William Shakespeare, Renaissance Reality, & A Midsummer Night's Dream
Long before the time of Sigmund Freud, Jung, or other dream theorists, psychoanalysts, or neurological research, William Shakespeare showed us the impact that our dreams play on our lives, emotions, and mind.
Shakespeare had a great ability to "milk" the audiences imagination for everything it was capable of subconsciously contributing. The audiences of the Renaissance could relate to the content of Shakespeare's plays on a deep, dream-state.
The audience interacts with the subconscious and fantastical elements. Many individuals have critically analyzed the dreams in A Midsummer Nights Dream, others have looked at the general culture and context in which Shakespeare wrote, but most have completely ignored the value that dream-like elements hold towards the audience and their personal lives. The audience's ability to relate it to their own mind's reality completed the loop, drawing the audience in by relation to the subconsciousness of reality, and reality of the subconscious.
By looking at the works of Northrop Frye, Jerome Mandel, Jennifer Lewin, and Walter Clyde Curry, we gain a wide outlook on how Shakespeare's plays operate and how dreams and dream-elements run rampant in our minds and in the minds of Renaissance audiences. As well as some attention on what typical audiences probably were willing to accept at the time as reality and how certain elements in Shakespeare may have aroused strong responses.
Read more:
William Shakespeare, Renaissance Reality, & A Midsummer Night's Dream
Renaissance: A Time Of Loose Consciousness
Hermia's Heart Eaten By A Snake!
Natural & Diabolic Origin Of Dreams
Reailty Of Renaissance England And It's Play World
Functionality Of Renaissance Dreams
Dreams Allow Us To Differentiate
Dreams As A Private Space
Dreams As An Evaluative Tool
Some Final Thoughts
Literary Sources & Biographies
About Me: Asif M. Badar