Sunday, March 20, 2016

What is the mood of Act 3, Scene 2 of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream?

There are a couple of moods present in Act 3, Scene 2 of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. First of all, the scene has a humorous mood. Puck gleefully recounts how he gives Bottom a donkey's head and causes Titania to fall in love with him, humorously describing how "Titania wak'd, and straightaway lov'd an ass" (34). Furthermore, Oberon and Puck spend most of the scene watching Hermia, Helena, Lysander, and Demetrius hurl insults at one another in hilarious fashion.


However, humor is not the only mood present in this scene. There is also a dreamlike, confusing mood at work. For instance, the Athenians' relationships have gotten mixed up, and so it's hard to remember or understand exactly how the pairings work. Additionally, because the scene can be so confusing, it begins to feel like a surreal dream, rather than reality. This dreamlike mood is present throughout the play, and Shakespeare uses it to invite us to question whether or not the narrative is actually real. 

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