King John Act 4 – “I am amazed, methinks, and lose my way Among the thorns and dangers of this world.”

King John Act 4 – “I am amazed, methinks, and lose my way

Among the thorns and dangers of this world.”

Shakespeare knows how to create a labyrinth within a plot and use verse to create hedges high and pathways both simple and complex. He seems to be a man of his age but sometimes he titters on the edge of Elizabethan beliefs and looks over the edge to see glimpses of a humanism and individualism that lies as tantalising landscape for England's and for Europe's furure. Is it fate or the actions of men that pull King John down? Shakespeare opens up a world of possibilities. 

Arthur is to be killed by Hubert and his executioners. The scene is harrowing and an audience that had witnessed 'Titus Andronicus' just a few years before must have been feared the worst since little was known of Arthur, his life or his death. Arthur’s youth and his pleadings to keep his eyes even at the expense of loosing his tongue, along with the fire burning too low to make the eye-piercing iron burn enough to pluck out Arthur’s eyes are strong companions and Hubert is moved to pity. Personally, I think it was the beautiful unraveling of metaphors and imagery that melts Hubert’s heart such that he cannot bring himself to kill Arthur. 

“The iron of itself, though heat red-hot,

Approaching near these eyes, would drink my tears

And quench his fiery indignation

Even in the matter of mine innocence;

Nay, after that, consume away in rust

But for containing fire to harm mine eye.”

Hubert does not kill Arthur on the condition that Arthur will not reveal himself as being alive.

King John’s happiness at being back in England is short lived. He even plans a second coronation for himself. Pembroke and Salisbury ask for Arthur to be released. Hubert enters and lies to King John telling that Arthur is dead. When King John announces this, Salisbury and Pembroke rebuff him and announce their intention to attend Arthur’s funeral.

Just when King John is just coming to terms with the fact that his actions may have weakened the throne and his place on it when he receives the news that his mother has died and that a huge French army is arriving to attack his kingdom. King John, wracked with grief at the loss of his mother seems unable to take action of any sort. Enter The Bastard, with news of the success of his monastery plunderings and also with news that people are prophesying the demise of King John’s reign by the next national holiday. Why King John does not just simply cancel the next national holiday, I don't know. King John orders the death of one such ‘prophet’ and ties to blame Hubert for Arthur’s death claiming that it is not exactly what he had ordered. Hubert shows him the death warrant sign by King John but the king continues to blame Hubert. At the last moment, Hubert reveals that in fact Arthur is still alive. King John is wrapped and shows some remorse for his blame shifting exploits. King John foolishly thinks that all will be well now for him and his reign. But Fortune’s wheel once turned has the momentum to run its own course.

Arthur stands on the edge of the castle wall where he is held. He makes the rash decision to try to escape while he can by jumping, even though even he thinks the walls seem too high. Arthur certainly is not one who has shown great instinct or judgement and he dies from the injuries of his attempt at escape. 

Salisbury and Pembroke arrive at the same castle discussing secret talks that are already being made with Louis and France. The Bastard enters trying to speak for King John and the interests of the crown. His pleas fall on deaf ears. Then Hubert brings the news that Arthur was not killed but is still alive. No-one believes him and he is accused of lying and being a murderer. The body of Arthur is found and Hubert, the King and foul play is presumed. Salisbury and other lords turn coats to join the Dauphin and the French forces which steadily approach.

Hubert is left with The Bastard and pleads that he did not kill Arthur but that he had granted Hubert mercy and that Arthur was alive when Hubert saw him last. The Bastard seems to believe him and they exit preparing to see the king and prepare for battle with not much hope in his heart for victory.

“Now powers from home and discontents at home

Meet in one line; and vast confusion waits,

As doth a raven on a sick-fall'n beast,

The imminent decay of wrested pomp.” 

King John Act 3 – “ I will instruct my sorrows to be proud; For grief is proud and makes his owner stoop…”

King John Act 3 –  “ I will instruct my sorrows to be proud; For grief is proud and makes his owner stoop…”

If Shakespeare had ever wanted to write a play about King Henry VIII without actually explicitly writing about Henry VIII, then ‘King John’ is as close as he would come during Elizabeth I’s life. As the conflicts spiral upwards, in Act 3 of ‘King John’, becomes aware how close to the bone ‘King John’ comes as a play to the life of Elizabeth's father Henry VIII. I am sure that many in the audience would be engrossed in the allegorical parallels to Henry VIII’s life and reign and others would be wondering how close a playwright may come to the chopping block without losing his head.

Constance is not a happy bunny and she rails against the treachery of King Philip of France and how him uniting with King John makes him less noble.

“… trust I may not trust thee; for thy word

Is but the vain breath of a common man…”

She uses a pariah of personifications to persecute King Philip but will not give into sorrow and grief and stands (or rather sits) her ground.

“ I will instruct my sorrows to be proud;

For grief is proud and makes his owner stoop…”


The alliance of King John of England and King Philip of France is symbolized by them holding hands. Louis and Blanche are joined in marriage and great happiness and festivities are declared. Constance is the unofficial killjoy to this celebration. King Philip and Austria cannot calm her as she curses those present and the day itself. Her words seeming mad and angry at this point will be a curse that foreshadows the coming events later in the act. She seeks the help of the heavens themselves:     

“A widow cries; be husband to me, heavens!

Let not the hours of this ungodly day

Wear out the day in peace; but, ere sunset,

Set armed discord 'twixt these perjured kings!”

The focus shifts to a more religious dimension. When Cardinal Pandolf enters he relates the Pope’s displeasure at King John not accepting the Pope’s nomination for the Archbishop of Canterbury. An Elizabethan audience would be tense at this point and wonder whether after examining the rights of bastards and the indiscretions of royal females in Act 1, whether the mention of ties to church and Rome in Act 3 have crossed the line of mentioning the unmentionable. Or perhaps they would be proud since the play may be advocating that England was a pre-Reformation Reformation realm. Remembering that Henry VIII and Elizabeth I had both broken their ties to the Catholic Church of Rome. King John rejects Rome’s right to stand between his divine rights. Pandolf excommunicates John and England. Constance meddles in the melee. “O, lawful let it be

That I have room with Rome to curse awhile!”


Philip is then asked to physically and metaphorically let go of King John’s hand. Austria sides with Rome. Even Louis believes that losing England as a friend is nothing compared to breaking ties with Rome. Philip pleads for Rome not to excommunicate him and France if he keeps his newly formed promises to King John and England. Pandolf is firm in his demands. Blanche is upset that her wedding day seems to about to become a day of rejection, disorder and war and pleads and questions her husband.

“Upon thy wedding-day?

Against the blood that thou hast married?

What, shall our feast be kept with slaughter'd men?”                            

She begs her new husband Louis not to go to war with her Uncle King John. Constance weighs in, again and demands the destruction of King John and England. King Philip concedes and lets go of the hand of King John and England. Philip and John exchange threats and those that met hand in hand in peace and celebration, part as enemies in war.

The Bastard revels in the day and enters with the head of Austria in his hands. Revenge and the machinations of those who desire power at any cost will rule the stage for a scene or two. The battle scene is set with King John, Queen Eleanor his mother (it always pays to keep one’s mother by one’s side in battle), the Bastard, Hubert and Arthur has been captured. An echo of future King Henry VIII is heard from the future when King John orders the Bastard to collect the wealth from the monasteries from the “hoarding abbots”.


Hubert is thanked for his loyalty and service and is reminded that he must keep Arthur (who does not seem up to much) safe and out of harms way and then King John suggests that the grave might be the safest place for Arthur to be warm and safe. This is a magnificent moment in Shakespeare using shared verse to develop character, plot and tension all at once.

KING JOHN

Good Hubert, Hubert, Hubert, throw thine eye

On yon young boy: I'll tell thee what, my friend,

He is a very serpent in my way;

And whereso'er this foot of mine doth tread,

He lies before me: dost thou understand me?

Thou art his keeper.

HUBERT

And I'll keep him so,

That he shall not offend your majesty.

KING JOHN

Death.

HUBERT

My lord?

KING JOHN

A grave.

HUBERT

He shall not live.

KING JOHN

Enough.

I could be merry now…”


A storm brews on the horizon as King Philip enters with Louis and Pandolf. The French fleet is destroyed, Angers is lost, Arthur has been captured, and the English are homeward bound in victory.

Constance enters seemingly mad (as in crazy) but she will claim the crown of grief not madness as her own, since she has heard of the capture of her son Arthur.

“Preach some philosophy to make me mad,

And thou shalt be canonized, cardinal;

For being not mad but sensible of grief…

I am not mad; too well, too well I feel

The different plague of each calamity.”

Constance exits in despair and King Philip in outrage and fear.


Louis then embraces his own “bitter shame” and claims that “nothing in this world can make me joy”. Pandolf words certainly give him no joy initially.

“ Fortune means to men most good,

She looks upon them with a threatening eye.”

Then Pandolf points out that King John will have to kill Arthur and then reminds Louis that because Blanche is his wife that he now has the best claim to the throne of England. Louis is not convinced but Pandolf points out that if people hear of the death of Arthur they will embrace Louis:

“If that young Arthur be not gone already,

Even at that news he dies; and then the hearts

Of all his people shall revolt from him

And kiss the lips of unacquainted change…”

Even Louis now can see the logic (or flattery) of this argument and he goes to plan a new assault against the English. 

King John Act 2 – “Clapp'd on the outward eye of fickle France… From a resolved and honourable war, to a most base and vile-concluded peace."

King John Act 2 – “Clapp'd on the outward eye of fickle France… From a resolved and honourable war, to a most base and vile-concluded peace.”

France until recent times has never been a unified entity even since the Treaty of Verdun in 843AD. Battles by English kings on what is now known as French soil were a way for both French and English kings to gain glory, sovereignty and riches. It is interesting that Act 2 of ‘King John’ shows how the face of war is so easily turned by both the firm and fair faces of women and of little seemingly insignificant townships.

The scene switches to outside the walls of the town of Angers. King Philip has assembled a force with Austria to attack Angers if it doesn’t swear allegiance to Arthur as the true king of England. Arthur is remarkably subdued during this interlude although his mother Constance have a lot to say. Chatillon arrives back from England and wants King Phillip to, “Then turn your forces from this paltry siege

And stir them up against a mightier task..”

This is because King John’s large army is almost upon them. King John enters with Queen Eleanor and the Bastard and others. The Bastard will utter asides and end this act with a monologue and thus becomes a commentator to the action as it unfolds, albeit one we know is not entirely to be trusted. After civilities, we see that we are at an impasse since King Philip will not give up until John takes his forces back to England without a fight and gives Arthur the crown of England. Of course, John sees this as unacceptable and even questions where Philip gets off on such demands and claims. King Philip infers that God himself has made him the caretaker of Arthur’s affairs on earth. John scoffs at this.

Arguments about bastardy, infidelity and claims to the thrown abound. Arthur finds this too much and weeps (obviously not a majestical quality). King Philip stops all this and asks the people of Angers to choose their allegiance.  Angers’ citizens say they are subjects of the King of England but refuse to name who they think the King of England is. The people of Angers then leave. Just when the French and the English armies are about to clash. The Bastard suggests that such a small power as Angers should not be holding these two great nations to ransom and suggests that the two armies temporarily join forces against the citizens of Angers. Angers seems to be outplayed.


But then a Citizen of Angers enters with Blanche, the daughter of the King of Spain. The hand in marriage of Blanche is offered to young Louis so that King John would be supported. The tide has turned.King John offers a number of English territories as a dowry. King Philip finally asks Louis how he would feel about the match. Louis is in love and enchanted by Blanche’s beauty. Both King John and King Philip agree. King John sweetens the deal by saying that he will pay off Arthur with lands and property.

The Bastard is then left alone. He bemoans what has taken place:

“Mad world! mad kings! mad composition!”

And then goes on to rail against women and against the rich. He reaches the conclusion that his poverty and his new position are his greatest commodities and he decides he will use them to his own advantage.

The Life and Death of King John Act 1 – “Here have we war for war and blood for blood…”

The Life and Death of King John Act 1 – “Here have we war for war and blood for blood…”

After the success of 'Romeo and Juliet' and 'A Midsummer's Night's Dream', William Shakespeare probably moved into other lodgings Bishopsgate. This quieter district probably worked well for his writing regime.

What a strange History play ‘King John’. It was written sometime around 1596 and on one level it could be seen as a rather staid and relatively historically accurate play set in the 13^th century which is much less dramatic and more histrionic than some of Shakespeare’s previous Histories. But on another level, for an Elizabethan audience, this could be seen as a radical examination of who has a legitimate claim to inheritance and the throne. We can see John or even Philip the Bastard as representative of either Elizabeth or even her father Henry VIII and Arthur as representative of Mary Queen of Scots. In this context, the play and events take on a whole new meaning considering that in 1596, Queen Elizabeth I was 66 years old, her beauty was fading, most of her hair had fallen out, the wars in Ireland were looking to have no end and bad harvests early in 1596 seemed to be an ominous sign.

The play starts with King John, the youngest of Henry II’s five sons to Eleanor of Aquitaine (and just like Elizabeth I he was never expected to take the thrown), his mother Queen Eleanor and a host of courtiers waiting to hear what King Philip of France has to say about supporting King John. Chatillon relays that King Philip believes that King John’s elder half brother Arthur (whose mother was Constance) has rightful claim over the throne suggests that war might be the outcome. King John will not give up the throne and answers:

“Here have we war for war and blood for blood…”

Chatillon leaves with war looming over everybody’s heads.

Queen Eleanor sees that Constance (Arthur’s mother) is behind all these machinations:

“What now, my son! have I not ever said

How that ambitious Constance would not cease

Till she had kindled France and all the world,

Upon the right and party of her son?”

Then the Sheriff enters with Falconbridge and Philip the Bastard. At this point the original performance of the play must have been sailing very close to the wind. Being the eldest son of Robert Falconbridge, Philip the Bastard claims he is the legitimate heir while Falconbridge claims even although he is the second son, he is the rightful heir because his father suspected before he died that Philip was illegitimate and that he was not the father. King John argues that both were brought up by Falconbridge as his own sons. Falconbridge asks whether his father’s final will which disinherits Philip the Bastard is not enough. Queen Eleanor suggests that Philip could claim himself to be the bastard son of Richard the Lionhearted and get his title without land or claim his Falconbridge heritage and get property but a lesser name. Philip the Bastard decides to give his land to his brother and join the attack on France. Philip the Bastard is then knighted by King John and is renamed Sir Richard Plantagenet as he joins King John’s forces.

When the new Sir Richard Plantagenet is left alone, we see how ambitious he is. His mother enters bemoaning the fact that her reputation has been questioned. He states that he has given up his claim to the Falconbridge name and land and asks his mother who his father was. She reveals that his father was in fact Richard the Lionhearted. Philip the Bastard placates his mother and thanks her:

“Now, by this light, were I to get again,

Madam, I would not wish a better father.

Some sins do bear their privilege on earth,

And so doth yours; your fault was not your folly…”

A Midsummer Night’s Dream Act 5 – “The lunatic, the lover and the poet; Are of imagination all compact…”

A Midsummer Night’s Dream Act 5 – “The lunatic, the lover and the poet; Are of imagination all compact…”

In Shakespeare’s time, love stories were categorized as Comedies and inevitably ended in a wedding (or multiple weddings), some comic interludes and often a dance. For an Elizabethan audience, ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ doesn’t disappoint.

In the final act we return to Theseus’ palace where the triple wedding has taken place and he has three hours to burn until his wedding night. He expresses his opinion that the young Athenian lovers probably imagined all that they said had happened in the forest:

“The lunatic, the lover and the poet

Are of imagination all compact…”

The ever-thoughtful and intelligent Hippolyta (now his bride but with all the attributes which would make her an excellent cop on CSI or any other cop program) points out that if they dreamed all these events, that it is strange that all their stories have the same details told in the same way with “great constancy”.

Lysander, Demetrius, Hermia and Helena enter and Theseus plays the good host  calling for his “usual manager of mirth” Philostrate to tell them what entertainments are on offer. After rejecting a couple of contenders, Theseus settles on the play of the Pyramus and Thisbe story performed by “… hard headed men that work in Athens…” even though Philostrate (who you would never chose as a theatrical agent) implores Theseus not to see it. no matter how poor the performance.

The Athenian audience take their seats and Peter Quince presents a very apologetic and hesitant Prologue. The audience derision starts slowly indicating that this performance will prove a humorous springboard. The characters of Moonshine and The Wall enter giving their speeches to more mockery and puns from Theseus and Demetrius. The action of the play continues. Bottom enters as Pyramus overacting with numerous ominous ‘O’s’ and oxymorons and horrendous hyperboles. Pyramus and Thisbe talk through the chink in the Wall as represented by Snout’s fingers. The story is as clumsy as the acting and the verse shown in statements like those made by Bottom as Pyramus who declaims:

“I see a voice: now will I to the chink…

I can hear my Thisbe’s face.”

The sight of Bottom as Pyramus and the young Flute as Thisbe, speaking through Snout’s body as the Wall and looking through his fingers representing a chink in the wall is so bizarre and humorous that even Hippolyta starts join the audience’s running commentary. Snug’s Lion roars and utters his speech to assure the ladies that he is not a real lion:

“Then know that I, one Snug the joiner, am

A lion-fell, nor else no lion’s dam…”

Chaos then reigns as Pyramus finds a bloodied mantle and thinks Thisbe is dead and commits suicide (in Bottom’s melodramatic performance he takes a considerable amount of stage time to die) and then Thisbe also commits suicide upon finding the dead Pyramus. Is this the end? The audience sure hopes so but Bottom asks if they would like an epilogue or a bergamask dance. Theseus takes command:

“No epilogue… your play needs no excuse…”

Theseus decides that a dance is in order and after that calls all the lovers to bed and declares that a fortnight of “nightly revels and new jollity” will take place.

Although the Athenians see no Epilogue, we are given one by Puck. But this is quickly prefaced by Oberon and Titania briefing their fairies before they all go throughout the house to bless the couples and their various bridal beds. Oberon and Titania and their train of fairies exit and Puck directly addresses the audience and questions the divisions between dreams and reality. Puck offers us a commentary, apology and an out-clause to the strange dream-like events encountered:

“If we shadows have offended,

Think but this, and all is mended

That you have but slumbered here,

While these visions did appear.” 

A Midsummer Night’s Dream Act 4 – “I have had a dream, past the wit of man…”

A Midsummer Night’s Dream Act 4 – “I have had a dream, past the wit of man…”

Shakespeare had become a very polished and succinct writer by the time he wrote ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. Act 4 of the play moves at a cracking pace with a number of plot lines resolving themselves in about 15 minutes of stage time or 300 lines.  The act starts with Titania, Bottom and the Fairies enterIng. Bottom is pampered and he asks Cobweb to find him honey before he falls asleep in Titania’s arms. Titania dismisses her fairies and she also falls asleep.

Soon Oberon arrives with Puck and tells the story of how he convinced Titania in her lovestruck state to give up the Indian child he wanted. Oberon decides to undo the love charm on Titania and he wakes her up. Titania is bewildered to see the ass-headed Bottom in her arms and leaves with Oberon. Puck then removes the head from Bottom but Bottom remains sleeping.

The court of Athens comes to the forest whilst on a hunt. Theseus, Hippolyta, Egeus and other Athenians enter and discover Hermia, Helena, Lysander and Demetrius sleeping. They are woken up by hunting horns, hardly a subtle wake up alarm. It is D-Day for Hermia. The Athenian youths can’t remember what has happened but it is obvious that Hermia loves Lysander and Helena loves Demetrius. Theseus acknowledges this, overrides any of Egeus’ complaints and turns his own wedding into a triple treat of Korean wedding proportions:

“Fair lovers, you are fortunately met:

Of this discourse we more will hear anon.

Egeus, I will overbear your will…

These couples shall eternally be knit…

Away with us to Athens; three and three,

We'll hold a feast in great solemnity.”

As the expanded wedding parties depart, Bottom awakes and relates his “rare vision”:

“I have had a most rare vision.

I have had a dream, past the wit of man to

say what dream it was: man is but an ass, if he go

about to expound this dream. I will get Peter Quince to write a ballad of his dream: it shall be called Bottom's Dream,

because it hath no bottom…”

Bottom goes off to find Peter Quince and his fellow would-be players.

The Mechanicals meet at Peter Quince’s house feeling that the worst has befallen Bottom at the hands of the ass-headed creature. It looks like the play will be called off. Then Snug enters to tell them that a triple wedding has taken place and that all the newlyweds are keen to see their play. Just when all seems lost, Bottom arrives and all seem very pleased to see him. All want to hear Bottom’s remarkable story but Bottom claims there is no time and that they must get their “apparel together”, string their beards, put new ribbons on their pumps and “meet presently at the palace” as they prepare for their premiere and final performance. 

A Midsummer Night’s Dream Act 3 – “Lord, what fools these mortals be!”

A Midsummer Night’s Dream Act 3 – “Lord, what fools these mortals be!”

The forest seems like a very important motif for Shakespeare over a number of plays. It acts as an escape from court life and the rules of society. It seems to act as place where humans can be removed from the edifice of social and family responsibilities and embrace their instincts. It is also a dreamlike place, where in ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ where Athenian friends and lovers, fairies, and craftsmen rehearsing a play can have their worlds turned upside down for better or for worse.

The Mechanicals enter at the appointed time at the appointed place to attempt to rehearse their play. Bottom takes dramaturgical control and suggests that they insert a Prologue and other audiences addresses to explain that in their production, the lion is not really a lion, the sword really a sword, that the play takes place at night even though it is performed at in the daytime, that the man standing straight on stage is symbolizing a wall and that another man standing with a bush branch and a lantern is in fact symbolizing the moon.

Puck enters and causes mischief and mayhem. Bottom’s head is into that of an ass (a donkey) by Puck. The other Mechanicals run away when they see Bottom with the head of an ass. Bottom thinking he is alone sings and it is this singing that wakes Titania.

With the love potion on her eyelids, Titania wakes and instantly falls in love with Bottom even though he has the head of an ass. Such is the deluded self-assuredness of Bottom, that he instantly accepts Titania’s embraces and admiration and the service of her Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Mote, and Mustardseed who will wait on him hand and foot. Bottom does not realize that he has the head of an ass and when Titania entices him to follow her to her forest bower, Bottom leaves with them.

Oberon is pleased when he hears of what has happened to Bottom but when Hermia enters with Demetrius, Oberon realizes that Puck has mistakenly anointed the wrong Athenian male. Hermia’s constant questions about where Lysander is, annoys Demetrius. When Hermia leaves, Demetrius acknowledges that nothing is to be gained in following Hermia so he lies down and falls asleep. 

Oberon charges Puck with setting this right and when Puck almost instantly returns with Helena just behind, it seems as if these meddlings might be untangled. Helena still believes that Lysander is mocking her with his declarations of love. Demetrius is awoken by their arguments and both Demetrius and Lysander declare their love for Helena. Helena thinks her mockery has reached epic proportions when Hermia re-enters. Now Hermia is upset that both the men who vied for her affection now reject her for Helena. Hermia and Helena now exchange insults and Hermia threatens to scratch out Helena’s eyes and Helena then gets her male admirers to protect her. Demetrius and Lysander then storm off to duel with one another over Helena’s love. Helena runs away and a bewildered Hermia exits too.

Now fairy intervention seems to be all that can save humans from themselves. The imbalance of love will be made right again with the potion that put it out of balance. Oberon demands that Puck solves all these human affairs by morning (conveniently forgetting that it was his initial intervention that started this whole business). Puck through the magic of throwing his voice and imitating both Lysander and Demetrius brings them back to the grove to sleep. Helena miraculously re-appears in the same place as does the weary and woeful Hermia. Puck applies the potion and spell like words hoping that:

“The man shall have his mare again and all shall be well.”

A Midsummer Night’s Dream Act 2 – “Fetch me that flower; the herb I shew’d thee once…"

A Midsummer Night’s Dream Act 2 – “Fetch me that flower; the herb I shew’d thee once…”

Act 2 launches us into the forest and straight into the world of folklore and fairies. A land of the sub-conscious, woven in poetic motifs and imagery. We meet a Fairy and Puck, the servants of Titania, Queen of this world, and Oberon its king. We find out early that Titania and Oberon are at loggerheads with one another over Titania’s refusal to give Oberon a little Indian prince for his attendant. When Oberon and Titania enter they confront one another over their motives for coming so near to Athens accusing one another of loving Hippolyta and Titania respectively. Oberon demands the Indian boy of Titania but she refuses and she leaves in a flourish, Oberon hatches a plan to take revenge on her.

Puck is sent to find a white and purple flower that Oberon saw once hit by Cupid’s arrow. Oberon knows that the flower has the power if rubbed on the eyelids of a sleeping person, to make them fall in love with the first thing they see when they awaken. He reveals that he intends to put to:

“…watch Titania when she is asleep,

And drop the liquor of it in her eyes.”

The human world then enters the realm of the fairy one. Oberon makes himself invisible with the magic of one utterance (oh that we all could do that). Helena and Demetrius enter arguing. Demetrius does not want the doting Helena following him, and tells her he cannot love her. She passively takes his abuse and says she will take even more:

“Use me but as your spaniel, spurn me, strike me…”

Demetrius insults her further and even claims he feels sick when he looks on her. As they exit, Oberon appears again and decides that he will intervene in this business and turn the tables so that before Demetrius:

“…do leave this grove,   

Thou shalt fly him and he shall seek thy love…”

When Puck returns, Oberon’s plan is revealed. Oberon tells the audience that he knows where Titania usually sleeps and he will put the juice of the flower on her eyelids. The second part of his plan involves Puck finding the Athenian youth and the woman and to put a drop or two of the potion on his eyes so that when he wakes he will fall in love with the woman. Oberon does not know at this point that there are two Athenian men and women in the forest at this time.

We then switch to Titania as she prepares to sleep by a stream. Oberon enters and drops the potion on her eyelids with the words:

“What thou seest when thou dost wake,

Do it for thy true-love take,

Love and languish for his sake:

Be it ounce, or cat, or bear,

Pard, or boar with bristled hair,

In thy eye that shall appear

When thou wakest, it is thy dear:

Wake when some vile thing is near.”

Now the story starts to get a bit complicated and convoluted as does the effects of Oberon’s interventions. Dramatic tension now turns to comic farce as the world of humans is thrown into turmoil by the interventions of the fairy world and chaos starts to reign. But I am getting a little ahead of myself.

Lysander and Hermia enter. They are lost and must sleep in the forest for the night. When Lysander says that he wants to sleep beside Hermia, her modesty, as well as the conventions of the time, prevail, and Lysander is forced to sleep a respectable distance away from Hermia. Having looked throughout the forest for the Athenian couple (Demetrius and Helena) Oberon wants him to entrance with the love potion, Puck comes across Lysander and Hermia. He does not know they are the wrong couple and assuming that it is hate that makes them sleep at a distance not modesty, Puck puts the potion on Lysander’s eyes and leaves.

If only Puck had waited one extra minute, we might not have a plot to the play. Helena and Demetrius enter and their arguments are still continuing. Demetrius storms out. Helena left alone spies the sleeping Lysander and wakes him up. Oberon’s potion works albeit on the wrong male. Lysander sees Helena and falls instantly in love.

“Not Hermia but Helena I love:

Who will not change a raven for a dove?

The will of man is by his reason sway'd;

And reason says you are the worthier maid.”

Believing that Lysander is mocking her, Helena also storms out and Lysander pursues her leaving Hermia to awaken all alone. 

A Midsummer Night’s Dream Act 1 - “The course of true love never did run smooth…”

A Midsummer Night’s Dream Act 1 - “The course of true love never did run smooth…”

I like the idea that perhaps straight after writing ‘Romeo and Juliet’, probably his most popular tragedy, Shakespeare quickly whipped up over the course of a week, the magnificent magical comedy ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. It gives a symmetry to his work. Besides, Elizabethan playwright’s often wrote a comedy after writing a tragedy mostly to give variety to their audiences and maybe some playwright’s did this as a homage to the Ancient Greek playwrights and festivals where playwrights had to write both tragedy and comedy.

The first mention of the play is seems to be around 1597 but the combination of topical and weather references and the fact that the play centres around a wedding mean that it was probably written in 1594 or 1595. Nevertheless, while dates are debatable, the magnificent richness of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ is not.  It has it all - three interlocking plots, explorations of love, characters speaking in rich verse, comic characters pitched in prose, the appearance of fairies, manipulations and plot meanderings galore, a play within a play, weddings, transformations of all descriptions and some magnificent speeches and witty one liners.

The question often asked when looking at Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', is why would he write this play at this point in his career. After the success of 'Romeo and Juliet', Shakespeare probably wanted to produce a play quickly and Comedy and History were his forte at this point in his career. Besides, the attempted poisoning of Queen Elizabeth I earlier in 1594 and the lack success of by the English forces sent to Ireland meant that writing another History play straight away might prove problematic, so comedy it was. Besides, masques and plays with music seemed to be all the fashion in 1594.  Francis Davison's 'The Maske of proteus and the Adamantine Rock' had proved popular with Queen Elizabeth I. The court seemed to look favourably on light fantastical plays and plays that alluded to Ancient Greece and Rome. Elizabeth also seemed to spend a lot of time during the summer of 1594 in the country (probably a distraction to the attempted murder and the troubles in Ireland and the worries of who would succeed her on England's throne as Elizabeth grew increasingly old). So pastoral idealism seemed to also be back in fashion. So Shakespeare decided he would have a play that had it all. 

Shakespeare went back to read Spenser's 'Epithalamion' as a source for the play. He probably had a deadline, since the play was either performed at the wedding of Elizabeth Carey (Lady Berkeley) and done in a garden setting or performed at court for Elizabeth I in midsummer of 1595. It would later have most of its early public performances at The Theatre. 

‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ opens on a festive note at the palace of Theseus, Duke of Athens, four days before his wedding to Hippolyta. He is anxious for the wedding but she preaches patience. Theseus orders some “merriments” to be developed for the occasion and Philostrate leaves and this leads to the Mechanicals rehearsing and developing their play for the wedding. But storm clouds are on the horizon and the journey to unity of love for many of the characters will not be smooth. Enter Egeus.

Egeus demands to see Duke Theseus with a complaint against his own daughter. It seems that his daughter Hermia, whom Egeus has promised to Demetrius, loves Lysander. To complicate matters more, we find out later in the scene that Helena, Hermia’s BFF, loves Demetrius but has been jilted by him as he pursued Hermia. Demanding that the strict laws of Athens be enacted if Hermia does not follow her father’s desires, Egeus asks Theseus to make a judgment. Theseus gives Hermia until his wedding to make one of three choices:

“Either to die the death or to abjure

For ever the society of men…

Or else to wed Demetrius…”

Left alone together, Hermia and Lysander discuss how, “The course of true love never did run smooth…” Eventually, Lysander comes up with a plan for them to run away from Athens and “sharp Athenian law”, cross through the wood to the house of a wealthy aunt of his so that they can get married. They tell Hermia’s BFF, Helena, of the plan and then they leave to prepare for their elopement. Left alone, Helena muses on the nature of love:

“Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind,

And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind…”

Helena decides on her own convoluted plan to get Demetrius back by telling him of Hermia and Lysander’s elopement, then letting him follow them into the woods and then she plans to follow him and somehow she will find a way in the woods to win back Demetrius’ love.

Shakespeare then cleverly shifts to the action to our second plot and second group of characters. In a different part of Athens, a different class of people with a different purpose, take the stage. At Peter Quince’s house, a group of tradesmen, in the true tradition of the trade guilds who put on play during medieval times, are starting rehearsals. This scene is a dramatic contrast to the previous one. These characters speak in prose and their efforts to cast their play are clumsy and humorous. Even their choice of play is ridiculous. The Babylonian myth of ‘The Most Lamentable Comedy and Most Cruel Death of Pyramus and Thisbe’, taken from Ovid’s ‘Metamorphoses’ is complex, melodramatic and tragic and thoroughly unsuited for performance at a wedding. Nevertheless, they bumble through preparations.

Peter Quince, the carpenter, takes command of the rehearsals and designates the parts. Quince casts himself as Thisbe’s Father. Nick Bottom, the weaver, gets to play Pyramus (even though he thinks and demonstrates that he could play any or all of the parts in the play and has an extensive beard collection to boot to help him with multi-casting). Francis Flute, the bellows-maker, is chosen to play the young female Thisbe, but he is a little upset by being cast as a woman again because he “has a beard coming”. Robin Starveling, the tailor, will play Thisbe’s Mother (and later he also gets to shine in the part of Moonshine). Tom Snout, the tinker, Pyramus’ Father, but he will also play The Wall. While Snug, the joiner, gets to play The Lion, despite his reservations that this part might scare the ladies too much. Quince gets this motley crew to meet for their next rehearsal:

“… meet me in the palace wood, a mile without the town,

by moonlight; there will we rehearse,

for if we meet in the city, we shall be dogged with company,

and our devices known.”

Romeo and Juliet Act 5 – “For never was a story of more woe/ Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.”

Romeo and Juliet Act 5 – “For never was a story of more woe/ Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.”

The space in which a play is originally written for or staged can often have subtle influences on the way a play is written. The Rose and The Curtain theatres, which ‘Romeo and Juliet’ was probably first performed at, had similar stages. Neither had a thrust stage but had open rectangular stages that opened up further at the back. Act 5 of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ starts with the emotionally charged but intimate scene where Romeo finds out about Juliet’s alleged death and ends with a more open scene outside the tomb in Verona and a funeral procession. This creation of dramatic depth through opening up scenic or staging depth is wonderfully powerful staging convention that probably was influenced by these spaces.

In a street in Mantua, Romeo tells of a dream he had (which he doesn't quite realise foreshadows his death) which ends with Juliet waking him up with a kiss. If only Romeo had some dream analysis insight he might have prevented forthcoming events. Balthasar arrives and brings the news of Juliet’s death (once again the dramatic device of audience objectivity means that we know more than the characters do). Romeo is devastated at the news and in the style of an Ancient Greek tragedy tempts and defies Fate or Fortune itself when he decries, “Then, I defy you, stars.” But like many tragic heroes before him, it is Romeo’s attempt to defy his destiny that actually brings him closer to it.

Balthasar enters, and Romeo greets him happily, saying that Balthasar must have come from Verona with news of Juliet and his father. Bathasar reveals that Juliet is dead. Romeo, a man initially of inaction, becomes decisive. He tells Balthasar to get pen, paper and horses and prepare for them to return to Verona. He dismisses Balthasar and makes one more decisive but fateful decision to visit an Apothecary, a seller of drugs.

In the poverty of the Apothecary, Romeo finds tragic opportunity to buy the drug he needs to kill himself. The Apothecary does not want to sell Romeo the fatal drug initially but Romeo’s money and the Apothecary’s poverty make him concede. Romeo uses wonderfully poetic irony when he refers to the money he gives the Apothecary as the true poison in the transaction. Poverty drives the Apothecary to sell his poison while Fate drives Romeo to make his fateful purchase.

We switch, to Friar Lawrence’s cell as he speaks with Friar John who was supposed to deliver a message to Romeo about Friar Laurence’s plan but who has been held up in a house suspected of being plague-ridden. Friar Lawrence starts to realize the consequences of Romeo not knowing the entire plan and he knows that he must travel quickly to the tomb to retrieve Juliet.

“Now must I to the monument alone.

Within these three hours will fair Juliet wake

She will beshrew me much that Romeo

Hath had no notice of these accidents;

…Poor living corse, closed in a dead man’s tomb!”

Friar Laurence also sends another letter to Romeo.

The stage opens up and we see Paris with a servant enter to scatter flowers on Juliet’s grave. They see a light approaching and they hide. Romeo enters with a crowbar and Balthasar. Balthasar is ordered to leave and he will fall asleep as tragic events unfold.

 

Paris sees Romeo and knowing that Romeo killed Tybalt and thinking that grief for Tybalt killed Juliet, he reveals himself. He fights with Romeo and as he is killed by Romeo, requests that he be laid near Juliet’s tomb. Romeo grants this request. With Paris’ body in his arms, Romeo enters the Capulat family tomb, places down Paris’ body and goes to Juliet’s side. He ironically comments on the fact that she looks as if she were not dead and that her beauty still lives even in death. And then he decides he must depart:

“…the yoke of inauspicious stars

From this world-wearied flesh…”

Romeo then kisses Juliet. He then takes the poison, drinks it, kisses Juliet once more and then he dies.

 

Often cinematic versions have Juliet wake up at this moment just missing Romeo by seconds. On stage however, an audience needs more emotional time to process what has just happened: the death of the male protagonist of the piece. So on stage, we have a longer lead up to Juliet’s discovery of Romeo’s dead body.

 

Friar Laurence enters the Churchyard, our focus is shifted away from the tomb to downstage. He finds Bathasar, and Friar Laurence finds out that Romeo has arrived and perhaps there was a fight but perhaps Balthasar dreamed all this. Friar Laurence’s fears are growing. Friar Laurence enters the tomb to find the bloody scene and Romeo’s body. He does not reveal any of this to Juliet as she awakes.

 

Juliet asks for Romeo. The Friar wants Juliet to flee the tomb with him and he reveals that Paris and Romeo are both dead. When Juliet refuses to leave the fatal scene with him, he flies hearing the noises of others approaching. Juliet takes in the dead body of Romeo next to her and hopes that there is enough poison left:

“To help me after? I will kiss thy lips

Haply some poison yet doth hang on them

To make me die with a restorative.

Thy lips are warm!”

But she finds only dramatic irony and the footprints of Fate. Her kiss fails to revive Romeo (although in one Victorian production of the play, this kiss actually does revive the dead Romeo). Noises are heard off and Juliet unsheathes Romeo’s dagger. Her final words are short, dramatically ironic since her body will become the new sheath for Romeo’s knife:

“… O happy dagger,

This is thy sheath.”

From such intimate tragic events where Juliet enacts her “dismal scene” alone, the stage becomes chaotically filled with events and people. Paris’ servant has brought guards and the whole town seems to arrive as Friar Laurence and Balthasar are captured and all is revealed before The Prince. Capulet enters and Montague arrives, declaring that Lady Montague has died of grief or Romeo’s exile (obviously this adds to the tragedy but it also frees up another young actor to add to the finale’s size and impact on stage). Friar Laurence tells the story of the events and the secret marriage. The Nurse can confirm these details. The Friar’s cowardly escape earlier seals our sense that he is more to blame than anyone else. Balthasar shows the letter that Romeo wrote to his father before his death. The Capulets and Montagues, are primarily blamed by the Prince for all this tragedy. Montague declares says he will build a golden statue to the Capulet Juliet, while Capulet will build Montague Romeo’s gold statue beside her. Hence, we feel that Romeo and Juliet’s tragic love is made into a monument to look up to, forged in gold. Romeo and Juliet died to preserve the notion that love is tragic and immortal and resonates in the final words of The Prince who declares:

“For never was a story of more woe

Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.”