A Midsummer Night’s Dream

The Masque

• It is more a Masque than a drama.• In it Shakespeare is more a poet than a

dramatist. • The plot is very simple; there is little or no

development of character; • there is very little portrayal of passion; nor is

there much dramatic movement.

Elizabethan Masques

• A genre of entertainment developed in England during the 16th and 17th centuries.

• It involved poetry, music and elaborate sets, and reached its highest development in the court masques ofc 1600-30 and in the stage masques of the Restoration.

• It had its origins in the English disguising of the 15th century and its Italian counterparts, introduced to the English court by Henry VIII.

• The 16th-century court masque combined speech, songs and formal dances with ‘revels’, during which the masquers engaged in dancing, gallantry and intrigue with members of the audience

• In some ways, masques and plays were very similar.

• Both involved costumes, scenery, and acting. • However, there were some important differences. • Plays were usually performed publicly in theaters

and could be seen by anyone who paid. • Masques were performed at court or in a palace in

front of a smaller, private audience

CharacteristicsI

• A greater emphasis on situations than characters

• A struggle of young lovers to overcome difficulty, often presented by elders

• Separation and re-unification • Multiple, intertwining plots

II

• Deception among characters (especially mistaken identity)

• A clever servant • Tension between characters, often within a

family

III

• Use of all styles of comedy• Pastoral element • Happy Ending, though this is a given,