In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, William Shakespeare brilliantly uses the night as a motif which plays a valuable role in the play. He combines this motif with the related symbols of the play to demonstrate the power of night and its correlation with love and vision. He uses symbolism and imagery to develop the motif and makes extensive use of the night forest which, in part, helps the situation of the four young lovers, one of the main plots of the play.

It might seem strange that Shakespeare would choose a forest at night as the main setting for a comedy; the dark forest serves as the center of the play’s world, ousting Athens, a city that was regarded as the center of ancient Greek civilization. The darkness of the night is intensified in the forest; the dark is intense enough for the characters to fear being alone. Helena cries out to Demetrius not to abandon her “darkling”, or in the dark (Act II, Scene 2, 85). When Lysander abandons Hermia, she is convinced that being alone in the dark could lead her to death:

Speak, of all loves; I swoon almost with fear.

No? Then I will perceive you are not nigh.

Either death or you I’ll find immediately.

“Dark night, that from the eye his function takes,

William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream presents a romantic comedy with the sense love is most associated with -the sense of sight- taken away in a motif of night. The play would seem to require the light of day rather than a setting in the darkest of all places at the darkest of all hours, but Shakespeare brilliantly combines this motif with the related symbols of the play to demonstrate the power of night and its correlation with love and vision. The reliance on different kinds of perception other than the sense of sight, as well as the power of the magic in the night forest, makes possible a happy ending for all four lovers by the end of the play. What begins in night as magic solidifies into reality with daylight. The darkness of night bequeaths peace and love among the lovers and carries this harmony into the light of day.

Physical darkness impairs or transforms vision, and by transforming the sense humans rely on most, the night forest forces new kinds of looking. Shakespeare includes the aspect of vision and its relation to darkness. The power of night transforms the gaze in that the eye’s ability is diminished, but the ear’s strength is augmented. Hermia is able to find Lysander eventually by using her hearing to its full potential:

Some topics in this essay:
III Scene, Act Scene, IV Scene, William Shakespeare, Night’s Dream, II Scene, Cupid Roman, Diana Roman, Demetrius Demetrius’, Lysander Demetrius, scene 1, scene 2, act scene 1, iii scene, act iii, act iii scene, act scene, iii scene 2, sight imagery, night forest, power night, act iv scene, act ii scene, iv scene, act iv,