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Title: A Midsummer Night's Dream (Oxford World's Classics) by William Shakespeare, Peter Holland ISBN: 0-19-283420-7 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: May, 1998 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $7.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.67 (3 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Perfect fun
Comment: This play by Shakespeare has had a tremendous influence. First it was trasnformed into an opera by Purcell under the title of The Fairy Queen. Second it was widely known in Germany at the time of Goethe, but under the title of The Walpurgis Night. Goethe himself alludes to it in Faust and composes his Walpurgis Night at the end of the Faust as the prolongation of the end of Shakespeare's play. What is interesting in this play is the fact that the world of spirits, the night in the forest are used as elements to create a marvellous and light comedy. No witchcraft in all this. An entertaining though slightly grotesque tale. The Queen and King of the fairies use their powers to make fun of simple men, even providing Bottoms with the head of an ass (an old practice from the Middle Ages when the bishop of the pope were shown as being asses in the Masses of Fools or of Asses, some « carnival » rites authorised by the Church). But what is most important in this play is the fact that the fairies, with all their antics, make three marriages possible, and that is the end of the play. Three marriages, two times three people, three men and three women, the sacred number of Salomon. This ending is a christian ending. And when we add to these three marriages the couple of the Queen and King of Fairies, we come to the number of four couples, which is the sign of perfect equilibrium in Shakespeare. We find such a umber (four marriages) in As you Like It. Finally the whole play, or nearly it all, takes place in the night, the realm of Selene, the goddess of the night and the moon, who is only one of the three facets of Diana, the goddess of forests, animal life and hunting, whose third facet is Hecate, the goddess of death. This threeforld nature of Diana is constantly present in the play. It is the very symbol of the fairies. We must understand that for Shakespeare three is the number of disruption, chaos and the fairies bring chaos, though, in the end perfect equilibrium is achieved. The last element concerns the style of Shakespeare. He adapts his style to every character, moving from the highest and most perfect poetry with the King and Queen of fairies or with Theseus and Hippolyta, to a very simple language with the six (six again) craftsmen who prepare a play for Theseus and Hippolyta's wedding. In other words it is a light comedy that carries Shakespeare's whole art in its lines. A perfect introduction to this art, and with a lot of fun, thanks to the pranks fo Puck, a light-headed fairy of his own.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU
Rating: 5
Summary: A wonderful fantasy!
Comment: I loved this book so much. This story is just so magical with mischevious Puck and glimmering Titania. I enjoyed this book from cover to cover!
Rating: 1
Summary: It is Horrible!
Comment: I can't believe how you nice little English people can actually edit such terrible and unbelievable books! I hope you'll never ever get another book published!
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Title: TWELFTH NIGHT by William Shakespeare ISBN: 0671722948 Publisher: Washington Square Press Pub. Date: 01 October, 1993 List Price(USD): $4.99 |
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Title: Romeo and Juliet : BBC Dramatization by William Shakespeare, Kenneth Branagh, Dramatization ISBN: 0553455370 Publisher: Random House Audio Pub. Date: 01 January, 1994 List Price(USD): $28.00 |
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Title: The History of King Lear (Oxford World's Classics) by William Shakespeare, Stanley Wells ISBN: 0192839926 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: March, 2001 List Price(USD): $7.95 |
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Title: Mencken Chrestomathy by H.L. Mencken ISBN: 0394752090 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 12 April, 1982 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: As You Like It (Oxford World's Classics) by William Shakespeare, Alan Brissenden ISBN: 0192834193 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: May, 1998 List Price(USD): $7.95 |
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