MND Definition Essay!- the word Parody

Maria 

February 4, 2013                         Parody in A Mid-Summer Night’s Dream

     Sometimes life can turn into a parody (an imitation or mockery). According to the freedictionary.com parody can be defined as – something as bad as to be equivalent to intentional mockery; a travesty. There are of course other definitions, such as the one I have found on Merriam Webster.com- a feeble or ridiculous imitation. In A Mid-Summer Night’s Dream Shakespeare uses parodies in his play in order to put a funny twist into the story.

  There are many instances throughout the story in which Shakespeare inserts parody. Shakespeare shows parody in the character Bottom, in Bottom’s play, and through the twist in love interests with Titania and Bottom.  In act two, scene 1, line 117-119 Bottom has found his head to be turned into a donkey’s head- Snout: “ O Bottom, thou art changed! What do I see on thee?”  Bottom: “What do you see? You see an ass- head of your own, do you?” In act 5 scene 1 Bottom’s play is put on and it is put on like a parody, they sort of make fun of the four lovers- act 5 scene 1 line 208-210 Bottom as Pyramus – “ Think what thou wilt, I am thy lover’s grace, And, like Limander, I am trusty still.” Flute as Thisbe- “And I like Helen, till the fates me kill.” Also in act 3 scene 1 lines 150- 153 Shakespeare inserts a scene in which Titania has been put under a love serum and now loves Bottom. Titania says after waking up- “thou art as wise as thou art beautiful.” Bottom says- “Not so neither; but if I had wit enough to get out of this wood, I have enough to serve mine own turn.” Shakespeare adds parody in all of these instances in order to make it more of a comedy in some parts. Through these examples Shakespeare represents parody in order to add comedy.

    In the modern world today there are also many different examples of parody. There are TV shows that are parodies such as one of the most popular TV shows out there- Saturday Night Live, this show makes fun of famous people and what is going on in their lives that is worth laughing over. Movies are another example of modern day parodies, one of these movies which isn’t that recent but is still popular- Young Frankenstein, This movie makes fun of the original monster movie. One last example of modern parodies is also very popular- Music. There are lots of people who make parodies out of our modern day music, one of the most popular is the Weird Al Yankovic music parodies that either come in the form of a music video or just music.

   In conclusion to my paper I believe that from all of my examples in A Mid-Summer Night’s Dream prove that Shakespeare does include bits of Parody in his story through Bottom, Bottom’s play, and through change in love interests. There are many modern day examples of parodies- Movies, TV shows and Music. All of these examples are included under the term parody- an imitation or mockery.

Works Cited:

1.      Print. <http://www.thefreedictionary.com/parody>.

2.      1. Print. <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/parody>.