E X T E N S I O N SYMBOLS AND THEMES Symbols In A Midsummer Night s Dream, all the outdoor scenes, except one (Act 4, Scene I), are set at night in the moonlit1 wood. The moon suggests a number of connections: in Elizabethan times it represented the perfection of the heavens2 in contrast with the imperfection and instability of the sublunary 3 world, the earth; but the moon was also considered a symbol of inconstancy and madness (or lunacy ) because it changes every month from full to dark; it mysteriously governs the tides4 and the cycles of human and natural fertility. In addition, the moon was associated with the image of Diana, the goddess of hunting and chastity. The three associations, madness, chastity and fertility, are relevant to the themes of the play. Themes The moonlit wood is the ideal place where the worlds of reality and fantasy mix and create the fantastic reality of the fairy world. Here the strangest things can happen and they are all caused by the conflict between Oberon and Titania, the King and Queen of Fairies. Oberon decides to use the magic juice to punish Titania and then to punish Demetrius. But Puck makes a mistake and Lysander s feelings change instead. The way the various characters justify their new feelings (Titania for Nick, Lysander and Demetrius for Helena) shows that love can be irrational and contradictory. 1. moonlit: lit by the moon. 2. heavens: sky, space above the earth. 3. sublunary (Latin: sub luna): below the moon. 4. tide: regular rise and fall of the sea. Titania and Bottom in the moonlight (Currier & Ives, c. 1875) 85