most amusing, but are also rather pointed. In this altered state, Lysander says things to his beloved Hermia that he would never have said otherwise, calling her short and shrewish. It leaves one to wonder if this is what he truly thought of her sometimes, but was afraid to say. Eventually, Puck and Oberon clear everything up by putting everyone to sleep, and when they wake up, Hermia and Lysander are in love, as are Helena and Demetrius. There are two weddings, and everyone is happy, except Egeus.
In this play, there is a rather funny view of love represented. Although normally they are the picture of happiness and kindness to each other, Lysander and Hermia become violently at odds once the spell is cast upon them by Puck. They say terrible things, insult each other, and generally act like school children. On the other hand, Hermia is so desperate to have Demetrius back again, but once she actually gets him, she doesn't believe his love is true and real, because she has so convinced herself that he can never love her. It's a funny story, but it has reflections into real life as well. When in love, people are oftentimes so enamored with each other that they overlook, gloss over, or pretend that one another's flaws don't exist. But once that veil of initial emfatuation is removed, then they start to be honest about each other's imperfections. On the other hand, Hermia's experience is quite normal as well. Sometimes, a person can be so entranced, and want someone so badly, that they conjure up an image of the person that is unrealistic. Then, when they finally can have the person, they find out that they don't measure up to expectations or fantasies, and the grass truly isn't greener on the other side of the fence.
I think that this play was excellent. Shakespeare never fails to disappoint in being able to capture his reader's attention, and I loved this play. It was clever and witty, and I would recommend it as a good read, if for no other reason than to get exposure to some of Shakespeare's lighter writings.
Product Review Summary: Dare To Dream Love is a powerful emotion that even Shakespeare was mystified by. It often makes you do crazy things, which is brilliantly displayed in A Midsummer Night's Dream. The story of four young lovers and their conflicting interests in each other are revealed as we are taken on an enchanted journey into the woods. Shakespeare is captivating as he shares the lovers' experiences in the wonder, beauty, and folly that love creates.
Although comedic, A Midsummer Night's Dream conveys a timeless message to readers of all ages. Shakespeare skillfully displays the passion and power of love. Love blinds us, shielding lovers from all faults and blemishes of their devoted. The night is controlled by the fairies, symbolizing the magic and passion that the lovers' feel in the night. Lovers live in a world of fantasies and illusions and are separated from all state of reason. Regardless of how foolish one acts when in love, it is a magical dream that no one wishes to wake from.
Living in a world where love is commonly spoken without meaning, reduces the power of love to everyday and ordinary. Shakespeare shows us how there is nothing "ordinary" about love. People in love live a life that has been drastically altered, and forever changed. I believe there is beauty and sanctity in love, it is a gift which is not to be wasted but to be embraced, and takes a lifetime to appreciate.
This celebration of love spoke volumes to me, as it will to you. The value and follies of love is beautifully illustrated and humorously delivered. This sarcastic depiction of love is very realistic and communicates the passion and desire that everyone longs for. A Midsummer Night's Dream allows you to experience your wildest dreams and imagine a world beyond, where the magic of the fairies fill the night.
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