CRITICISM

Holloway, Julia Bolton. “Apuleius and Midsummer Night's Dream: Bottom's Metamorphoses.” In Tales Within Tales: Apuleius Through Time, edited by Constance S. Wright and Julia Bolton Holloway, pp. 123-37. New York: AMS Press, 2000.

Suggests that Shakespeare's use of enchantment and dreams in A Midsummer Night's Dream mirrors the struggle of the psyche in society and illustrates the complexity of the human condition.

Howard, Skiles. “Hands, Feet, and Bottoms: Decentering the Cosmic Dance in A Midsummer Night's Dream.” Shakespeare Quarterly 44, no. 3 (autumn 1993): 325-42.

Focuses on the symbolic and traditional meanings of the dances portrayed in A Midsummer Night's Dream and contends that these scenes provide a unique insight into the courtly festivities of England's history.

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 (autumn 2000): 277-312.

Theorizes that the fairy realm in A Midsummer Night's Dream is representative of the lower class and its struggle for acknowledgement from the rest of society.

Lehmann, Courtney. “Authors, Players, and the Shakespearean Auteur-Function in A Midsummer Night's Dream.” In Shakespeare Remains: Theater to Film, Early Modern to Postmodern, pp. 54-88. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 2002.

Examines how the struggles of Shakespeare's role as an author/playwright are mirrored in A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Stavig, Mark. “Ill Met By Moonlight.” In The Forms of Things Unknown: Renaissance Metaphor in Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night's Dream, pp. 199-226. Pittsburgh: Duquesne University Press, 1995.

Offers a symbolic analysis of love, masculinity, and femininity in A Midsummer Night's Dream and examines how the passionate, natural world of the fairies compares and contrasts to the realistic, rational world of Athenian society.

Wall, Wendy. “Why Does Puck Sweep?: Fairylore, Merry Wives, and Social Struggle.” Shakespeare Quarterly 52, no. 1 (2001): 67-106.

Asserts that when Puck sweeps away dust at the close of the play, he symbolically links monarchic England with its lower-class subjects and their menial tasks.