Elysia Knight

“A comedy, then, is a problem-solving story, ending in resolution and order, normally symbolised by marriage.”

Alexander Leggatt famously said “a comedy is, then, a problem-solving story, ending in resolution and order, normally symbolised by marriage” and we can definitely apply this quote to Shakespeare’s tripartite play A Midsummer Night’s Dream because there is a constant problem throughout the play which eventually becomes solved, ending in “marriage” and “order”- the two couples are wed correctly and the King and Queen are happily married at the top of the hierarchy. However, at the very beginning of the play when the fairies are fighting, it has the potential of very serious consequences for the entire natural world, as Titania and Oberon announce that the natural world is all mixed up, the four lovers (Lysander, Hermia, Demetrius and Helena) go wandering into the very natural world, creating a “problem-solving story”…
Marriage is constantly foreshadowed throughout the play by the language used, in Act IV scene I, Titania is straight away speaking in rhyming couplets- “flowery bed” and “smooth head”, “do coy” and “gentle joy”, gentle joy is also a harmony reference. However there is a huge juxtaposition in the language of the characters which creates comedy because whilst Titania is speaking romantic, Bottom is talking about killing people “get your weapons in your hand” “kill me a red-hipped humble-bee”, Titania then goes on to speak in blank verse whilst Bottom is speaking in prose, again a juxtaposition, Titania is speaking in a highly formal language as opposed to Bottom, she says “wilt thou hear some music” and he replies “Let’s have the tongs and bones” it’s middle class music, here we see a juxtaposition in the social class of the characters. Not only is Bottom of a lower class than Titania, he is also very demanding which creates