A Midsummer Night's Dream

The Necessity of Emotional Intelligence and Imagination in the World of A Midsummer Night's Dream College

The use of emotion and imagination is prevalent in William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Both appear in a plethora of ways but most evidently in his descriptive “lists,” his moon symbolism, and his love lessons. Through Shakespeare’s lists, readers are pulled into a fantastical world. The reader can also see how emotion is dominant through the symbolic roles which the moon plays. Shakespeare’s ironic portrayals of love bring forces of emotion to the forefront of the play. Through his imaginative drama, Sharkespeare illustrates that humans are not meant to act wholly through reason but also to employ imagination and emotion into life.

It is evident that Shakespeare desires the reader to use imagination and emotion in order to fully understand the beauty of the world created by his lists. One example is the scene Lysander and Hermia depict as they imagine meeting to elope in order to escape Egeus’ strict demands for Hermia’s marriage and future. Lysander says, “Tomorrow night, when Phoebe doth behold / Her silver visage in the wat’ry glass / decking with liquid pearls the bladed grass - / a time that lovers’ flights doth still conceal - / Through Athens’ gates have we devised to steal.” Next, Shakespeare clearly...

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