西方文化导论论文

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Name: Zhao Yujie Student Number: 08081031

Abstract: This paper gives a brief introduction of humanism, and also displays a concise content of Shakespeare’s drama A Midsummer Night’s Dream .It shows the main thesis of the comedy and at the end of the paper, a conclusion is drawn on the embodiment of humanism in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Key Words: Humanism, Individual freedom, Compassion, Love

ⅠHumanism

Humanism is the core spirit during the Renaissance. It is a rational philosophy informed by science, inspired by art, and motivated by compassion. Affirming the dignity of each human being, it supports the maximization of individual liberty and opportunity consonant with social and planetary responsibility. It advocates the extension of participatory democracy and the expansion of the open society, standing for human rights and social justice. Humanism maintains there is no evidence a supernatural power ever needed or wanted anything from people, ever communicated to them, or ever interfered with the laws of nature to assist or harm anyone. Humanism thus derives the goals of life from human need and interest rather than from theological or ideological abstractions, and asserts that humanity must take responsibility for its own destiny.

Humanism's focus, then, is on using human efforts to meet human needs and wants in this world. History shows that those efforts are most effective when they involve both compassion and the scientific method - which includes reliance on reason, evidence, and free inquiry. Humanism is a democratic and ethical life stance which affirms that human beings have the right and responsibility to give meaning and shape to their own lives. It stands for the building of a more humane society through an ethics based on human and other natural values in a spirit of reason and free inquiry through human capabilities.

Ⅱ Brief introduction of the play

A Midsummer Night's Dream is romantic comedy written by William Shakespeare in the 1590s. It is one of Shakespeare’ most popular play

and is widely performed across the world. It portrays the adventures of four young Athenian lovers and a group of amateur actors in a moonlit forest, and their interactions with the fairies who inhabit it and Duke of the Athenians. The play is one of Shakespeare's most popular and is widely performed across the world.

The play features three interlocking plots, connected by a celebration of the wedding of Duke Theseus of Athens and the Amazonian queen Hippolyta.

In the opening scene, Hermia refuses to comply with her father Egeus's wish for her to marry his chosen man, Demetrius. In response, Egeus quotes before Theseus an ancient Athenian law whereby a daughter must marry the suitor chosen by her father, or else face death or lifelong chastity worshipping Diana as a nun. Hermia and her lover Lysander therefore decide to elope by escaping through the forest at night. Hermia informs her best friend Helena, but Helena has recently been rejected by Demetrius and decides to win back his favor by revealing the plan to him. Demetrius, followed doggedly by Helena, chases Hermia, who, in turn, chases Lysander, from whom she becomes separated.

Meanwhile, Oberon, king of the fairies, and his queen, Titania, arrive in the same forest to attend Theseus and Hippolyta's wedding. Having seen Demetrius act cruelly toward Helena, Oberon orders Puck to spread some of the juice on the eyelids of the young Athenian man. Instead, Puck puts the juice on the eyes of Lysander, who then falls in love with Helena. When Oberon finds this out, he makes Puck apply the juice to Demetrius. Due to Puck's errors, Hermia's two lovers temporarily turn against her in favor of Helena.

Oberon realizes Puck’s mistake and orders Puck to remove the magical enchantment from Lysander but allow it to remain on Demetrius, so that Demetrius may reciprocate Helena's love. Then Theseus and Hippolyta arrive on the scene, during an early morning hunt. They wake the lovers and in the end, all of them find their true love and marry each other.

Ⅲ Embodiment of humanism in this drama

A Midsummer Night’s Dream mocks many aspects of human behavior. In this comedy, Shakespeare explores the complex nature of human heart, uses dramatic irony to heighten the sense of comedy and humor; he portrays human relationships in several different lights in order to illustrate the changing and complex sides of human emotions, thus to demonstrate the humanism.

As it is said that humanism's focus is on using human efforts to meet human needs and wants in this world .This point can be best explained in this drama. In this comedy, Hermia’s and Lysander’s needs and wants are love. They want to marry the person they love, so when Hermia’s father forces her to marry Demetrius, Lysander and she realize that they can not give up to the authority, they hold that every human being has the right to pursue his or her true love. So they decide to fly from Athens. Their behavior is the reflection of humanism. Their courage show that the humanism has taken shape in people’s minds at that time. They use their own right to fight with the feudalism, they want to control their lives and make their own choices. So will I grow, so live, so die, my soul consents not to give sovereignty,” says by Hermia, Lysander says “Why should not I then prosecute my right?” These typical questions indicate that they have realized the individuality and they come to know the importance of human rights. And also Helena is another typical example who does not conform to destiny. She knows Demetrius does not love her, but she still tries her best to seek love, and never say die.

Humanism is a rational philosophy motivated by compassion. We can find some proofs to prove this idea. When Oberon sees Demetrius’ indifferent attitude toward Helena’s deep love for him, Oberon shows mercy to her, so he asks Puck-the so –called Robin Goodfellow to drop a kind of juice on Demetrius’ eyes, so that Demetrius can fall in love with Helena. Oberon’s act, is inspired by compassion in his mind, this is one part of the humanism. He hopes that every one can realize their own dreams, so he wants to help Helena to satisfy her needs.

Realizing that every one has his or her value is one of the main characters of humanism’s belief. In the drama, Quince, Bottom, Flute and so on are planning for the performance they are going to do during the Duke’s wedding. It is not hard to find that their selection of roles in that performance depends on their personality; what’s more, it shows that no matter how low their statuses are, they are important, not only to the play, but also to the society.

All in all, humanism can be seen from many aspects of this comedy, the leading roles’ behaviors in pursuit of love, freedom, peace, etc. are the reflection of humanism.