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In A Midsummer Night\'s Dream, then, Shakespeare defines his characters according to what they represent, according to their labels. The lovers are not individuals, they are \"lovers,\" and the definition of that word will determine their behaviour; Puck\'s actions too are predicated by the definition of \"Puck.\" Nor is the process restricted to characters; even places stand for something, are labels. Athens, established in literary tradition as the legendary seat of reason (in Boccaccio\'s Teseida and \"The Knight\'s Tale\") is here almost a byword for rational order. The wilderness outside Athens is called a \"wood\" and not a forest, as is the corresponding locale in As You Like It, because it must also be a label for \"mad,\" and in case we miss the point, Demetrius is made to pun on \"wood\" (for \"mad\" and \"forest\") and \"wooed\"; \"And here am I, and wood within this wood....\" With everything so clearly defined and with the infinite complexities of realistic character and \"real life\" settings so firmly excised, no wonder those who came looking for realism go away convinced that the play is a little too simple.
-Stephen Fender, Shakespeare: A
Midsummer Night\'s Dream, 1968
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