Introduction
Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and the carnival elements in the play are widely discussed topics in the literary world. One of the notable writers who did a deep evaluation on the carnival elements in Shakespeare is Bakhtin. Critics observe that it is this element, which makes the play distinct from other plays of Shakespeare. The play can be said to fall in the category of light comedy. It colorfully portrays an episode from the adventurous night of romantic lovers in a forest ruled by fairies.
The tragic and the comic elements in the play have also been subjected to severe criticism in the same manner as the carnival elements. One can see the play moving in between a tragedy and a comedy and this can be regarded as the cause for modern critical scrutiny. It was the Russian critic Mikhail Bakhtin who coined the term ‘carnival’.
Main body
Historically, the carnival is a festival related to the Feast of the Circumcision. Bakhtin attributes some special significance to the carnival when he regards it as a symbol of collectivity. He considers it as the unity of the people which is different from the unity found in political or socioeconomic organizations. One of the main features of the carnival as Bakhtin sees it is its equality, that is, there is all-around unity, though the participants belong to different social, political, and racial classes. One can find a kind of free and familiar contact that exists among the people who are united in the carnival.
As there are no class barriers between the people, Bakhtin finds that the lower section of the society rises on par with the higher. When one attends a carnival, one is aware of the space and time which brings to them the thought of collectivity. While analyzing the opinion of Bakhtin, one feels that when people get together in the carnival, they are united not only in dress and appearance but also they are renewed both mentally and physically. Simultaneously, one’s mental, sensual, and material, unities too go up. The paper is an attempt to evaluate the carnival elements in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Bakhtin introduces the term carnival which denotes not merely a mass of people but who have gathered in such a way that confronts the political or socio-economic systems. Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a play with the characteristics of a romantic comedy. At the end of the play, Shakespeare introduces a new form of political authority. Here one can see that the dramatist portrays the term as an inevitable part of ancient culture.
Various critics point out that even when the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a comedy they have identified the shadows of a darker undertone in it. Here Shakespeare portrays the interlude between Bottom and Titania in a new way, which, contradicts the conventional pattern. In his book entitled ‘ Power on Display’, Leonard Tennenhouse shares his views about the social system in the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The author remarks, “This form of an authority constitutes an improvement over the punitive power he threatened to exercise at the play’s opening.” (Tennenhouse 1986, p. 74).
When analyzing the gradual development of the plot of the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream one can see the elements of carnival. The association of judicial law and patriarchal power pave the way for a new political atmosphere.
Various critical studies prove that ambiguous sexuality is an important theme in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The love affair between Tatiana and Bottom leads the audience into the world of a new aesthetic experience. The crisis of young lovers in the second and third acts of the play gives a new form of storyline. The performance of young lovers in this play provides a sign of revolution against the existing system of authority. Here Shakespeare portrays his characters as the exponents of carnival culture. One of the major social changes reported in the time of carnival and festival is the deterioration of male domination in society. Looking at Bakhtin’s concepts about carnival one can find the love scenes in the woods and Bottom’s dream are the finest examples.
A sense of collectivity can be seen in these scenes. Readers can find appropriate examples of social change in the play. The life of four lovers in the woods and Bottom’s dreams gives a world of social chaos and that is entirely different from Theseus’ authority. The ending part of the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream represents the mood of carnival. Through the characters of Theseus, Hermia, and Lysander the dramatist shows the gradual change of woman’s status and consummation of marriage in society. Julie Sanders’ book named Novel Shakespeares contains some salient information. The author shares his view like “These elements of carnival provide their intersections, structural and stylistic, with the paradigms of Shakespearean comedy and criticism, as we shall see later.” (Sanders 2001, p. 21).
Julie Sanders says that the elements of carnival in Shakespearean plays have their intersections, structural and stylistic features and these are highly related to the characteristics of typical Shakespearean comedies. Shakespeare presents the character Oberon in the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
The way Shakespeare portrays carnival elements in the play “ A Midsummer Night’s Dream”
As a romantic comedy, Shakespeare is A midsummer Night’s Dream constitutes different features of comedy. Carnival provides celebrations and gatherings. Colorful costumes and masks are essential features of a carnival. The character of Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a supernatural figure with the head of a donkey. Shakespeare introduces the elements of carnival in his play in a way of revolution. The role of Titania as an unruly woman, Puck’s dealings that contribute to the disorder, feelings, and responses of the young lovers are the violating forces. The play begins with an atmosphere that constitutes the patriarchal authority but it ends with a revolution. Shakespeare introduces the character Oberon as a symbol of an alternation. Through the dialogues of Oberon, a reader can understand a sign of questioning or a sound of revolution. Act III of the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream gives Oberon’s words:
Oberon: “This is thy negligence: still thou mistakes,
Or else commit thy knaveries willfully.” (Shakespeare, Richardson & Messel 1957, p.81).
The revolution against the Athenian authority is revealed here in the words of Oberon. Another aspect of this revolution is the attitude of two suitors Demetrius and Lysander. The fight between these two people creates striking scenes in the play. The female characters of the play Hermia, Heena, and Titania succeed in finding their own identity in a patriarchal society. The disobedience of Hermia and Titania provides signs of revolution and both of them face the after-effects courageously. Studies prove that Bakhtin introduces carnival as a symbol of change. The mask is related to the pleasure of change and recreation.
In the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream, a reader can see Bottom’s metamorphoses, disobedience of the female characters like Titania, and the dream world of young lovers presented as the violation of existing boundaries and conservative ideologies. The elements of carnival in the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream provide a particular interface of reality and romance. Egeus’s silence in Act IV, scene I of the play presents the way that indicates consent or a kind of withdrawal from Athenian norms and regulations. Mikhail Mikhaĭlovich Bakhtin says: “Carnival was the true feast of time, the feast of becoming, change and renewal.” (Bakhtin, & Iswolsky1984, p.10).
In Bakhtin’s views about carnival, the characters of young lovers, fairy queen Titania and the mythical character Bottom stand for the establishment of a new custom.
Conclusion
When concluding, one can infer that the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream is expressive of the carnival elements at a higher degree. Rival elements in the play intensify its actions and the same causes for the dramatic appeal of the play. A close analysis of the play reveals that the carnival in A Midsummer Night’s Dream is revolutionary than conservative or subversive. One feels the revolutionary aspects in the play when one looks at the brave or the revolutionary attempts of Hermia to cross the command of his father as well as the law of Athens.
Hermia’s decision to marry according to her wishes and her elopement shake the keystone of the existing belief of the Athenians and Theseus as a father and a conservative king. One can evaluate the play following the principles of feminism as it best suits with the stubborn mentality of Titania when she bravely faces the threat from her husband. Both Titania and Hermia express their boldness in questioning the male chauvinism and select their own way, disregarding all other aspects like the existing social customs, which deny the moral and the legal rights of women, and builds up a magnificent world as their own. Titania-Bottom episode is the other example that challenges the existing social conventions.
Titania’s decision to follow Bottom and the respect that she shows to him, more than the one shown to her husband, are self revelatory of her attempt to affirm the feminist view of life. It is a revolution in the sense that a total change is visible in the attitude of the women characters of the play who disobey their male counterparts and select their own way which they think as befitting their status as women. An overall change is also visible in the appearance of the characters, especially their costumes and mask.
The changing of the mask and costume are symbolic of the imminent change in the cultural and socio-economic traditions of Athens. When the play ends, one feels the changing face of Athenian social atmosphere with the advent of a new political system. The new phase marks the consummation of women after realizing the bitterness of the male chauvinist society. To conclude, one can say that the carnival element mentioned the play is revolutionary and it helps to raise the play to a level that challenges the male dominated society.
References
Bakhtin, M M & Iswolsky, H 1984, Rabelais and his world, Indian University Press. Web.
Sanders, J 2001, Novel Shakespeares: twentieth-century women novelists and appropriation. Web.
Shakespeare, W, Richardson, R & Messel, O 1957, A midsummer night’s dreams: Oberon, Plain Label Books. Web.
Tennenhouse, L 1986, Power on display, Routledge. Web.