Abby berates celebrated classics No. 2

And now, all you readers holding your breath since the last ABCC post, prepare for sweet release. Yes, the time has come my friends to discuss Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Since my last mention of the play I have been exposed to two productions of the play, a re-reading of it, and many a critical article. Thus a better informed me can now still make the claim that it sucks, but with moderation. Die hard fans have bombarded me with questions about what can I possibly have against this wonderful celebration of young love and saturnalia. I shall now make public my entire list of complaints. First of all we should take a close look at the two pairs of lovers which seem to be the central focus of the play. For once, they are quite indistinguishable from each other, with the exception of Helena who also ultimately succumbs to her fate of banality. Lysander and Demetrius might as well be the same person, and Hermia could very well be replaced by a blow up doll (now that would be an interesting production). Second we go to Egeus, the supposed obstacle to the lovers' cause, who has virtually no other quality but being said obstacle. Theseus makes a few notable speeches, but his counterpart Hypolita, the so-called amazon queen is completely stripped of all her potential as a character. Another mark that this is but an early play of Shakespeare and that his craft was not as yet fully developed. The fairy world generously gives directors a chance to go wild with the make up and the shiny things, but extra-textual elements aside, there's not much to them, with the dubious exception of Puck. The one plot that truly raises my interest is that of Bottom the weaver and the rest of the mechanics. Here we can see a deep subversive discussion of class issues that are cleverly disguised in foolery. Bottom's dream manages to strike an emotional depth left unexplored by the fickle lovers, the fairies or the Athenians, and the mechanics' play-within-a-play which closes the final act makes one giggle with delight. Shakespeare went on to do better and greater things after this play which in my opinion is but a pale shadow of his talent, but in the character of Bottom you can see a glimpse of what's to come.

Just to leave you in suspense for next time, I'll be having a go at Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, which I actually quite like, so please collectively untangle your bunched up panties.