In this reflective journal entry, student Katelyn Campbell explains how Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Nights’ Dream resonates with her and how the characters and themes encountered in this play remain relevant to young people today. 

I chose A Midsummer Night’s Dream as my Production Proposal play this year because the idea of Shakespeare writing a story about fairies and magic in a forest is so charming and whimsical. I think this play is still relevant today, especially for students, since it deals with a topic that occupies the teenage mind: love. The highs and lows of love and passion are put on display so perfectly in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and the idea of love, true love specifically, is questioned. Shakespeare presents a story of love that shows the audience how love conquers every challenge it is put against. These ideas continue to resonate with teenage society, as love and relationships are a constant in our lives, and it is captivating to witness a play written hundreds of years ago, showing those ideas. 

The forbidden love between Hermia and Lysander in this play is compelling to me and shows how deeply people can love each other. Instead of listening to her father and marrying Demetrius, Hermia runs away with Lysander to elope with him in the forest. After altercations with fairies, potions, and other nonsense with the creatures and people in the forest, the lovers come back together at the end of the play and get married. Their relationship shows that true love does exist and to never give up on what one's heart truly wants. 

Shakespeare's plays have greatly impacted my passion for theatre and history. Studying Shakespeare in school, then reading his plays on my own has changed my understanding of literature and made me think more philosophically. I've become increasingly interested in Medieval and Tudor history since reading Shakespeare and am passionate to learn more. I think about Shakespeare's works a lot and find references or things that remind me of his plays in my day-to-day life. Some of the characters he wrote have had lasting impacts on me and have become some of my favourite characters in literature, like Lady Macbeth, who I have developed immense empathy for. Shakespeare creates complex multi-level characters who leave lasting impressions. 

“Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind; And therefore is wing'd Cupid painted blind. Nor hath love's mind of any judgment taste; Wings and no eyes figure unheedy haste: And therefore is love said to be a child, Because in choice he is so oft beguil'd.” (Act 1, Scene 1)

This small excerpt is from a monologue of Helena’s. She shares thoughts of love being everywhere and how painful it is to see Demetrius showering Hermia with love and promises. The audience sees for the first time the lonely love presented in the play. Lonely love relates to the idea of being alone in your feelings towards someone, due to the fear of being turned down. Helena cannot confide in anyone about her feelings towards Demetrius, nor does she believe he will ever love her back. These lines remind us that loving someone happens with internal feelings and connections, not outside appearance and false ideas. This monologue also foreshadows the main plot of the play: the lover’s intermingling and falling in love with each other thanks to the love potions, the trials they endure, and having a faulty perception of love which can oftentimes be misleading. When the couples overcome the obstacles at the end of the play, it returns back to the idea that love always prevails in the end. There is a sense of hoping for love and being loved in return, and that love does, in fact, win. At the end of the play, every character seems happy, which is a beautiful concept that I think carries great weight.