CRITICISM

Burns, Edward. “‘Two of both kinds makes up four’: The Human and the Mortal in A Midsummer Night's Dream.” In ‘Divers toyes mengled’: Essays on Medieval and Renaissance Culture, edited by Michel Bitot in collaboration with Roberta Mullini and Peter Happ, pp. 299-309. Tours: Publication de l'Université François Rabelais, 1996.

Discusses how rhetoric in relation to emotion and theatrical situation distinguishes the mortals and fairies in A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Lamb, Mary Ellen. “Taken by the Fairies: Fairy Practices and the Production of Popular Culture in A Midsummer Night's Dream.” Shakespeare Quarterly 51, no. 3 (fall 2000): 277-312.

Argues that there are profound social and political implications inherent in Shakespeare's dramatic representation of the fairies, particularly Puck, in A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Lowenthal, David. “The Portrait of Athens in A Midsummer Night's Dream.” In Shakespeare's Political Pageant: Essays in Literature and Politics, edited by Joseph Alulis and Vickie Sullivan, pp. 77-88. Lanham, Md.: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 1996.

Demonstrates the ways in which Shakespeare portrayed Athens as the origin of democracy, philosophy, and drama in A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Mahood, M. M. “A Midsummer Night's Dream as Exorcism.” In Essays on Shakespeare, edited by T. R. Sharma, pp. 136-49. Meerut, India: Shalabh Book House, 1986.

Examines A Midsummer Night's Dream as a wedding play in which the action serves to exorcise the fear and anxiety associated with the act of marriage.

Mikics, David. “Poetry and Politics in A Midsummer Night's Dream.” Raritan 18, no. 2 (fall 1998): 99-119.

Maintains that Shakespeare employed imagination in A Midsummer Night's Dream to demonstrate the superiority of the poet dedicated to synthesis and coordination over the willful, dictatorial politician.

Olson, Paul A. “A Midsummer Night's Dream and the Meaning of Court Marriage.” ELH 24, no. 2 (June 1957): 95-119.

Analyzes A Midsummer Night's Dream within the context of the Renaissance tradition of the court marriage, noting how the play's structure and masque elements illuminate the traditional conception of marriage.

Taylor, Marion A. “The Allegorical Roles of Alençon and Queen Elizabeth in A Midsummer Night's Dream. In Bottom, Thou Art Translated: Political Allegory in A Midsummer Night's Dream and Related Literature, pp. 131-65. Amsterdam: Rodopi NV, 1973.

Suggests that Shakespeare addressed Elizabethan political issues in A Midsummer Night's Dream, employing Bottom and Titania to represent the Duke of Alençon and Queen Elizabeth.

Weller, Barry. “Identity Dis-figured: A Midsummer Night's Dream.” The Kenyon Review, new series, 12, no. 3 (summer 1985): 66-78.

Examines how devices such as metamorphosis, metaphor, and the physical nature of theatrical performance represent issues relating to identity in A Midsummer Night's Dream.