Shakespeare is widely renowned for his use of literary devices in his work. He can easily transition from prose to verse, incorporate a secondary play within the plot of the main play, and is skilled in the use of dramatic irony and monologues. However, the literary technique of focus in this essay is Shakespeare’s use of two contrasting worlds in his plays, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and 1 Henry IV, to enhance the plot and the character development. To understand the similarities between these two plays and the differences between the two worlds in the plays, compare the characteristics of each world with the characteristics of the opposing elements of Sigmund Freud’s model of the human personality. Freud’s model explains human personality…show more content… Under the lens of Freud’s model of the human psyche, in relation to these two plays, the ego is the plays themselves, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and 1 Henry IV, because the play (as a whole) balances the two worlds and mediates the conflicts between them. The play (the ego) also shifts the focus of the audience from one world to the other (Id/green world/ tavern to the superego/city/court and vice versa) while maintaining ultimate control over the plot of the play and ensuring a rational progression through the story. The purpose of this essay is to illustrate that the two worlds in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (the green world and the city of Athens) and the two worlds in 1 Henry IV (the tavern and the court) are depictions of Freud’s radically opposing elements (the Id and the superego); the green world and the tavern representing the Id and the city and the court representing the…show more content… In this world populated by fairies and magical creatures, these lovers are not restrained by the patriarchal society of the city and the laws that forbid them from being together without her father’s permission. Demetrius, betrothed to Hermia by her father, enters the green world in search of Hermia. Helena, the woman in love with Demetrious, trails behind in the hopes of gaining his favor. Despite Demetrius’ threats to leave Helena to die or to kill her himself if she does not leave him alone (violence), Helena continues to follow him deeper into the green world, unwavering in her efforts to gain his love (determination to satisfy desires). In an attempt to make Demetrius love Helena, the fairies decide to drop their magic juice (drug) into his eyes. However, due to an unfortunate error, they drop the liquid into Lysander’s eyes instead, causing chaos for these four young men and women. Lysander awakens to find Helena standing over him and, in a drug induced state, proclaims he loves her and will do anything to have her (desire). Realizing the mistake, the fairy finds Demetrius and drops the magic juice into his eyes and he also falls madly in love with Helena and is determined to win her. Hermia reunites with the other three characters and is distraught at the sight of Lysander pining over Helena. The strong emotion in this encounter is also characteristic of the
