A Midsummer Night’s Dream -

Motifs- The Moon -

I. What is the role of the moon in the play?

The moon plays an important role in the play for many different reasons. Firstly the moon is important for setting- much of the play’s happenings take place by moonlight for example Act 2 to Act 4. Only one scene- the end of Act 4 Scene 1- actually takes place by full daylight. As Elizabethans believed that the moon caused people to turn unreliable and unstable, it would have explained the male lovers’ inconstant and irrational behaviour in the woodsdespite being under the influence of love juice. Furthermore, the moon is represented as a comical device in Act 5 by the craftsmen who, unlike Shakespeare, choose to portray the moon literally in the form of Starveling who plays the role of ‘Moonshine’ in the craftsmen’s play. This helps to expose the craftsmen as terrible actors who underestimate their audience’s imagination as they present Moonshine literally with a ‘lanthorn, dog, and bush of thorn’.

II. Context

In Sherborne’s analysis of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ he points out that:

‘Elizabethan plays were acted in daylight or indoors by the light of flaming torches- in either case little or no scenery was used so speech invoked detail. There was a long standing belief still current in Elizabethan times that, while the heavens were as God had created them, perfect and unchanging, the fall of man had made the area from the moon down to the earth imperfect and unstable. Hence change, death and decay could not be avoided in our world, and earthly love, in contrast to divine love would often prove unreliable and impermanent. In Act 2 scene 2 of Romeo and Juliet, Juliet cautions Romeo against swearing by ‘the inconstant moon/ that monthly changes in her circled orb’ showing how it is a symbol of inconstancy and imperfection.

In a sense the whole play runs to lunar time. Lysander has charmed Hermia by moonlight and sets the time of their elopement by the moon. Theseus and Hippolyta reckons the time left until their marriage by the moon’s phases, Titania’s fairy and Oberon measure their speed against the moon. Hermia measures her incredulity against the likelihood of the moon passing through the centre of the earth, Quince arranges his rehearsals for moonlight, and Pyramus cannot die until the moon has been sympathetically withdrawn from the stage.’

Work Cited: Michael Sherborne, York Notes for AS and A2- A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Pearson Educated Limited, 2000, 2013, page 67

III. What do critics say?

In his book ‘A reader’s guide to essential criticism’, Nicholas Tredell points out that critic Caroline Spurgeon in her book ‘Shakespeare’s imagery and What It Tells Us’, focuses on ‘recurrent imagery’ saying that ‘this imagery contributes chiefly to the atmosphere in the play.’ She says: ‘what we feel is the woodland beauty of the dreaming summer night’ and also says that

the ‘pervasive influence and presence of the moon’ contributes to this. In her book she point out that the moon is mentioned 28 times in the text, 3.5 times more than any other play. The term moonlight appears 6 times in the play out of 8 times in all of Shakespeare’s plays. The moon imagery ‘partly supplies the dreaming and enchanted quality in the play’.Tredell then points out thatthe moon is invoked at the start of the play, in the opening exchange between Theseus and Hippolyta, and near the end, in Puck’s phrase ‘the wolf behowls the moon’. The moon measures time and movement: the lovers arrange to meet the next day ‘when Phoebe doth behold/ Her silver visage in the watery glass. Oberon tells Titania ‘We the glove can compass soon/ swifter than the wand’ring moon’, ‘The moon is the governess of floods’ and ‘her chaste beams’ quench ‘young Cupid’s fiery shaft’/. Hermia would soon as believe that Lysander has stolen away from her while she was sleeping as she would believe that the ‘whole earth may be bored, and that the moon/ May through the centre creep, and so displease/ her brother’s noon-tide with the Antipodes.’

Further reading:

Nicholas Tredell ,Shakespeare A Midsummer Night’s Dream- A reader’s guide to essential criticism,Palgrave Macmillan, 2010, page 40

IV. Analysis

1. Act 1 Scene 1

The moon is first referred to at the very beginning of the play when Theseus appears impatient to marry his bride Hippolyta- Queen of the Amazons whom he has won in a battle. Theseus tells Hippolyta: ‘four happy days bring in/Another moon- but O, methinks, how slow/This old moon wanes!’ Therefore, from the outset of the play, the moon appears to mark the passage of time. It appears as though Hippolyta does not share Theseus’ enthusiasm for the marriage as she says:

‘Four nights will quickly dream away the time;/ And then the moon, like to a silver bow/Now bent in heaven, shall behold the night/ Of our solemnities’. In Sherborne’s notes, he suggest that Hippolyta’s reference to ‘to the moon, like to silver bow’ ‘would have resonated with an educated Elizabethan audience as they would have thought of Diana, the goddess of hunting and chastity. Diana was associated with the moon goddess Phoebe’ as she is later in the act when Theseus ‘warns Hermia that as a celibate nun at ‘Diana’s altershe would have to chant hymns to the ‘cold fruitless moon’.

Work Cited: Michael Sherborne, York Notes for AS and A2- A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Pearson Educated Limited, 2000, 2013, page 67

The moon is cited again later in the act when Lysander and Hermia tell Helena of their plans to run into the woods after Theseus tells Hermia that she must marry Demetrius or face banishment to a convent where she would face life as a nun. Lysander tells Helena: ‘Tomorrow night, when Phoebe doth behold/Her silver visage in the watery glass/ Decking with liquid pearl the bladed grass/ (A time that lover’s flight doth still conceal)’… Here the moon is portrayed as being in allegiance with Lysander and Hermia as it will enable them to steal away into the woods at night and find then freedom to be together.

2. Act 2 Scene 1

The moon is referenced again by Oberon very near the beginning of Act 2 Scene 1 after both he and Titania and their quarrelhave been introduced by Puck and anotherunamed fairy. Oberon’s first line to his wife is: ‘Ill met by moonlight proud Titania’. This is important for two reasons. Firstly, as mentioned earlier, it sets the scene for the audience, especially an Elizabethan audience who were not use to elaborate set design that modern audiences have enjoyed in the 19th to 21st century. Therefore, this was a signal to the Elizabethan audience that they should understand that the fairy world takes place at night time under the unstable and magical forces of the moon. Secondly, there are many critics who have argued that the characters of Titania

and Oberon represent the subconscious desire of Theseus and Hippolyta- essentially being the dream selves of the mortal couple. One can therefore draw parallels between Oberon’s first lines which reference the moon, with Theseus’ first lines which also reference the moon.

Of course, since the play’s original staging, many directors have chosen to interpret the importance of the moon differently and direct their play accordingly. For example the 2005 RSC Greg Doran production had a gigantic full moon which stayed on stage throughout the play in order to represent its influence over the characters in the play.

3. Act 5

Another important reference to the moon is in Act 5, with the character of Starveling playing a literal representation of the moon in The Craftmen’s play which they perform to the three mortal couples who have been married at this point. Quince introduces the character during his prologue saying: ‘This man with lanthorn, dog, and bush of thorn,/Presenteth moonshine; for, if you will know,/By moonshine did these lovers think no scorn/ To meet at Ninus’ tomb’. This is interesting for two reasons. Firstly, Quince is intimating that Pyramus and Thisbe are only free to meet with each other at night, under the light of the moon. This draws parallels with Lysander’s words in Act 1 Scene 1 where he tells Helena that he and Hermia will run away by moonlight. This suggests that the moon is symbol of freedom for couples facing challenged to be together, and also highlights that it has the power to make humans act in irrational and impulsive ways. Secondly, Quince’s words here highlight the fact that he and the rest of the craftsmen are terrible actors and completely underestimate the intelligence and imagination of their audience, whilst overestimating their own ability as actors. Shakespeare allows the audience to imagine the moon for themselves in the rest of the play, he does not need to provide us with a literal representation of the setting. The Craftsmen however think that their audience will not be able to imagine the moonshine for themselves. In Act 3 Scene 1, whilst they are rehearsing their play in the woods, Quince talks about the ‘two hard things: that is, to bring the moonshine into a chamber; for, you know, Pyramus and Thisbe meet by moonlight’. Once they

establish that the moon will be visible the night they are due to perform, Bottom’s idea is to: ‘leave a casement of the great chamber window, where we play, open, and the moon may shine in at the casement’. Finally, it is Quince who decides that: ‘one must come in with a bush of thorn and a lantern’, to present the person of Moonshine’. Their buffoonery therefore creates comedy in the final act.

Finally, the irrational influence of the moon is highlighted when Bottom playing as Thisbe in the craftsmen’s play, kills himself under moonlight because Thisbe cannot be with her one true love Pyramus. He comically says: ‘I thank thee moon, for shining now so bright; For by thy gracious, golden, glittering gleams…Thus die I, thus, thus, thus.’ Of course the crude alliteration and repetition mean that the audience do not take Bottom seriously, however considering that under moonlight the lovers find themselves in potentially dangerous situations, the role of the moon in the play can be considered as a dangerous influence.

Personal Assessment

(Some questions may have more than one correct answer)

1) Which goddesses would the Elizabethans have associated with the moon?

a) Apollo

b) Diana

c) Cupid

d)Phoebe

2) Who plays the role of Moonshine in The Craftsmen’s play?

a) Bottom

b) Quince

c) Starveling

d) Puck

3) Which characters reference the moon in the play?

a) Lysander

b) Theseus

c) Demetrius

d) Oberon

4) How would an Elizabethan audience have known certain scenes were supposed to be set by moonlight?

a) The characters refer to it in their speech

b) There would be elaborate set design on stage

c) All Shakespeare’s plays are set by moonlight

d) It’s in the stage directions

5) How do The Craftsmen let their audience know there is moonshine in their play?

a) Quince tells them about moonshine in his prologue

b) They let their audience use their own imagination

c)Starveling plays a literal representation of moonshine

d) The audience have a sixth sense

6) Which is the only scene to take place by full daylight?

a) Act 2 Scene 2

b) Act 2 Scene 1

c) Act 3 Scene 2

d) End of Act 4 Scene 1

7) What was the Elizabethan view about the moon?

a) That the moon was alive

b) It encouraged irrational and inconstant behaviour

c) Lunacy was a state brought on by the moon.

d) That people could act more freely under the influence of the moon

8) According to critic Caroline Spurgeon, how many times is the moon mentioned in the play?

a) 28 times

b) 32 times

c) 3.2 times

d) 10 times

9) Which two characters’ first lines in the play reference the moon?

a) Hermia

b) Theseus

c) Lysander

d) Oberon

10) Why is this significant?

a) Because it’s interesting

b) Because it shows that Oberon and Theseus are similar characters

c) Because it shows the moon is important

d) Because some critics argue that Oberon and Titania are representations of Theseus and Hippolyta’s subconscious playing out their desires at night.

Answers

1) B, D

2) C

3) A, B, D

4) A

5) A, C

6) D

7) B, C

8) A

9) B, D

10) D