If there were no sympathy, empathy or love in our world, this would be a difficult place to live. If there were no strict laws and reason in our world, it would be a crazy place to live. Neither world would be anyone's first choice as a home – it's just common sense: take away either of these two fundamental aspects of life, and everything immediately becomes chaos. In fact, it is only in a world like ours, where legal and human emotions come together, that we are happy. In A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare, Shakespeare recognizes this truth and uses both settings to represent the city of Athens as law, order, civility and judgment, while the woods represent the chaos, incivility, dreams and love. By moving the play between these two settings, Shakespeare shows that law and order must be balanced with dreams and love - he says that when there is only law, or when there is only dreams, nothing works well; only when the two are combined do things work out. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay In the city of Athens, ideas related to reality, such as law, order, and judgment, are supreme and have a tight grip on society; However, this system, without a balance between dreams and magic, rarely gives good results. The law of Athens, not softened, is often much too harsh for the characters and, as a result, nothing can go well. This is illustrated in the first act when Aegeus, father of Hermia, asks Theseus, Duke of Athens, to use the law which thus defines Athens to bring about drastic consequences on his daughter, without taking into account love : “I request the ancient privilege. from Athens. As it is mine, I can dispose of it, which will be either for this gentleman or until his death, according to our law” (1.4.41-44). Aegeus begs Theseus to grant him "the ancient privilege of Athens", a law which says that "[Aegeus] may dispose of [Hermia]". Although he, “according to [the] law,” can force Hermia to marry the man he approves of and only that man – otherwise she will be sent “to death,” Aegeus pays no attention to his daughter's true love – he just wants to stick to the law, his reason and his judgment. This law, which is part of what defines Athens as such an orderly place, is used without the knowledge of love, and for this reason, neither option would work for anyone. No one will therefore be happy if the law is applied alone. Later in the scene, Theseus appears to agree with Aegeus and warns Hermia that she must comply with the law or the consequences will be great. “For you, beautiful Hermia, wait until you arm yourself to adapt your fantasies to the will of your father, otherwise the law of Athens delivers you (which we cannot in any way mitigate) to death or to the wish to live alone” (1.1.117-121). Theseus warns Hermia that she must follow "her father's will," otherwise the law will make her eligible for either death or entry into a convent. He also says that none of them have the power to erase or mitigate the law, as they have supreme power over Athenian society. Regardless of his love, the Duke of Athens must, by law, force Hermia to make this difficult decision, which cannot end well no matter what: either Hermia marries someone she doesn't love, either she will die or remain single. for life. Theseus himself cannot even “mitigate” or diminish the law, showing the power it truly has over everyone in the city. This supremacy of the law in Athens forced Hermia into a situationwhich cannot end well. If there were dreams, love and magic to counterbalance the law, everything would be much easier and happier; however, at this point in the play there is none and so the law is in complete control. Shakespeare uses this to show that law without dreams cannot and should not exist. The woods next to the city, on the other hand, are a place where reason and judgment have no hold, a world where magic and love have a hold on society; but this too leads to chaos without law or order to balance it. The woods are the exact opposite of the city of Athens – all reason and judgment are lost once you venture there – and yet both settings have the same consequences. In the woods, Puck describes to Oberon, the king of the resident fairies, how the Clockworks, fleeing the "new Bottom" (for Puck has at this point transformed Bottom's head into that of a donkey), without reason or judgment. , began to imagine things that did not exist, and everything became chaotic: "Their senses so weak, lost with their fears so strong, made that senseless things began to harm them, because the brambles and the thorns in their clothes tear off Certain sleeves, certain hats; producers, everything is snatched away: (3.2.27-30). Puck describes how the Clockworks, fleeing from the changed face of Bottom with "their senses so weak, lost with their fears so strong", began to imagine sticks and briars clutching their clothes and hats as they fled. Because the Clockworks were in a place like the woods, where reason and judgment have no hold, the Clockworks made everything chaotic, at least in their minds. They stopped using reason, so they started imagining things. This chaos was the result of the lack of reason and judgment in the woods. Similarly, at a different time but still in the woods, Lysander's decision to love Helena, made under the influence of magic, later causes chaos due to his lack of real reason. "Not Hermia, but Helena whom I love. Who will not change a raven into a dove? A man's will is influenced by his reason, and reason says that you are the worthiest servant" (2.2.119- 122).Insisting that "reason says that [Helena is] the most worthy servant", Lysander demonstrates how the woods are a place of dreams: Lysander really loves Helena because of the magic. there is no reason for Lysander to tell Helena that she is a dove and Hermia a raven. This lack of reason and judgment creates such a chaotic chain of events full of chaos, where both Demetrius and Lysander love Helena. , Helena thinks that no one loves her, and Hermia loves Lysander, that because of Lysander's actions, nothing is as it is supposed to be. It is magic in a place of magic, dreams and d. love, which, without reason, judgment and law to control, creates total chaos. The lack of order in the following scenes is therefore a direct result of an initial lack of reason and judgment – ​​transforming the plot. spiral. The lack of law and order in the woods is critical and noticeable, making good things bad and creating chaos everywhere. Although laws and dreams separately can have dramatic consequences, when they come together, as they do at the end of A Midsummer Night's Dream, everything works out. The lovers bring their experience, their love and their dreams from the woods to law, order and reason in the city of Athens, and everything – seemingly instantly – is sorted out for them. In the fourth act, the lovers wake up on the edge of the woods, full of “dreams” coming from the woods, and are greeted by Theseus who greets them: “Beautiful lovers, you are happily met. We will hear more about this speech.