Differences Between Midsummer Night's Dream Movie And Play
A Modernized Adaptation of “A Midsummer Night 's Dream”
The play “A Midsummer Night 's Dream”, by William Shakespeare and the film version directed by Michael Hoffman relate to the same plot, but were created over four centuries apart. Shakespeare’s play was written in 1593-1594 while Hoffman’s film was produced in 1999. The play and movie used love as the main theme with clever literature and magic. Even though both the play and the movie had identical structure, such as characters and plot, Shakespeare’s play was transformed in Hoffman 's movie in order to appeal to the modern audience. One of the key adaptations Hoffman made in the film was the tone of Shakespeare 's phrases. For instance, there is a section of the play where the character Thisbe said “My cherry lips have often kissed thy stones” (53). Shakespeare intended this to be a joke, referring stones to testicles. In Hoffman 's movie portrayal, Thisbe’s character said this line slowly while breaking up each word, distracting the audience’s attention from the joke. The audience was at that point more aware of his poor acting. Another noticeable quote from Shakespeare’s play used in Hoffman 's movie is “To meet a Ninus ' tomb, there, there to woo” (52). In Hoffman’s movie, the character forgot his line, and when corrected by the director, it was …show more content…
This focus was enhanced by the casting of the Hermia and Helena characters. In Shakespeare’s play, Helena was in love with her ex-fiancé Demetrius, who was in fact in love with Hermia. In Hoffman’s depiction, he chose a voluptuous character for Hermia and a boyish bodied female to play the role of the jealous Helena. Additionally, Hoffman included another noticeable sexual adaptation, a mud fight between Helena and Hermia revealing their body figures as they fought for their love. The sexual content in the movie maintained the liberal and modern audience’s
The play “A Midsummer Night 's Dream”, by William Shakespeare and the film version directed by Michael Hoffman relate to the same plot, but were created over four centuries apart. Shakespeare’s play was written in 1593-1594 while Hoffman’s film was produced in 1999. The play and movie used love as the main theme with clever literature and magic. Even though both the play and the movie had identical structure, such as characters and plot, Shakespeare’s play was transformed in Hoffman 's movie in order to appeal to the modern audience. One of the key adaptations Hoffman made in the film was the tone of Shakespeare 's phrases. For instance, there is a section of the play where the character Thisbe said “My cherry lips have often kissed thy stones” (53). Shakespeare intended this to be a joke, referring stones to testicles. In Hoffman 's movie portrayal, Thisbe’s character said this line slowly while breaking up each word, distracting the audience’s attention from the joke. The audience was at that point more aware of his poor acting. Another noticeable quote from Shakespeare’s play used in Hoffman 's movie is “To meet a Ninus ' tomb, there, there to woo” (52). In Hoffman’s movie, the character forgot his line, and when corrected by the director, it was …show more content…
This focus was enhanced by the casting of the Hermia and Helena characters. In Shakespeare’s play, Helena was in love with her ex-fiancé Demetrius, who was in fact in love with Hermia. In Hoffman’s depiction, he chose a voluptuous character for Hermia and a boyish bodied female to play the role of the jealous Helena. Additionally, Hoffman included another noticeable sexual adaptation, a mud fight between Helena and Hermia revealing their body figures as they fought for their love. The sexual content in the movie maintained the liberal and modern audience’s