A Midsummer Night's Dream
What is the forest that the characters end up in? Why is the forest important in Shakespeare’s plays?
Act 1
Act 1
They end up in the Forest of Ardennes. The pastoral green forest is a place where social norms are upended and the strict rules of courtly city life are juxtaposed with the romantic chaos of the forest. The forest is where Shakespeare mines much of the exotic and metaphysical in his plays.