Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night's Dream

A Midsummer Night's Dream is an enchanting and extraordinary comedy. With its rich poetry and vigorous prose, and its combination of magic, myth, romance and humour, it ranks among Shakespeare's most popular and memorable plays. However, it has also increasingly been recognized as a profound and penetrating exploration of love, desire, gender, social hierarchy, dramatic art, imagination and vision. In this Reader's Guide, Nicolas Tredell: • explores the key critical responses to the play, from the late seventeenth to the twenty-first centuries • provides succinct and searching accounts of the most vibrant commentaries and interpretations • sets these accounts in their critical, theoretical and historical contexts. Informed and incisive, this survey is an invaluable resource for students, teachers and all those who wish to enhance their grasp of Dream criticism and engage in the ongoing critical debates about the play.