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William Shakespeare's Midsummer rain blows through the brittle order of Theseus' court and dissension flourishes. A daughter, Hermia, rebels: she will not "fit her fancy to her father's will" and refuses to marry the "worthy" Demetrius, Egeus' choice. Instead she flees with her lover Lysander into the wet night woods, where their visions can flow unconstrained Who am l? Not a "form in wax to be imprinted by a father-god", Hermia cries, and we celebrate her freedom to imagine. In the "contagious fogs" of the fairy forest, though, love's vision grows confused. The juice of Oberon's purple flower so changes Lysander's and Demetrius' sight that their love for Hermia and Helena becomes hopelessly fickle. And yet the fairy king's liquid magic has only accentuated the fluidity of love's illusions. As Helena says early on, "Things base and vile, holding no quantity, / Love can transpose to form and dignity." What do lovers' eyes create? Is it real, or a deception? "Am not l Hermia? Are not you Lysander?" As Bottom says, "reason and love keep little company together nowadays. "
Perhaps we are relieved to be awakened from this dream by the hunter's horn, and share Theseus' scepticism about the imagination. He feels in control of his fantasy; it is contained, as a drink is contained in his glass. Now the sophisticated couples laugh at the workers' poor dramatics; there is no risk that they will suppose a bush a bear, or a man a lion. They see more clearly, have "expounded" their dreams, and "so shall all the couples three / Ever true in loving be. "
But is the dream so easily contained? Perhaps we feel with Bottom that it "hath no bottom." And the dye still stains Demetrius' eyes! Melissa Bagg |
Four photographs from scenes
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