The critic Northrop Frye calls several of Shakespeare’s comedies “Green World” comedies; that is, the action of the play begins in a recognizable world, then moves to a “Green World” governed by a different set of rules and logic, then eventually order is restored when the characters return to the normal world at the end of the play. Critics continue to be puzzled by the hows and whys of Shakespeare’s Green Worlds, and the one depicted in A Midsummer Night’s Dream is particularly puzzling. So in order both to get to the bottom of things and to practice the skills you will need to compose your first paper assignment, I will give each group a thesis statement that they are to defend.
If you are an even-numbered group, your thesis is:
The characters’ actions in the green world ultimately serve to highlight the arbitrariness of human desire and love, and one point the play makes is that whenever love comes into contact with the normal world the result will inevitably be disorder and chaos.
If you are an odd-numbered group, your thesis is:
The contrast between the real world and the green world reveals that love operates according to a kind of organic, natural logic (as opposed to the real world’s rationality), and ultimately the play insists that our goal should be to achieve a kind of harmony between the demands of the green world and the real world.
For this activity, you will gather evidence from the play to support your thesis.
Two of your points must come from the overall design of the play… this might be points about the construction of the plot, the overall characters, etc.
Three of your points must come from a close analysis of the language of the play. Choose at least three passages and look at them closely, examining how particularly words and phrases clue you in to the author’s intent rather than just the filter through which the characters view the events.
Once your group has completed this activity, email your results to dlupton@email.unc.edu.
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