A Midsummer Night's Dream is a comedy play by the legendary William Shakespeare. There are several themes and settings used in the play that are analyzed by the writer.

1. U M M A N A B I E G H I S M A I L J A L L A
THEMES AND SETTINGS ANALYSIS IN
“MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM”
BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

2. Abstract
This essay is to analyze “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”
by William Shakespeare. The aim of this writing is to
identify and analyze the themes and settings used in
the play. The writer uses intrinsic theories and close-
reading method. In the play, Shakespeare uses love
as the general theme and Athens as the general
setting.
Keywords: Themes, Setting, Love, Athens

3. Introduction
 Background of the Study
According to critic George Jean Nathan, a good drama is “anything interests an
intelligently emotional group of persons assembled together in an illuminated
hall.” One of the writers whose dramas stood out is William Shakespeare.
Shakespeare has written many great plays, such as Hamlet, King Lear, A
Midsummer Night’s Dream, and the well-known Romeo and Juliet.
The drama which the writer decided to analyze in this paper is a comedy play by
William Shakespeare, entitled “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”. The aspects of which
the writer decided to analyze is the theme and the settings of the play.
 Purpose of the Study
To understand the themes used in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”.
To understand the settings used in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”.
 Scope of the Study
The scope of the study is to explain the themes and settings in William
Shakespeare’s comedy play “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”.

4. Literary Review
 Theme
A theme is the main subject that surrounds the drama. The theme of a play refers to
the play’s main idea. There are a couple of ways to analyze the theme of a play. It
can either be clearly stated through dialog or action, or can be inferred after
watching the entire performance. The theme is the philosophy that forms the base of
the story or a moral lesson that the characters learn. It is the message that the play
gives to the audience.
 Settings
Settings in a play consist of the time and the place in which a play takes place.
The time setting may range from the hour to the era in which the play is set. The
hour to the year affects the appearance and the era affects the central theme of the
play, the issues raised, the conflicts, and the way characters interact with one
another.
The place setting also affects the appearance, culture, social hierarchy, economical
and political condition, and so on.
Nevertheless, the time and place where a play is set both define the historical and
social context of the play.

5. Discussion of the Themes
 Love
Love is the most apparent theme in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”.
Love in this play is displayed by both fairies and humans. In this play,
not only Shakespeare shows us the true kind of love that is displayed by
the four Athenians; Hermia, Lysander, Helena, and Demetrius, but also
the forced kind of love that is displayed by the humans Theseus and
Hyppolita, and Oberon and Titania, the King and Queen of the fairies.
 Gender
“A Midsummer Night's Dream” clearly shows us the gender tensions, at
the beginning of the play, Hermia fights her father for the right to choose
her own spouse, but since a father has more power than a daughter, her
father has the right to assassinate Hermia if she doesn’t marry the man
he chose for her. (Act 1, Scene 1). Not only this shows the gender tension,
it also shows the power a father has over his daughter at that era.
Moreover, the scene of Theseus who is set to marry Hyppolita due to a
battle, and the King and Queen of Fairies, Oberon and Titania, are at a
battle of the sexes which disrupts the natural world.

6.  Magic
The fairies in the play are not a coincidence. They represent the situations
in which magic is needed. The magical aspect of the theme is also displayed
by the love potion, which represents the power of love in a magical way.
However, the power of the love potion is what pulls the trigger for the four
young lovers; Hermia, Helena, Lysander, and Demetrius.
 Foolishness
The foolishness of the play can be seen in the scene where Shakespeare
displays Bottom with an ass’ head instead of his own (Act 3, Scene 1), which
is ridiculous.
It is also shown when Robin squeezed the love potion into Lysander’s
eyelids instead of Demetrius’ (Act 2, Scene 2)
Despite the ridiculousness of it, this is what makes the comedy aspect shine
through the play.

7.  Dreams
Dreams are an important theme in the play. Not only it is apparent as it is
the title of the play—“A Midsummer Night’s Dream”—the ‘dreams’ theme
also can be seen from the dialogue in the play itself; “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 t’expound this dream,” (Act 4, Scene 1, Line 185).
At the end of the play, Puck says to the audiences as well that if they have
been offended by the play, they should remember it as nothing more than a
dream. (Act 5, Scene 1)
 Marriage
Marriage is clearly one of the major themes in the play as from the
beginning, Shakespeare creates a scene when Egeus attempted to force
Hermia to marry the man he had chosen to be her husband, Demetrius.
(Act 1, Scene 1)
Also there is scenes of the forced-marriage between Hyppolita and Theseus,
and the fairies-mariage between Oberon and Titania.

8. Discussion of the Settings
 Athens
The play begins in Athens, where Duke Theseus and Hippolyta are preparing for an
elaborate wedding (Act 1, Scene 1) and ends in "the palace of Theseus" (Act 1, Scene 1,
and Act 5, Scene 1).
This also has a social influence to the play, as Athens is a place for law and order
where a father can demand the death penalty for a disobedient daughter refusing to
marry the man of his choosing.
 The Wood
Most of the action aspect of the play takes place in "a wood near Athens." (Act 2, Scene
1 and Act 4, Scene 1). In many plays, a wood is a place where magic happens. It a place
full of dreams, containing more dreams than reality. It is also a mysterious place
where wishes are made true and fantasy turns into reality.
The wood gives the play the mood of light fantasy of the play. It also allows magic to
solve the love problems in the plot.
The wood is first mentioned by Lysander when he asked Hermia to run away with him
to his aunt’s, and asked her to meet him in the forest (Act 1, Scene 1, Line 156-165)
The wood is also mentioned in the following scene by Quince who wished to rehearse
in the wood so they wouldn’t be bothered by the crowds in the city (Act 1, Scene 2,
Line 38-39)

9.  Quince’s house
The "rude mechanicals," Bottom and company meet and
discuss their plans to entertain Duke Theseus on his wedding
day at Quince's house (Act 1 Scene 2 and Act 1 Scene 2).
 May Day
This setting of time can be seen when Theseus stumbles upon
the sleeping Athenian (Act 4, Scene 1). He thinks they are
passed out on the ground because they got up early and went
into the wood to "observe / The rite of May" (4.1.137-138).
It is also mentioned Lysander, saying that he once met
Hermia and Helena in the wood to "do observance to a morn
of May" (Act 1, Scene 1, Line 169).

10.  Midsummer's Eve
Unlike the apparentness of the previous time setting, the
Midsummer Eve is implied in the play.
The title is a kind of shout-out to the Midsummer's Eve,
which happens to fall on the 23rd of June. The
Midsummer’s Eve is said to be a time of mystery and
magic. Spirits would run around causing mischief and
teenage girls would have dreams about the guys they
would eventually fall in love with and marry, just like
what Shakespeare wrote in the play; in this case they are
four young Athenians (Hermia, Helena, Lysander, and
Demetrius).

11. Conclusion
A famous play writer, William Shakespeare in his play entitled “A
Midsummer Night’s Dream”, showcases some major themes that all
contributed in making the play wonderful, legendary, not to mention
immensely entertaining. In “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”,
Shakespeare uses love, foolishness, magic, gender, dreams, and marriage
as the themes, all of which are blended seamlessly into a beautiful piece
of play.
A wide range of settings are also used in “A Midsummer Night’s
Dream”. Shakespeare picked Athena as the main setting of place, with all
the cultures and hierarchy that follows the setting of Athena. Within the
Athens, several other places are mentioned in the play. There was Peter
Quince’s house where the mechanicals first assembled to discuss the play
they are going to perform for the wedding, and, last but not least, the
wood, where all sorts of magical things happen.
The title “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” makes it quite obvious to
see that the play is set during the Midsummer’s Eve, which in on the 23rd
of June. The play also mentions the May Day as the setting of time.

12. Bibliography
Kennedy, X. J. 1991. 5th ed. Literature: An
Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. United
States of America: HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
”Theme | Theme Definition by Merriam-Webster.”
Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d.
Web. 18 Dec. 2016.