Midsummer Night's Dream (play) Vs Midsummer Night's Dream (movie)

Michael Hoffman does a incredible job in capturing the feel and emotions of the Shakespearian comedy "Midsummer Nights Dream". With a contemporary and fresh look, Hoffman gives the 16th century play a modern flavor while staying true to the original script. This Shakespearian comedy has undergone numerous transformations, being variously re-invented as a musical, a ballet, and in more than a dozen films; and every time it has be subjected to various interpretation. Michael Hoffman also had his own interpretation and adaptation of different characters and settings. One thing that might intrigue the viewer is Hoffman's adaptation of fairies and the fairy world.

In the original play the fairies are portrayed as mischief and mystical creatures who are invisible to the human eye. Their fondness for dancing, their love of cleanliness, and their child-abstracting propensities is what makes them so fascinating. They also have a strange liking for the real world objects; which they occasionally steal. They form a community, ruled over by the fairy king Oberon and his queen Titania. The fairy realm is hidden from the humans, within the mystical forest. It is an enchanted place where the man made rules are suspended and where fairy magic supreme.

In the movie Hoffman does a great job in capturing all of these characteristics of the fairy world. Just like the play, Hoffman portrays the fairy world as a gorgeous and lush natural world, which is ruled by the fairy king Oberon and his queen Titania. Some might say Hoffman "sees the fairy world simply as a kingdom in exile, driven into the woods by the triumph of Christianity"(Alleva), but not as languorous world which Shakespeare had originally portrayed. The depiction of fairies in the movie is same as the play. They are shown as mischief creatures who like to interfere into the human world. In the first scene of the movie you can see fairies stealing random things from the real world, to take back to the fairy world as trophies and souvenirs. A group of fairs are later seen dancing, singing and getting drunk in the enchanted forest.

In the play fairy king Oberon and fairy queen Titania were rendered as these godly creatures, who are all seeing and all knowing. They saw them self as the parents of the humans and felt that it was their responsibility and duty to take care of the humans. While arguing with Oberon about the changeling, Titania says. "We are their parents and original"(William, Act I, Scene I). Shakespeare puts the fairy king and queen in very high position. On the other hand Hoffman portrays the fairy king and queen as "clumsy, enervated, aimless, petty, and irritable" creature who have been shun into the forest.

Shakespeare portrays Titania as a proud heavenly creature who is very wise and strong willed . She stand for what she believes and is willing to be engaged in any argument with her husband Oberon.

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