Verse, Voice, and Vision by Santos Marlisa;

Author:Santos, Marlisa;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: undefined
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
Published: 2012-03-18T04:00:00+00:00

The conflict between patriarchy and matriarchy that is suppressed and redirected in Athens through the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta has here been left unchecked. Because the characters who play Theseus and Hippolyta in the Athens scenes often double as Oberon and Titania in the forest scenes, the viewer is encouraged to think of these two worlds as inversions of one another.

To obtain the changeling boy, Oberon orders Puck to drop a love-in-idleness potion in Titania’s eyes that will make her fall in love with whatever she spies upon waking: “Be it on lion, bear, or wolf, or bull, / On meddling monkey, or on busy ape” (2.1.180–81). Titania becomes enamored with Bottom, a weaver and aspiring actor who rehearses with his fellow rude mechanicals nearby. By this point in the play, however, Puck has transformed Bottom into a half man / half ass, so Titania actually dotes on a grotesque minotaur. In many productions, Titania’s passionate (and sometimes sexual) relationship with Bottom is exploited for comic effect. However, their relationship is also cruel and humiliating for Titania. Oberon recognizes his perverse treatment of her and even begins to take pity on her; he releases her from the “hateful imperfection of her eyes” (4.1.62). During Titania’s “imperfection,” however, Oberon has stolen the changeling boy, an action that violates Titania and her relationship with the boy’s deceased mother.

The lovers, too, experience the forest as something exhilarating and potentially terrifying. Lysander and Hermia, the two lovers whom Theseus forbids from marrying, flee to the forest to escape the strict and punishing laws of Athens. At first, the lovers seem to enjoy their time in this wild and uncivilized place. In a scene that appears in rehearsal in Dead Poets Society, Lysander playfully suggests to Hermia that they sleep in the same space: “One turf shall serve as a pillow for us both; / One heart, one bed, two bosoms, and one troth” (2.2.47–48). Hermia refuses and the couple quickly falls asleep. While asleep, Puck mistakes Lysander for Demetrius, the young Athenian suitor who has pursued Hermia into the forest. Lysander awakes and becomes enamored with Helena, the long-suffering former fiancée of Demetrius who, spaniel-like, has chased Demetrius into the forest, as well. Demetrius has also received a dose of the potion, and both suitors quickly redirect their affections toward Helena.

As a result of Puck’s recklessness, the two female love-objects, Hermia and Helena, suffer extreme psychological and emotional distress in the forest. Hermia awakens from a nightmare in which a snake attempts to feast upon her heart while Lysander watches:

Help me, Lysander, help me! Do thy best

To pluck this crawling serpent from my breast!

Ay me, for pity! What a dream was here!

Lysander, look how I do quake with fear:

Methought a serpent ate my heart away,

And you sat smiling at his cruel prey. (2.2.151–56)

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