De Alvarez lecture covers politics in Shakespeare's 'Dream'
Gabbi Chee
Issue date: 11/17/09 Section: News
The main political theme of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" is "the replacement of patriarchal rule by political rule," said de Alvarez. This is demonstrated most clearly by Theseus' sparing of Hermia's life. Instead of forcing Hermia to bend to her father's will and marry Demetrius or die, "what [Theseus] makes possible is an appeal to authority beyond blood," said de Alvarez.
The Athenian king is able to do this because Demetrius, still under a fairy spell, renounces his love of Hermia for Helena. "The conversion of Demetrius cannot be done simply by human means," said de Alvarez. "So this unknown power has restored [Demetrius] to his natural taste…It reminds us of the power of reason to restore the nature of things."
Theseus believes that all the lovers' accounts of the events in the woods are fantasies, the result of either desires or fears, which "cannot be admitted into the city but as a dream.
"What remains for the story is only to remain like a faint memory-a dream," said de Alvarez. Theseus keeps the actors from recounting the tales of the woods, to keep out what he perceives to be a threat to the city. But "you can say, what no true Athenian would tell, Shakespeare does." And Shakespeare does so through the fairy character Puck's concluding monologue. "At the end of the play, Puck says that the dream is the play. His lines wake us," said de Alvarez.
All the events in the woods did actually take place for the characters, although only in the context of a play, as Puck's concluding monologue makes clear to the members of the audience. "When Puck speaks of the play as a dream, it puts us in the same situation as those in the woods," said de Alvarez.
"The good man's dream is like a vision of the good. My suggestion is 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' is that dream," said de Alvarez. Man must look to the realm of images, which is based in reason, in order to determine the good of man, and to answer the first political question, "Who should rule?"
And man must be awakened from that dream in order for it to affect reality; therefore, de Alvarez was concerned about the drama department's choice to cut Puck's monologue from the play.
Junior chemistry major Carl Russo was in attendance at the lecture, and said, "I went and read the monologue later and said, 'that seems like an important thing to bring the audience out of the influence.'
"Demetrius is the only one who was under the influence of the flower [at the end of the play]…what is interesting is if you take Puck's monologue out at the end, the same thing happens to the audience," said Russo.
De Alvarez is currently writing a book on Shakespeare's Greek plays and occasionally offers a Shakespeare and Politics course.
The Athenian king is able to do this because Demetrius, still under a fairy spell, renounces his love of Hermia for Helena. "The conversion of Demetrius cannot be done simply by human means," said de Alvarez. "So this unknown power has restored [Demetrius] to his natural taste…It reminds us of the power of reason to restore the nature of things."
Theseus believes that all the lovers' accounts of the events in the woods are fantasies, the result of either desires or fears, which "cannot be admitted into the city but as a dream.
"What remains for the story is only to remain like a faint memory-a dream," said de Alvarez. Theseus keeps the actors from recounting the tales of the woods, to keep out what he perceives to be a threat to the city. But "you can say, what no true Athenian would tell, Shakespeare does." And Shakespeare does so through the fairy character Puck's concluding monologue. "At the end of the play, Puck says that the dream is the play. His lines wake us," said de Alvarez.
All the events in the woods did actually take place for the characters, although only in the context of a play, as Puck's concluding monologue makes clear to the members of the audience. "When Puck speaks of the play as a dream, it puts us in the same situation as those in the woods," said de Alvarez.
"The good man's dream is like a vision of the good. My suggestion is 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' is that dream," said de Alvarez. Man must look to the realm of images, which is based in reason, in order to determine the good of man, and to answer the first political question, "Who should rule?"
And man must be awakened from that dream in order for it to affect reality; therefore, de Alvarez was concerned about the drama department's choice to cut Puck's monologue from the play.
Junior chemistry major Carl Russo was in attendance at the lecture, and said, "I went and read the monologue later and said, 'that seems like an important thing to bring the audience out of the influence.'
"Demetrius is the only one who was under the influence of the flower [at the end of the play]…what is interesting is if you take Puck's monologue out at the end, the same thing happens to the audience," said Russo.
De Alvarez is currently writing a book on Shakespeare's Greek plays and occasionally offers a Shakespeare and Politics course.
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