Biographical+Approach


 * By the beginning of the 17th Century, William Shakespeare was one of the most prominent men in all of England. He was a man who wrote stories to entertain the masses as well as to entertain the peerage. His ability to reach all audiences made him one of the most successful people in the literary world. His works still being widely read, performed, and studied around the world. According to the Chicago Shakespeare society, A Midsummer Night’s Dream was so popular because it reflect what was happening in the London at the time. The plot centers on three couples; Theseus and Hippolyta, Hermia and Lysander, Helena and Demetrius; who are in the forest, eloping or trying to find their loved ones. Each of these couples represented three different noble couples, these couples were scandalized in English society because they had married secretly and without the express permission of the Queen.**


 * The play was created to celebrate the wedding of Elizabeth Carey to Thomas Berkeley, an important event for Shakespeare's theater group, The Lord Chamberlain's Men. Elizabeth's wedding was so significant because she was the granddaughter of Lord Henry Hunsdown, the Lord Chamberlain to the Queen Elizabeth.This is mirrored in the opening Act, in which Bottom and the other weavers prepare to perform the ancient tragedy of Pyramus and Thesbe for the wedding celebrations between Theseus and Hippolyta.**
 * As well as drawing inspiration from the world and society that surrounded him, Shakespeare drew inspiration from the rediscovered classical works that gained popularity during the Renaissance.**
 * Shakespeare's iconic characters Theseus and Hippolyta were both influenced by Sir Thomas North's translations of the Ancient Roman author Plutarch's works, //The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romanes//(1579). In his studies of Ovid's translated works, Shakespeare found and later incorporated the story of Pyramus and Thebes into his play of A Midsummer's Night Dream. It is widely believed that he also used Ovid's writings to create the hunting party scene in Act 4, in which Theseus and his betrothed, Hippolyta, find the two eloped couples in the forest.**


 * //A Midsummer's Nights Dream// was also influenced by previous popular and medieval English works and writers. Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Knight's Tale" from the //Canterbury Tales////,// tells the story of Theseus, Duke of Athens, and his Amazon wife Yppolita.**
 * //"By Theseus, and by his chivalrye,// **
 * //And of the grete bataille for the nones// **
 * //Bitwixen Atthenes and Amazones,// **
 * //And how esseged was Yppolita// **
 * //The faire hard queene of Scithia"// **
 * //(//Mabillard) **

====** A Midsummer’s Nights Dream is directly linked to the time period in which Shakespeare lived. During the Renaissance, women were considerably inferior to men, even though Queen Elizabeth held the throne. One of the female’s family members usually chose the man for whom she would marry based on social status, in which she would most likely only meet him the day prior to the wedding. Shakespeare includes this aspect of daily life through the relationship between Hermia and Lysander, in which Hermia’s father, Egeus, did not give them permission to marry. Although A Midsummer’s Nights Dream includes aspects of the inferiority of women, it also includes praise towards Queen Elizabeth herself. Supposedly this line was seen by critics as a direct compliment to the Queen. “Thrice blessed they that master so their blood To undergo such maiden pilgrimage; But earthlier happy is the rose distill'd Than that which withering on the virgin thorn Grows, lives, and dies in single blessedness.”(I.i.74-78). This line compliments the queens choice in staying a virgin and in choosing to rule without a husband by her side. Shakespeare acknowledges how he respects the fact that the Queen is able to find happiness and success as a single woman. Another poetic compliment from A Midsummer’s Nights Dream directed towards the Queen was from Act II Scene I in which he called her “a fair vestal enthroned by the west” and “ And the imperial votaress passed on, In maiden meditation, fancy-free” in which both these quotes compliment her being the virgin queen who can rule by herself and who can think freely. Shakespeare was extremely faithful to the Queen and he was Elizabeth’s favorite poet. The Queen and Shakespeare were very fond of each other. The Queen was seen to be the direct tribute for A Midsummer’s Nights Dream. **====