Author: David Bruce

Publisher:

Published: 2020-10-27

Total Pages: 110

ISBN-13:

I would like to see my retellings of classic literature used in schools, so I give permission to the country of Finland (and all other countries) to buy one copy of this eBook and give copies to all students forever. I also give permission to the state of Texas (and all other states) to buy one copy of this eBook and give copies to all students forever. I also give permission to all teachers to buy one copy of this eBook and give copies to all students forever.Teachers need not actually teach my retellings. Teachers are welcome to give students copies of my eBooks as background material. For example, if they are teaching Homer's "Iliad" and "Odyssey," teachers are welcome to give students copies of my "Virgil's 'Aeneid': A Retelling in Prose" and tell students, "Here's another ancient epic you may want to read in your spare time."This is an easy-to-read version of William Shakespeapre's comedy "A Midsummer Night's Dream." * Shakespeare's comic target in this play is love and the crazy things it makes us do. For example, when you are confronted with two individuals who are alike in almost every way, love can make you hate one individual while you fall in love with the other. Love can also make you fall in love with an ass -- someone who is unsuited to you in every way. Theseus falls in love with Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons, a society of women who completely rejected men and were believed to mate with men and then kill them and who were thought to kill any male babies born to them.* Shakespeare deals with the nonrational in this play. Some things are rational, such as mathatics and logic. Other things are irrational, such as putting your hand in a blender and turning it on just to see what it feels like. The realm of the nonrational is the realm of beauty, poetry, laughter, dance, sex, and love. Comedy is nonrational. Art connects the world of the rational and the nonrational. Much intelligence goes into producing art, but much art explores the world of the non rational.* Love is nonrational. Suppose you are confronted with two individuals who are basically alike in beauty, form, character, and personality, but one individual is rich and the other individual is poor. Reason would tell you to fall in love with the rich individual, but you may fall in love with the poor individual.* The world of the nonrational appears to be more powerful than the world of the rational. Theseus is a very rational man, but despite his best intentions, he cannot help breaking out into laughter at the bad acting and bad play of the craftsmen. And, of course, he falls in love with an Amazon.* The fairies inhabit the world of the nonrational. They speak a dazzling variety of poetry, and they sing and dance. Puck likes to play jokes on people.* The word "irrational" means completely opposed to reason. An insane person who believes that two plus three equals four is irrational. Irrationality plays no part in A Midsummer Night's Dream, which is about the rational, the nonrational, and some of the places they intersect.