of characters and their misfortunes are portrayed in such a ridiculous fashion that one would have to be insane to wish for their luck. The initial problem of whom Hermia was to marry is not the sole hurdle she and Lysander must overcome. While the issue of Hermias marriage to Demetrius could have been the topic of the whole play its self, Shakespeare complicates this situation beyond recognition. Helena commits what Sir Philip Sidney would call one of the common errors of our life. Helena gives into jealousy, and subsequently brings Demetrius into the woods in an attempt to win him over. This jealousy, which everyone in their lives has experienced, is what caused all four of the young Athenians to be in the woods at the same time. What follows is a train of misfortunate events, which one cant help but laugh at out of joy that it is not they in that situation. The act of entering the woods to rehearse a play in seclusion proves shocking and anything but ordinary when Puck plays his joke on Bottom. Shakespeare places his characters under these initially normal conditions, and proceeds to play a cruel, yet entertaining joke on them. Shakespeare uses the faeries is the main catalyst of events once all have entered the woods. Together, Oberon and Puck manage to affect the lives of all who enter their woods that night in a dramatically comical way. The common errors of our life are all the material that the two faeries need to create this chaos. Michael Hoffmans 1999 production of A Midsummers Night Dream did a wonderful job in portraying events in the most ridiculous and scornful sort. While the text of the play conveys the ridiculousness of events such as Bottom, ass' ears and all, winning over the complete adoration of Titania the Faerie Queen: to see it performed is always another thing. The casting for this film was for the most part a nice fit. Rupert Everett played an excellent, somewhat cocky and devious Faerie King. T...
