A Midsummer's Night Dream: Themes, Symbolism, And Contrast

The fundamental themes of a Midsummer's Night Dream are magic, dreams, and the difficulty of love. Throughout the play, these universal concepts are nourished in every scene by the recurring use of contrast. Shakespeare's ideas are represented by his use of symbolisms. A Midsummer's Night Dream conveys the themes of love, dreams and magic through use of contrast and symbolism throughout the play. When Lysander comments, "The course of love never did run smooth," he …

…mirror held up to A Midsummer's Night Dream itself. In essence, the play is making fun of itself. Shakespeare's uses powerful themes, symbolism and contrast to create a fantastical realm of dreams and illusion. The lighthearted structure of the comedy lets the audience know that a happy ending is at hand and leaves the spectator at ease to ponder over love's difficulty, the magic or supernatural power of love, and what is illusion or dream.