The Concept of Transformation in A Midsummer Night's Dream Rebecca Blough College

The concept of transformation appears in a variety of ways within A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Transformation within plays written by William Shakespeare often takes place as the changing of either a characters outward appearance or a denoted portion of their inner substance. These changes, or transformations, can be portrayed as freeing to characters when the transformations are at the will of the character. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, however, the transformations that are portrayed tend to be more restrictive and not of the consent of the characters. These transformations, although restrictive, add much comedic effect to the written play as well as it may be performed. Throughout A Midsummer Night’s Dream readers see the concept of transformation through the use of magic, love, trickery, and acting, and further see how it is restrictive to the characters of the play and how it may be presented on the stage.

One of the biggest ways in which the concept of transformation appears in A Midsummer Night’s Dream is through the use of magic. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream readers see the concept of transformation through the use of magic used by various fairies in the play. One fairy, Oberon, introduces one of the main sources of magic...