A Midsummer Night’s Dream occurs in the context of two sharply contrasting settings; the logical and highly structured city of Athens, and the natural environment of the woods located outside of the city. William Shakespeare carefully separates the two places by making the character’s actions and motivations reflect the particular setting they are in at a certain time. Shakespeare does this by altering the content and tone of the character’s speech as well as the motivation of their actions. Another factor is the chaotic nature of the woods, because it is influenced greatly by the feud between Titania and Oberon and the effect their emotions have upon nature. I will be analyzing the settings and the speech of each group of characters: the rulers of Athens, the fairies, and the four lovers.

The rulers of Athens, Theseus and Hippolyta, and other characters such as Egeus and the four lovers when they are within the confines of Athens, all speak in formal way. In Athens characters speak about love and marriage as if it is a contract or a formal obligation. The four lovers: Lysander, Demetrius, Hermia and Helena, speak very differently in the Athens than in the woods. It is through the transformation of these characters that the contrast of the two settings becomes apparent and important. In Athens each suitor presents a rational case for the love of Hermia, and the decision of whom Hermia will marry is left to a Theseus; Egeus states that he will exercise his ‘right’ to either have Hermia obey who he consents for her to marry or for her to be killed. When the young lovers go to the woods they become less and less logical; the further they delve into the woods, the more emotional they become.

The fairies are also in the woods; they are poetic and enjoy things that are fun, such as playing pranks on unsuspecting mortals. Logic certainly does not have prevalence in the fairies mind, for they often act on impulse out of anger or love. “‘The lunatic, the lover, and the poet’ are all alike because they all try to make reality conform with their own imaginations and desires,” (Roberts and Jacobs 1115) this statement embodies the spirit of the woods, and it declares that love is often madness and that it can be very chaotic. This is illustrated hilariously when Titania falls in love with one of the players, Bottom, who has had his head turned into the head of an ass by the trickster, Puck. This comedic predicament is a direct result of Oberon’s prank to punish Titania; in the end he sees that he loves her and their feud is forgotten.

The madness of love is also demonstrated when Puck makes a mistake and causes Lysander to fall in love with Helena. Eventually both men are ‘in love’ with Helena and Lysander disregards Hermia. They begin to call each other names and revert to insults of immaturity. There is nothing logical about their arguments or their perceived love. Oberon steps in to help fix the problem and Puck restores balance by causing Demetrius to stay in love with Helena and Lysander to fall back in love with Hermia. The four lovers wake up together feeling as though they were just dreaming of the events of the last night. Again order prevails over them but there seems to be no conflict, Demetrius is no longer in pursuit of Hermia and so Egeus cannot refuse Hermia from marrying Lysander. The two men, once enemies, no longer have a conflict of interest and so the four couples go to Athens to be married.

Shakespeare successfully uses these two settings to contrast the two sides of love, the logical side which is important and also the emotional and insane side that causes couples to be “crazy about each other.” Without the contrast of these two feelings, love is either very boring or far to chaotic and sporadic to last. These principles are illustrated in the play-within-a-play that tells the story of Pyrimus and Thisby. The two lovers escape from a world that is structured and go into nature where their inhibitions are lowered and their emotions are heightened. Pyrimus is unable to think logically about the situation and believes that Thisby has been killed by the lion, he acts rashly and kills himself, and this forces Thisby to do the same. It is important to recognize that love must be logical at times but it should not be without emotion or chaos; fights and misunderstandings make love much more interesting!

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