Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Magic, Metamorphoses

I read a book, a study of Midsummer and I learned a lot that I think can help. I won't reiterate every example from the book, but I will give my ideas for how we could incorporate these things into our play.
(It showed that there was a lot of influence from Ovid's Metamorphoses in Midsummer. Bottom was given the head of an ass and the play within a play about Pyramus and Thisbe is a parody of Ovid's work.)

To Change:
Metamorphoses was described as "changing form" and there were lots of examples given.
- I think the best example of this in our play will be when Puck's memories are lost and his love changes. This would not be a physical change, but an emotional one.
- He could also "change form" into a bird or some other animal in order to steal for Oberon more effectively.
Exchanges:
It also talked about "exchanges" especially the traffic of women in marriage.
- We could have the girl's father reluctant to give her to Puck in marriage just like Hermia's father Theseus. "As she is mine, I may dispose of her..." (Midsummer 1:1)
- We can also have the girl send a message telling Puck that if he hears that she is engaged to another man, it is not true because she loves Puck. (Anne's quote can be used in this note.) This message can be "exchanged" between different messengers and somehow it doesn't ever reach Puck.
The Moon:
The moon was a symbol of change and the passage of time. (The moon was also seen as female, so if we want to reference it we need to use the pronoun "her".)
It was also thought to be the cause of "Lunacy".
- One of Puck's pranks can be to use moonlight (like "moon shine" from Midsummer) and shadows to drive a man mad and becomes a "Lunatic". Because he is then "lunar" he can take the note that is sent to Puck, and therefore he never gets the message and thinks that the girl has "changed her mind".

Greek Back Story-
I found that Titania based off of the Greek Goddess who is Queen of the Night (daughter of Titan the Sun God). This might be a good place to start looking for names and characters to base the other fairies that we are creating, especially the love interest.

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