A Midsummer Night’s Dream is often classified as either a tragedy or a comedy. A closer analysis of A Midsummer Night’s Dream leads to the conclusion that A Midsummer Night’s Dream can be both. A Midsummer Night’s Dream has elements of both tragedy and comedy, where in some ways it is a tragedy, and in other ways it can be considered a comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream is tragic in the fact that the play starts and ends with loss and death.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream also has comedic elements such as the banter of Theseus and Hippolyta at each other’s expense or even when Titania brags about her fairy thumpers. A Midsummer Night’s Dream would not necessarily be classified under either label but rather as both.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream is one of Shakespeare’s most popular plays. It is essentially a story about love in many forms, with fairies and magical elements thrown into the mix. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is under constant debate on if it is a comedy or tragedy. A tragedy is defined as “a serious drama usually portraying a conflict between the protagonist and a superior force (such as destiny) and having a sorrowful or disastrous conclusion that induces pity or terror”. A comedy is defined as “a play, movie, television show, etc. that has a happy ending and typically employs crude humor and slapstick humor: she writes romantic comedies”.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream doesn’t fit into either of the two genres that are defined above. It is neither a tragedy or comedy, but both, with elements of each throughout the play. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is best classified as an example of an entremetteuse comedy which means it is “a type of comic drama in verse written by William Shakespeare and others in which four acts (called “entries”) alternate between five pairs of lovers whose wooing ends happily for all concerned; also: such a play” (Shakespeare).
A Midsummer Night’s Dream has three sets of lovers who are all being, or have been, manipulated by the magical world. The first set of lovers are Lysander and Hermia. “The young Athenian aristocrat, Lysander, is in love with Hermia but her father wants her to marry Demetrius” (Shakespeare). This comedic element is that two people are being forced apart by another person for their own gain. A Midsummer Night’s Dream also includes a second pair of young lovers named Helena and Demetrius.
Helena loves Demetrius but he only desires Hermia…She uses witchcraft to try to make him fall back in love with her” (Shakespeare). The third pair of lovers are Demetrius and Titania. “The fairy queen, Titania, has fallen in love with the human Lysander…and is also having an affair with the jester Puck” (Shakespeare). A Midsummer Night’s Dream has many comedic elements throughout the play. This makes A Midsummer Night’s Dream a comedy because it says that there is a happy ending for all of the characters involved.
A tragedy on the other hand normally has no happy endings; instead, it ends sadly or tragically where everyone dies. A Midsummer Night’s Dream does not fit into any typical classification of drama. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a comedic tragedy play with elements of each genre throughout the entire play. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is not your typical comedy or tragedy, it is an entremetteuse comedy that has elements of both genres within it making A Midsummer Night’s Dream a good example of this type of play.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream could have easily been tragedy or comedy, depending on what had happened at the end of the play. A comedic ending would be if Hermia and Lysander ended up together, but A Midsummer Night’s Dream is actually a mixture of both tragedy and comedy. Tragedy occurs many times in A Midsummer Night’s Dream with the death of characters like Egeus (Hermia’s father) and with courtship failure (Helena by Demetrius). Comedy ensues later with Puck’s mischief; however it also comes back to haunt him with Titania waking up to an ass’s head. Therefore A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a mixture of both tragedy and comedy.
A tragic play ends with a character dying or a courtly love failure where one or both of the lovers do not end up with whom they want to be with. A comedic play has a humorous character, and also may have a happy ending A Midsummer Night’s Dream could have easily been tragedy or comedy but instead chooses remixed bits of each. A comedic ending would be if Hermia or Lysander ended up together outsmarted their original partners.
A tragic ending would be if all four pairs died in some way, whether it was by fighting fairies, falling into an enchanted sleep, or even death by Shakespeare’s time period’s style weapons. Tragedy occurs many times in A Midsummer Night’s Dream with the death of characters like Egeus (Hermia’s father) and with courtship failure A Midsummer Night’s Dream is neither a tragic nor comedic play but instead chooses remixed bits of both. A tragic play ends with a character dying or a courtly love failure where one or both of the lovers do not end up together.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream has been classified as both a tragedy and a comedy, depending on the interpretation of the reader and the era it was written in. A Midsummer Night’s Dream has also been labelled as one of William Shakespeare’s problem comedies. A problem comedy is defined as: A type of drama characterized by an improbable plot; its humor arises from some unlikely but humorous event that later turns out to have happened with good reason.
The Tragical History Of A Midsummer Night’s Dream The play begins with an Athenian noble named Theseus discussing his engagement with Hippolyta, who lives in a world governed by the laws of Athens. A troupe of actors, “The Mechanicals”, arrive at the palace and perform a play for Theseus’ wedding celebration. The actors present A Midsummer Night’s Dream, a satire which ends with Pyramus killing himself after believing his lover Thisbe is dead. After this, Egeus asks the Duke to banish Hermia from Athens because she does not want to marry he choice male.
The Duke commands that Hermia shall be put to death if it so happens that she cannot be brought to love Demetrius in an appropriate time period. A rustic named Lysander overhears this decision and flees with his lover, Hermia, into the woods outside Athens along with her friend, Helena. A little bit later, Theseus and Hippolyta arrive at the forest to witness a bizarre sight: A young man named Demetrius is chasing after Hermia.
He explains that he does not love Hermia but will still fight for her because she has chosen him as her lover rather than Lysander. A Midsummer Night’s Dream Tragedy A third person then arrives in which we learn that her name is Helena and that she loves Demetrius. The situation drastically changes when Egeus’ daughter, Hermia, and Lysander run away together into the forest.