In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Oberon shows his corruption and lying when he takes advantage of Titania by putting her under a spell and saying,
What thou seest when thou dost wake,
Do it for thy true love take.
Love and languish for his sake:
Be it ounce, or cat, or bear,
Pard, or Boar with bristled hair,
(II.ii.27-31).
Getting whatever he wants, Oberon punishes people for pleasure just to hurt others. Set in the 1920’s Chicago during the Prohibition era, A Midsummer Night’s Dream focuses on the dark, corrupt, evil, and violent interpretation of this show.
Going with the theme of love promoting corruption and dishonesty, in this interpretation shows the irrational thinking on the part of the characters in the show. To explain the theme to its fullest, the show must focus on the darkness of the days. In John Kott’s Shakespeare Our Contemporary, he explains how Puck is simply one of the names for the devil (Kott, 213). In this interpretation, in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, John Kott’s appearance of Puck displays similarities with Puck from this interpretation that is used. Adding to Puck, "What fools these mortals be!" (III.ii.115). Setting the show, in this interpretation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream the show models off of Speakeasy Chicago which takes place around the time period of the 1920’s. With similarities to this concept, Speakeasy Chicago displays the time of the prohibition era and the clothing over the specific time period. Running the streets of Chicago, Al Capone was the leader of the streets during the prohibition era and Oberon will take on a similar role in this production. Being similar to Al Capone, Oberon demonstrates his real darkness.
Within the City of Chicago, the characters will take on various roles in the community. Theseus will be modeled off the mayor of Chicago and be opposite of Oberon, and he is shown to be good by saying, “Now, fair Hippolyta, our nuptial hour / Draw on apace; four happy days bring in / Another moon” (I.i.1-3). Skillfully, Demetrius and Lysander will be set as equals by being politicians in the city and are well known throughout the whole city. Dominantly, Oberon leads the streets of Chicago, and his gangster fairies will be the alcohol sellers since the show takes place during the prohibition era. Symbolizing the evil and violence, alcohol has always had a reputation of containing horrible components for you and can cause violent fights in the city. This, this demonstrates the violent tone, and in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Helena and Hermia are almost equals to each other by being daughter of corporate bosses in
