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A Midsummer Night’s Dream | Overviews
Wolfgang Clemens, in the first excerpt, provides a general introduction to A Midsummer Night's Dream, identifying and analyzing the play's historical background, language, themes, dramatic structure, characterization, and literary significance. In the second excerpt, Jack Vaughn characterizes the comedy as an eminently poetic work, discussing Shakespeare's language, with particular attention to eye imagery, such as the blindness of love.
Wolfgang Clemen
[Clemen provides a general introduction to A Midsummer Night's Dream, identifying and analyzing the play's historical background, language, themes, dramatic structure, characterization, and literary significance. Remarking that the transitory nature of love is the principal theme of the play, this critic praises Shakespeare's masterful use of language, particularly images representing the contrast of light and darkness, to suggest the atmosphere of a fantastic dream world. Shakespeare's language, Clemen maintains, is not only remarkably visual but...
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- A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Introduction
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Summary
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream: William Shakespeare Biography
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Reading Shakespeare
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream: List of Characters
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Historical Background
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A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Summary and Analysis
- Act I, Scene 1: Summary and Analysis
- Act I, Scene 2: Summary and Analysis
- Act II, Scene 1: Summary and Analysis
- Act II, Scene 2: Summary and Analysis
- Act III, Scene 1: Summary and Analysis
- Act III, Scene 2: Summary and Analysis
- Act IV, Scene 1: Summary and Analysis
- Act IV, Scene 2: Summary and Analysis
- Act V, Scene 1: Summary and Analysis
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Critical Commentary
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A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Quizzes
- Act I, Scene 1: Questions and Answers
- Act I, Scene 2: Questions and Answers
- Act II, Scene 1: Questions and Answers
- Act II, Scene 2: Questions and Answers
- Act III, Scene 1: Questions and Answers
- Act III, Scene 2: Questions and Answers
- Act IV, Scene 1: Questions and Answers
- Act IV, Scene 2: Questions and Answers
- Act V, Scene 1: Questions and Answers
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Essential Passages
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Themes
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A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Character Analysis
- Note on the Character Analysis
- Bottom (Character Analysis)
- Demetrius (Character Analysis)
- Helena (Character Analysis)
- Hermia (Character Analysis)
- Hippolyta (Character Analysis)
- Lysander (Character Analysis)
- Oberon (Character Analysis)
- Puck (Character Analysis)
- Theseus (Character Analysis)
- Other Characters (Descriptions)
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Principal Topics
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Essays
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Criticism
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Selected Quotes
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Suggested Essay Topics
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Sample Essay Outlines
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Modern Connections
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream: FAQs
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Bibliography and Further Reading
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Pictures
- Copyright
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