"Describe the characteristics of the type of play that you are reading (history, tragedy, or comedy). How does your play conform to these characteristics? Does it differ? If so, in what way?"
For the independent Shakespeare study, I am reading the play “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” This play is characterized as a comedy. First off, this play has complex plots with twists and turns, which is a characteristic of Shakespearean comedy. In a comedy, there are typically misunderstandings, trickery, or mistaken identities which lead to conflicts. An example of this would be the part of the play where Puck puts Oberon’s love potion on multiple characters, causing them to fall in love with the first person they see. Titania, for example, falls in love with Bottom, who looks like a donkey. A happy ending and marriage also occur at the end of the play, which is often a characteristic found in comedies. Without recognizing these things, it is also evident that this is a comedy because of the funny, witty, light-hearted mood throughout the play. Overall, A Midsummer Night’s Dream conforms to the characteristics of comedy.
