In a crazy world, with inconsistencies and turmoil, control is a valued commodity. Since we are never sure of our future, we somehow believe we can control the present. We try to control our lives, the lives of others, and insignificant pieces of the world around us. However, do we ever really control anything? Do we really have the control we so truly desire? The simple answer is no; we never have as much control as we think. We never can have full control over the future, over our own lives, or over the lives of those around us. Shakespeare had a clear understanding of this, and cleverly showed this in A Midsummer Night’s Dream with the constant shifting in control. With the various characters constantly losing control over the various aspects of their lives, A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a comedic portrayal of the dark reality: control is a made-up concept for a lost, wandering society.

            Ancient Greece was a very hard place to live as a young woman. Strict rules and traditions bound her to the will of her father (or often spouse), and she was basically property to give away as the “man of the house” deemed necessary. So if the young women decided to disobey her father’s will, she had basically signed her own death warrant. Hermia’s stubborn decisions completely crossed Egeus’ will. In a heated argument about Hermia, he says, “I beg the ancient privilege of Athens, as she is mine, I may dispose of her; which shall be either to this gentleman or to her death, according to our law immediately provided in that case” (Egeus I.I) Egeus gets so infuriated that he cannot control his daughter that he attempts to gain fuller control of the law, so he can then control his daughter. His daughter was supposed to be controllable, and it boils his blood that she won’t bend to his wishes. This is just further proof that we are not always in control. We think we are in control, or we at least believe we should be in control. When the control eludes us, we force ourselves to a position of control over another thing, so as to maintain some semblance of control. However, trying to fight for this control is dangerous, as it might lead to harm for those around you.

            Take, for example, Oberon and Titania: King and Queen of the fairies. Their bickering is the most absurd piece of the play. They argue over who is in charge of a changeling boy, and neither one can manage to control the basest thing: their own emotions. Titania is upset that Oberon would even think about taking the child, since the boy is the son of a deceased friend/handmaid of Titania. Meanwhile, Oberon is upset that Titania will not listen to him, as even fairy wives are supposed to listen to and be devoted to their husbands. Since their stubborness persists, Oberon enlists the help of his servant Puck to take control into his own hands. He gets a magical flower and decides that once he gets the flower juice, “[he’ll] watch Titania when she is asleep, and drop the liquor of it in her eyes” (Oberon II.I) Once he puts the magical flower juice in Titania’s eyes, she falls in love with a literal ass. Oberon feels powerful. He feels the control he believes he has over Titania, since he has taken her fate into his hands. He shines in his assumed-control, and he feels even more powerful when Titania hands over the changeling boy without a single thought. Once he notices how far he has gone, the control is taken out of his hands, and he loses control of his power and his emotion. He feels terrible remorse over what he did, saying, “See’st thou this sweet sight? Her dotage now I do pity: For, meeting her of late behind the wood, seeking sweet favours from this hateful fool, I did upbraid her and fall out with her…” (Oberon IV.I). Oberon, King of the Fairies, Ruler and Controller of his magical kingdom, has now lost every speck of control to his remorse and guilt. He realizes that he never had the control he thought. He realizes that the control is constantly shifting and changing in ways he can’t understand. This image of control is simply that: an image. A mirage of something he wishes was real but never can be. Realizing this, he returns Titania’s feelings back to her by reversing the spell. If only this same dignity was extended to all characters.

            While Titania is given her own emotions back, and the love potion is revoked from her, Oberon and Puck take control out of Demetrius’ hands for the rest of his life. Demetrius is left under the love potion, forever resigned to love Helena. This is good news for Helena, as she can now finally experience love, but in the end, this is the ultimate proof of how fake control truly is. Every decision and choice Demetrius now makes must be questioned. After all, did he choose that because it was something he wanted, or is this an altered choice due to the effect of the love potion. No matter how much control Demetrius thinks he has, it will always be a lie. After affecting a person permanently with this manner of magic is bound to create a never-ending confusion complex as to who is making the decisions for Demetrius. He no longer will ever have control over anything in his life since he his no longer himself. For the rest of eternity, control will be non-existent.

            Many people like to debate the existence of various things, but no one can possibly compare to the debates of the European Existentialists of the 19th and 20th centuries. These philosophers debated many things considered to be problems of humanity. They dealt with several key themes, one of which was Irrationality and Absurdity. The philosophers believed that human existence was contradictory and illogical. Control, to these philosophers, was unattainable because “human existence as action is doomed to always destroy itself. A free action, once done, is no longer free” (Burnham and Papandreopoulos). They said this to show that when one action that was done under presumably-free will, it will eventually be shown to have not been done under free will. There is always something that humanity is missing. We value control that is non-existent in a turbulent world that is always questions it’s own existence. Maybe this could and should be the start of a debate for reality. Maybe control can never be real because there is something wrong with reality itself.

            The most reality-shaking quote comes in the form of Puck’s ending monologue. This is the last thing to be said in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and it innocently begs readers and listeners to question reality. Totally unaware, Puck makes us question with this line: “If we shadows have offended, think but this and all is mended, that you have but slumber’d here while these visions did appear” (Puck V.I). If read under a pretense of mischief, it can be interpreted as a calming message. A message of relief, saying that none of it was real. But that’s just it. If you read it with an analytical lense, it is interpreted that NONE OF IT WAS REAL. That you just imagined all of the happenings, and none of it was a true portrayal of reality. I wish it ended there. Once you are able to question the reality of something believed to be true, what is there to stop you from questioning everything? Your control over your life, your control over anything ever, even reality itself. What is there to stop you from believing that nothing is real? With so much proof that control is non-existence, this is just icing on the cake. After all, if reality itself isn’t real, then there is no need to debate the existence of control.

            A Midsummer Night’s Dream is just another example of how comedy is often used to display dark themes about humanity. In this instance, the play was a comedy showing the audience how fake control is. It showed the characters in a constant shift of what was presumably control, which was later shown as a complete fake. It was comforting to watch as a play, but it is a very difficult theme to come to terms with when it is discovered. After all, control is believed to be a vital piece of our existence. When that is taken away, we are simply left as a wandering society without purpose. And if the meaning of life is to find your purpose, does that mean that life is meaningless with a false sense of control?