... in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" the forest creates a dark, wild, mysterious atmosphere in which the magical elements of Shakespeare's plot can be played out. The Athens and the enchanted forest influence the characters especially Hermia and Lysander because to them the Athens is a place that prevents them from marrying each other. But the forest does not. Some pressing questions that I would ... ask the author about the setting is; why didn't the story take place in modern time's verses medieval times? And why did it take place in the enchanted forest instead of the Theseus Palace? Chara...

• Word Count: 1140
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... investigates the various gender roles and explores the inferiority of women in Elizabethan society. In A Midsummer Night's Dream elements of social critique are present in the opening seen with the conflict between Hermia and her father Egeus. Rather than submitting to her father's wishes, Hermia's headstrong attitude questions the belief that women are thought to always submit to the wishes of the male dominant ... to the male's desires. The play concludes with the women being physically tamed in their marriage bed binding them to their role as the wife and the mother. Shakespeare uses A...

• Word Count: 866
• Approx Pages: 3
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... of knowing who is right or wrong, so all they can do now is argue. After reading Shakespeare or after hearing someone praise him, many questions come to mind. Why was he so popular? What is it about his writing that made his works stand the test of time, where other writers ... of that period were erased by the dust of time? Was he really the best? Some essayists stated their opinions of these questions, some blatantly, others between the lines. The character development is seen as one of the reasons of Shakespeare's immense success as a writer. J.B. Priestley commends ... her husband ...

• Word Count: 737
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School