Student Question
How is inversion used in A Midsummer Night's Dream and what's the purpose of the play-within-the-play?
Quick answer:
Inversion in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" occurs when characters become the audience during the play-within-a-play, "Pyramus and Thisbe." This technique allows Shakespeare to reflect themes and character dynamics. The play-within-the-play serves to mirror the main plot's themes of love and confusion, contrasting the comedic struggles of the craftsmen with the romantic entanglements of the main characters. It highlights the social aspect of theater, blurring lines between actor and audience.
Shakespeare uses inversion when the characters become the audience, and the audience knows more about the play they are performing than the characters do during the performance of Pyramus and Thisbe.
Shakespeare used the device of a play within a play in other works, such as Hamlet. It is a way for him to hold a mirror up to characters, if they choose to look into it, and to highlight certain themes. Throughout A Midsummer Night’s Dream we have several subplots going on that have similar themes revolving around love in different forms.
There is the wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta, Athenian royalty, and the struggles of the four young lovers—Lysander, Demetrius, Hermia, and Helena—who are trying to pair up in the proper way. There is another plot line involving fairies who are arguing and who interfere with the lovers and the actors because they are annoyed that they...
Unlock
This Answer NowStart your 48-hour free trial and get ahead in class. Boost your grades with access to expert answers and top-tier study guides. Thousands of students are already mastering their assignments—don't miss out. Cancel anytime.
Already a member? Log in here.
are in the woods.
Contrasting with these plots is the comedic but heartfelt struggle of the craftsmen’s attempt to put on their meager production of Pyramus and Thisbe. a tragedy of two young lovers who simply aren’t meant to be together.
Marry, our play is, The Most Lamentable Comedyand Most Cruel Death of Pyramus and Thisbe. (Act 1, Scene 2)
At the wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta, the craftsmen perform their play for all of the other characters in the play. The audience has watched the young lovers throughout their mishaps, and laughed and cried along with them. Now, through the inversion technique, Shakespeare allows his audience to watch the characters in the play become an audience themselves while some of the characters—the craftsmen—remain actors playing different roles while the other characters watch.
A play there is, my lord, some ten words long,(65)
Which is as brief as I have known a play;
But by ten words, my lord, it is too long, (Act 5, Scene 1)
The play, of course, is terrible. The “actors” are not really actors. They are a carpenter, a joiner, a weaver, a bellows-mender, and a tailor. They over-act, forget their lines, and just overall make a mess of things. They give a prologue that is so long that it basically describes everything that happens in the play. The audience, as well, is not a good audience. They talk through amongst themselves, engage with the actors, and basically joke their way along.
However, everyone has a good time. All’s well that ends well. Shakespeare reminds everyone that in love, you end up with the one you are supposed to end up with (or, I suppose, love the one you’re with). Perhaps he is reminding his audience that even if the actors are not completely professional, you can still have fun. The very act of going to a theater is a social activity. It is an act of enjoying yourself, and being with the ones you care about, and being part of a good story. Sometimes the lines between audience and actor even get a bit blurred.