Jan Kott dismisses the romantic notion of the play and opines that A Midsummer Night’s Dream has a sinister undercurrent. Do you agree with him? Elaborate.

Though William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is considered a happy play with the main theme of love and marriage; it is not exactly a romantic play. Love is there but not presented in a conventional way. From the beginning to the end, love is presented in a sinister way; somewhere forcible and somewhere to resolve problems of others. It is an ‘anti-romantic’ drama than a romantic one.  

Jan Kott, a very well known Polish critic completely disagrees this play to be a romantic one. For him, there are some reasons which are quite supportive.

Jan Kott says that, the idea of love is presented in a brutal way. In fact, love is presented in a way which is a kind of violence of sexual fantasies. The marriage between Duke Theseus and queen Hippolyta is not of love rather it’s a forcible implication of violence in war field which ultimately turns into sexual fantasy after the marriage.

Secondly, he says that, the idea of love has been debased. Indeed, love is not presented in that way what should have been. Love between ‘Lysander-Hermia’ and ‘Demetrius-Helena’ is presented through the spell of fairies. Fairies made the course of love to follow mistakenly. What should have happened in a natural way; happened in a very odd or awkward way. The power of love is made so shallow that idea of it is debased.

Again, the way of love is presented in a humiliated way. Due to the misspell and spell on both Lysander and Demetrius, they fall in love with the same lady, Helena. In this way Helena is humiliated and also humiliation attacks Hermia in the way of jealousy. In fact, the idea of love has been debased and mocked. Even, between the fairy king Oberon and queen Titania, love has been humiliated where Oberon tricks over Titania with magic spell. In the course, Bottom is humiliated to be in love with Titania having donkey head.

In love making, more than male characters, female characters are made to suffer and humiliated which is surely not a trait of romantic drama.

Through the course of love and marriage, male characters are made supreme to have fulfillment of their will in the end. Female characters kept humiliated in the way. For a romance or love, equilibrium is necessary but it is not there.

So, even though this play is considered as a romantic play only few occasions and forest landscape can be taken as a trait of romantic elements. It is far more an ‘anti-romantic’ play under the sinister ways of presentation of love. So, I would like to agree with Jan Kott that this play is an ‘anti-romantic’ play.