5.

Contrast the uses of metatheatrical elements in Shakespeares Hamlet and A

Midsummer Nights Dream. Focus on the dramatic functions of metatheatre in these two
plays.
In two of Shakespeares plays, namely Hamlet and A Midsummer Nights Dream, there appear
metatheatrical elements in the form of a play-within-the-play. As the term itself denotes, a
play-within-the-play is a performance that takes place within the play itself, staged by one
part of the characters. The actors of the play-within-the-play, hence, have two audiences the
first and principal being the rest of the characters of the play itself, and the other us, the actual
audience. As regards the function of this device in the two plays, there are similarities, as well
as differences.
The main function of the play-within-the play in both Hamlet and A Midsummer Nights
Dream is the same mimesis. In other words, the imitation of events that occur in the play,
for a specific purpose. In Hamlet, Hamlet engages a group of actors to present the play The
Murder of Gonzago at the court. He does so in order to reveal the supposed murder of his
father, the late king of Denmark, at the hands of the present king, Claudius, who gets the love
of Hamlets mother, queen Gertrude. The original play deals with the murder of a duke named
Gonzago by a villain who afterwards gets the love of Gonzagos wife. Hamlet changes the
name of the play to The Mousetrap, changing the crucial part of its plot as well namely, the
way in which the murder was committed, pouring poison in the victims ears (as, supposedly,
Claudius did it) - to suit his needs. Actually, the murder is reenacted twice first in the dumb
show and then in the play proper. Mind you, this is not mimesis in the true sense of the word,
since the supposed murder did not happen in the play itself, but before the play even begins,
that is, in its prehistory. Hamlet learns about the murder only from the ghost of his father, and
therefore the play-within-the-play is not only an imitation or replay of an event in the play, but
a replay of a replay (of the ghosts account). However, The Mousetrap is not only designed to
imitate a past event, but also to forward the action of Hamlet. Indeed, it functions as the
turning point of the play, since it makes Claudius aware of Hamlets knowledge and forces
him to take desperate measures. In Hamlet, the play-within-the-play has the same purpose that
was proposed in Thomas Kyds The Spanish Tragedy, and that is revenge. It allows the hero to
take his revenge by staging the villains original crime.
In A Midsummer Nights Dream, on the other hand, the purpose of the play-within-the-play is
not revenge, but it rather has a comic and satirical aim. Nevertheless, in this play, too, the
main function remains mimesis. Unlike Hamlet, this mimesis concerns actual events in the
play. The actors of the play-within-the-play, called The most lamentable comedy and most
cruel death of Pyramus and Thisbe, are a group of craftsmen who are invited to perform at the
wedding of Theseus, the Duke of Athens, to Hippolyta, the Queen of the Amazons. Whereas
the first four acts contain all of the plays main action, the fifth act (in which the play is
performed) serves as a kind of comic epilogue to the rest of the play. The Pyramus and Thisbe
story replays the themes of romantic hardship and confusion that run through the body of the
play. Pyramus and Thisbe are kept apart by parental will, just as Hermia and Lysander were;
their tragic end results from misinterpretation Pyramus takes Thisbes bloody mantle as
proof that she is dead, which recalls, to some extent, Pucks mistaking of Lysander for
Demetrius and even Titanias misconception of Bottom as a beautiful lover. In this manner,
the play-within-the-play imitates and lightheartedly satirizes the anguish that earlier plagued
the Athenian lovers.

By including another play within the principal play, Shakespeare attempts to draw our
attention to the fact that acting itself is a form of mimesis. Through acting, we impersonate
someone other than ourselves, and enjoy it, too. On a larger scale, if we should consider the
view that life consists of a series of roles we play, we come to the conclusion that life itself is
mimesis. In my opinion, the great playwright uses the vehicle of metatheatre to convey
precisely this message. His famous lines All the worlds a stage/And all the men and women
merely players from the comedy As You Like It serve to confirm it.