A Comparison of A Midsummer Nights Dream and Romeo and Juliet :: comparison compare contrast essays

Various par solelyels in Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Nights Dream tend to support the theory that the two plays are closely related. It is the purpose of this paper to show that wherever parallels exist, the relationship is probably from A Midsummer Nights Dream to Romeo and Juliet. A close analysis of the life sentence of the two plays, and of the different attitudes towards love and life that they present, leads us to the conclusion that A Midsummer Nights Dream is the natural reaction of Shakespeares mind from Romeo and Juliet. It will be inessential in this paper to present all the evidence bearing on the dates of composition of the two plays. There can be little doubt that the graduation version of Romeo and Juliet appeared about 1591. The date of the first version of the Dream is more problematical. The only bit of external evidence is the mention of the play in Francis Meress2 Palladis Tamiain 1598, precisely the strongest bit of internal evi dence-the supposed reference to the death of Robert Greene, in Act v, I, 52-3 The thrice three Muses mourning for the death Of Learning, late deceased in beggary-- would pee the date at 1592-3. Assuming, then, that the Dream was written soon, perhaps immediately, after Romeo and Juliet, let us see if a comparative study of the two plays will non support our hypothesis. Awake the pert and nimble spirit of mirth, Turn melancholy forth to funerals says Theseus in the first place setting of the Dream, and later in the first scene of Act v Lovers and madmen have such seething brains, Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend More than cool reason ever comprehends. The lunatic, the lover, and the poet Are of imagination all compact These two speeches of Theseus, to whom Shakespeare has given much of his own clear-eyed serenity and benignity, are, it seems to me, significant manifestations of the poets own mental attitude when he