We often talk about viewing the world through rose-coloured glasses: Always seeing the best in people or situations, even if our confidence turns out to have been misplaced.
Hundreds of years ago, Shakespeare explored this romanticising perspective in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Here, mischievous Puck places the sleeping fairy queen Titania under a spell that charms her into falling in love with the first person she sees upon waking. And in Act III, Scene 1, who should Titania see but Bottom, a humble workman — with the head of an ass, no less — also thanks to Puck!
Through this enchantment, Titania can only perceive beauty in Bottom’s voice and appearance: “Mine ear is much enamoured of thy note / So is my eye enthralled to thy shape.” She commands a nonplussed Bottom to stay with her, promising him “fairies to attend on thee / And they shall fetch thee jewels from the deep.” (Listen above!) In the context of the play, Titania’s grandiose devotion to an ass appears comedic, even absurd; yet how many times in our daily life do we misjudge appearances and, indeed, risk making a fool of ourselves?
In the past, we at Shakespeare For Our Children have explored the transcendent love of Romeo and Juliet and the sparkling courtship in Much Ado about Nothing. This Valentine’s season, explore Midsummer’s romantic misunderstanding in this scene with your students. Encourage them — appropriately enough! — to see beyond its surface: How do we relate to Titania and her rose-coloured glasses?
Can we have sympathy for her folly . . . and does it perhaps bring to mind the times when we ourselves have perhaps promised too much, too quickly?
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