Act Three

Entry 1:

        Many people believe that in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" Shakespeare is saying that love is an accident and that a person might as easily love one person as another. I think that this is Shakespeare's message because Shakespeare often changes who the four lovers love in an attempt to show how easy it is to love someone even though you may have previously devoted your love to someone else. An example of this is when Oberon criticizes Puck for making a mistake, yet Puck replies saying, "Then fate o'errules that, one man holding troth,/ A million fail, confounding oath on oath" (3.2.93-94). This quote is stating that Puck's mistake was fate and that there are more people who change loves than there are people who are strictly devoted to just one love. Furthermore, I think that Shakespeare feels that loves can be easily replaced and he displays this view in his play by changing the loves between Demetrius, Helena, Lysander, and Hermia and playing it off as fate.

Entry 2:

        The method that has helped me to understand the text best was first reading the play and then viewing the production. It first helps to read the novel to get a basic idea of what is going on and to learn to understand Shakespeare's language. However, reading the play can be confusing to where I do not understand the emotions of the characters. For example, in the play Titania awakes to see Nick Bottom, and having been given the juice that holds Cupid's magic, she begins to fawn over him, as shown when she says, "I pray thee, gentle mortal, sing again./ Mine ear is much enamored of thy note;/ So is mine eye enthralled to thy shape;/ And thy fair virtue's force perforce doth move me,/ On the first view to say, to swear, I love thee" (3.1.129-133). Reading this line allows me to see that Titania has become infatuated by Bottom, yet when I watch the production of the play I get a deeper understanding of how strong her admiration for Bottom is. Therefore, although I am given a basic understanding of the play by reading it, it is also helpful to watch the play's production to get a further understanding of the material.