Midsummer Nights Dream

The Play: "A Midsummer Night's Dream", by William Shakespeare offers a wonderful contrast in human mentality. Shakespeare provides insight into man's conflict with the rational versus the emotional characteristics of our behavior through his settings. The rational, logical side is represented by Athens, with its flourishing government and society. The wilder emotional side is represented by the fairy woods. Here things do not make sense, and mystical magic takes the place of human logic. Every …

…and well paralleled feature. The people of Athens, struggling to understand the illogical fairy world, and at the same time exhibiting the same behavior. Perhaps Shakespeare seeing the era of logic and reason obtaining new highs, wished to remind us all of our other side. The emotional quality of mankind may get him into trouble, but it is also what makes life so thrilling and bearable. Like the ying-yang, one cannot live without the other.