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Locus: The Seton Hall Journal of Undergraduate Research Volume 4 Article 10 October 2021 It Was All a Dream: Comparing A Midsummer Night’s Dream to Midsommar Anne Pino Seton Hall University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.shu.edu/locus Recommended Citation Pino, Anne (2021) "It Was All a Dream: Comparing A Midsummer Night’s Dream to Midsommar," Locus: The Seton Hall Journal of Undergraduate Research: Vol. 4 , Article 10. Available at: https://scholarship.shu.edu/locus/vol4/iss1/10
Pino: It Was All a Dream
It Was All a Dream: Comparing A Midsummer Night’s
Dream to Midsommar
Anne Pino
Seton Hall University
Abstract to the cult-like loyalty of Titania’s fairies. Mid-
sommar, a 2019 indie horror film directed by Ari
This paper will analyze the evolution of Shake- Aster, is not a scene-by-scene copy of the play; it
speare and argue that Ari Aster’s 2019 Horror is a contemporary adaptation. Love is at the heart
and Drama film Midsommar is an adaptation of of both the film and play, as they each mutilate it
A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The use of magic, in different ways. As I watched the film, I began
hallucination, and the distortion of love demon- to discover the similarities between the unspoken
strates transferable themes and motifs of Shake- violence and unconscious themes of Midsommar
speare into the horror genre. Shakespeare’s in- with A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Midsommar is
fluence continues to shape modern art and cul- Aster’s sophomore psychological Horror film, fol-
ture. This paper specifically discusses the dis- lowing his debut critically acclaimed psychologi-
tortion of love using magic and drugs, highlight- cal thriller Hereditary, and follows four graduate
ing bestial and sexual relations in both the film students as they enter the heart of a Swedish cult,
and play. Also discussed is the use of the dream- called the Harga, and their unknowing demise.
scape as a liminal space to bend social norms and Midsommar is a psychedelic and thrilling horror
logic along with the use of horror adjacent themes that is not suitable for the faint of heart due to
such as eroticism, objectification, and physical vi- the subtle yet brutal violence and graphic rituals.
olence. The overall goal of the paper argues for The opening scene begins with the carbon monox-
Shakespeare’s continued relevance, adaptability, ide murder-suicide of Dani’s sister and their par-
and underlying horror often veiled by the comedy ents. Now orphaned, Dani relies on her emotion-
and drama Shakespeare is known for. ally distant boyfriend Christian for support, but
as the film progresses, she realizes his shortcom-
ings. Interestingly, the film was advertised as a
1. Introduction romantic comedy gone wrong, but it is so much
more as Christian’s Swedish friend, Pelle, offers
A Midsummer Night’s Dream is generally them as sacrifices for his cult’s traditions. Hu-
thought of as one of Shakespeare’s greatest come- man sacrifice, bestiality, and sexual assault com-
dies, as it follows four lovers caught between love bined with the powerful feelings of love, loss,
quadrangles, magic, and an unintentional comedic and grief create a cataclysmic clashing of raw hu-
acting troupe. The play resolves itself by the end, man emotions. I intend to accentuate the similar-
and all’s well that ends well...or does it? Hor- ities between the film and the classic play, specif-
rific, chilling, and gruesome elements lie under ically through their shared distortion of love, but
the seemingly innocent and comedic scenes of the first, I will discuss the occurrence of important
play, from the subtly implied raping of Bottom
Published by eRepository @ Seton Hall, 2021 1Locus: The Seton Hall Journal of Undergraduate Research, Vol. 4 [2021], Art. 10
themes in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Then, the characters. Falk’s argument revolves around
I will establish how Midsommar qualifies as an the idea that “each location is associated with a
adaptation and connect both the film and play more or less imaginative response to the social and
with Global Shakespeare. Midsommar is a unique psychic exigencies of living, and each will be con-
adaptation of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s sidered separately” (265). As the characters enter
Dream as both grotesquely distort love through the dream realm, what seems impossible becomes
magic and drugs. It is worthwhile to view Mid- possible, like sudden unconditional love and mag-
sommar as a Shakespeare adaptation because it ical half-transformations into animals. Falk con-
demonstrates Shakespeare’s performative evolu- cludes that “In the woods imagination is released
tion and relevance in modern-day culture, media, into dream, and play consists of acting out interior
and Shakespeare’s continuous contribution to art. fantasies (wish fulfillment). [The] dream bridges
the chasm between the real and spirit (or sacred)
2. Dream on, Dream on, Dream on... worlds” (276). Externally, the play can easily be
performed as comedic and zany, but internally it
Distortion means to alter or twist something is just as psychologically complex as any other of
out of its natural state, and for the play to dis- Shakespeare’s works. As the characters and au-
tort love, it needs to distort the setting, the city dience enter the woods, where there are no laws
of Athens, into a dreamlike forest first. The dis- compared to Athens, the play’s interior psycho-
tortion of reality begins as the characters enter the logical dream component allows love to be ma-
woods; they leave authoritarian Athens and enter nipulated and warped.
a dream. Hermia and Lysander even fall asleep, Theseus and Oberon serve as parallels as they
and only when they are asleep is the audience in- distort love and turn love into possession and con-
troduced to the supernatural creatures, support- trol. Falk’s internal, or psychological, aspect of
ing the insinuation of a dream world. Dreams, the play determines that “the psychic condition
rituals, and eroticism are prominent themes in A of the ruler is always reflected in the behavior
Midsummer Night’s Dream. Florence Falk’s ar- of his subjects,” demonstrated through Hippolyta
ticle, “Dream and Ritual Process in A Midsum- and Puck as the subjects (266). Theseus is in-
mer Night’s Dream,” discusses the dream’s pur- troduced speaking with his soon-to-be wife, Hip-
pose and significance in depth. Falk focuses on polyta. Feminist critics have analyzed Hippolyta’s
the transitional movements from Athens into the role in the play; however, I interpret her through
enchanted woods, then back to Athens. Athens what Shakespeare presents: a war prize. Theseus
represents the real world, while the woods act declares, “Hippolyta, I wooed thee with my sword
as a liminal space between Athenian society and / And won thy love doing thee injuries, / But I
the supernatural realm. To frame her argument, will wed thee in another key, / With pomp, with
she introduces the symbolic realms of structure, triumph, and with reveling.” (1.1.17-20). Subtle
defined as “the relatively abstract and permanent foreshadowing demonstrates that love in the play
pattern of a social order whose form is grounded must be fought for and won, albeit violently. The
in law and custom,” communitas, defined as “the resolution of the play, marriage, must take a differ-
spontaneous, temporary, and detached aggregate ent perspective, which can only be attained after
of persons (and environment) beset by provocative the dream process. Theseus’s authoritarian man-
acultural and antistructural conditions,” and soci- ner sets up the tone of his relationship with Hip-
etas, which refers to “structure that has been re- polyta, forced and absent of true and willing love.
newed and leavened by communitas” (264). The Hippolyta plays a minor role and has much fewer
three realms create a rhythmic transformation of lines but represents the consequence of love’s dis-
https://scholarship.shu.edu/locus/vol4/iss1/10 2Pino: It Was All a Dream
tortion: to emerge as either the ruler, who twists, the audience experiences the catharsis of the
or the subject, who is twisted. Demetrius and He- play’s resolution, the characters, specifically the
lena are representatives of ruler and subject, and lovers, emerge from the woods transformed by
their marriage displays the reversal as, in the end, the dream ritual. After Theseus happily approves
Helena is the ruler, and Demetrius, still under the the couples, Demetrius and Helena ponder the
influence of the love potion, becomes the subject. details of the night,
Helena can thank Oberon’s subject, Puck, for her
victory. Puck proclaims his loyalty by eagerly DEMETRIUS. These things seem small
complying with his master’s request, as seen in the and undistinguishable,
famous line after Oberon declares Puck intervene Like far-off mountains turned into
in Helena and Demetrius’s love affair, “I’ll put a clouds.
girdle round about the earth / In forty minutes” HERMIA. Methinks I see these things
(2.1.181-82). Puck’s declaration and generaliza- with parted eye,
tion of Athenian garb as Hermia and Lysander When everything seems double.
sleep in the woods initiates the dream sequence (4.1.194-97)
of the play that allows love to be manipulated. Hermia finishes Demetrius’s thoughts as they pon-
The dream-like qualities include the hallucino- der the lucid and blurry details of the previous
genic love trance and the presence of mystical fan- night. Reminiscent of being drugged and intox-
tastical creatures capable of manipulating reality icated, they do not remember whether the events
through magic. Theseus and Oberon distort love were real or hallucinations. Nevertheless, the ef-
in different manners – Theseus through war and fect of the dream is not small and indistinguish-
Oberon with magic flowers. Theseus notably is able, rather it is large as Demetrius is now in love
outside of the woods and controls Hippolyta with- with Helena, for what the audience assumes is
out using magic, whereas Oberon can use magic the rest of his life, and Hermia must live with
because the rules of reality do not exist in the the experience of Lysander’s brief infidelity sub-
dream realm of the woods. consciously. The many assumptions of the play
The lawlessness of the forest enables mysti- involve the unspoken sexual and abusive conse-
cism, magic, and otherworldly phenomena like quences of distorting love through magic. Before
fairies, love potions, and half-human-animal magic intervened, Helena already showed signs of
creatures to be believable. The dream acts as a willing abuse. Helena famously declares herself
ritual as it “reflects the positive values of anxiety, as a dog to Demetrius and permits him to treat
humiliation, and of sexual, even necrophilic, her as such. Sexually and metaphorically, He-
fantasies” as the play progresses (Falk 268). Pow- lena is Demetrius’s bitch. Helena gives Demetrius
erful emotions, like love, humiliation, and sexual the power to abuse her however way he sees fit,
desires, connect the play to Midsommar. The in which Demetrius refuses, but Helena’s confes-
film’s Swedish cult and sadistic rituals are more sion exposes the unequal distribution of sexual
blatant than the play’s love ritual, which was the and emotional power between the couple. When
administration of the love potion. Rather than use Demetrius receives the love potion, his disdain
ritual as a plot device, the play uses the transiting turns into love and devotion. Helena, who begged
of setting mentioned earlier, Athens, woods, and for Demetrius’s love earlier in the play, accepts
back to Athens, as a second awakening or ritual Demetrius’s newfound affection. The couple is
process. The purpose of rituals, such as Christian happily wed at the end of the play, but what hap-
Baptism or Pagan sacrifice, is to trigger a release pens after that? Their finalized marriage implies
or expunge any negative or evil qualities. As sex and the lingering thought of whether Helena
Published by eRepository @ Seton Hall, 2021 3Locus: The Seton Hall Journal of Undergraduate Research, Vol. 4 [2021], Art. 10
will take advantage of Demetrius while he is un- takes form as the potent drugs, specifically the
der the influence of the love potion, possibly for “special tea” Dani frequently drinks throughout
the rest of his life. The aftermath and events of the the film and the supposed love potion Maja uses
play are horrific as themes of rape, bestiality, and on Christian, similar to the love potion Puck uses
forced intoxication come to light. The play’s dis- on the Athenians. After arriving in Hälsingland,
tortion of love is similar to the distortion of love in the town where Christian’s friend Pelle is from,
Midsommar, which bridges the horror film to the there is a brief moment where the camera pans to
comedic play. portray a cloth depicting “kind of a love story,” as
Ingemar describes it. The cloth foreshadows the
3. ‘Cause Even When I Dream of You events in which Maja, a Harga member, chooses
Christian to mate with her and, like Oberon, uses
The movie shares more characteristics of the the potion to bid her will. Portrayed from right
play than just the similar-sounding titles with to left, as opposed to the typical American read-
themes like love, eroticism, and drugs. Allan ing of left to right implying a backwards rever-
Lewis’s “‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’: Fairy sal of reality and social norms, the beginning of
Fantasy or Erotic Nightmare?” highlights how the the cloth depicts a woman, specifically a Harga
play straddles romantic comedy and sexual night- woman from the clothing, falling in love with an
mare. Lewis argues that the “masterly architec- outsider man, also implied by the difference in
ture of the play reveals a comedy of sex that is clothing. The woman proceeds to pick flowers
both light and dark” in which “the cruel madness, and place them under her bed along with several
illogical agony, dehumanization, and selfishness Rune symbols. The panel continues that, in the
of sex is counteracted by the joy of experience, morning, the woman bakes her pubic hair into a
by the gaiety of knowing and overcoming the pit- meal and places her menstrual blood into a cup to
falls” (257). The couples of the play and film go be consumed by the man of her affections. The
through difficult pitfalls, but none of the couples man becomes influenced by the love potion and
definitively grow stronger in their relationships as impregnates the woman as planned. The cloth im-
they overcome the conflicts of the plots. Lewis plies Maja uses her menstrual blood, but that is
then investigates the sadistic pleasure of watching confirmed in the next scene showing that Chris-
the lovers torn apart and brought together. In addi- tian’s glass is significantly darker, pink or a light
tion, Titania’s relationship with Bottom becomes red hue, than the other distinctly yellow glasses
complicated as her love for the half-man half-ass in the community dining table. The connection
elicits joy in Puck and Oberon but leaves room to the play’s love potion is the use of menstrual
for questioning the bestial undertones of their rela- blood. Oberon’s description of the mystical flower
tionship. Lewis concludes with the dream as bind- coincides with the implications of the female men-
ing together the real and unreal, a trait both the strual cycle. Oberon describes it, stating:
play and the movie portray, to demonstrate that
Yet marked I where the bolt of Cupid
tears can represent laughter or horror.
fell.
Ari Aster’s Midsommar is a psychological It fell upon a little western flower,
folk horror film containing the same elements of Before, milk-white, now purple with
magic, eroticism, and manipulating love as A Mid- love’s wound,
summer Night’s Dream. The film takes viewers And maidens call it ‘love-in-idleness.’
from a typical graduate school vacation to a bru- (2.1.171-74)
tal Pagan cult festival that calls for human sacri-
fice and potent hallucinogens. Magic in the film Menstrual and vaginal blood are associated with
https://scholarship.shu.edu/locus/vol4/iss1/10 4Pino: It Was All a Dream
indicating fertility and the pseudomyth that vagi- Pelle explains and helps Dani realize Christian’s
nal bleeding occurs with first-time penetration, al- faults as a lover. While only a few Harga mem-
though the medical community has disproved the bers are important, the effect of communal suffer-
latter. Melissa Sanchez asserts that “Oberon’s ing is an integral part of the film. Similar to how
maddening love-juice is also a sublimation of all the women care for the Harga’s children, all
vaginal blood” as she connects “menstrual blood the members mimic the same emotions, displayed
with the blood of defloration” (113-14). Flow- in the horrific reflective wailing after the double
ers are a significant part of both the movie and suicide and the aftermath of Dani’s discovery of
the play, with the innuendo of being ‘deflowered’ Christian and Maja. When Titiana dotes on Bot-
as slang for losing one’s virginity or having sex tom, her fairy subjects do not hesitate to bid his
for the first time. The significance of sex for the will, reflecting their queen’s intentions. Fairies
first time is that both Maja and Hermia imply their in the play are “mischievous but gay sprites...yet
virginity, with the film stating Maja just turned the fairies of Elizabethan England were ‘uncanny
of age. Hermia defends her chastity, as she tells and fearful’ creatures, bolder and more destruc-
Lysander in the woods: tive than mortals” (Lewis 253). The bold, mys-
terious, and destructive characteristics of Titania
But, gentle friend, for love and courtesy and Oberon’s fairies also describe the character-
Lie further off in human modesty. istics of the Harga. For the most part anony-
Such separation, as may well be said, mous, the Harga facilitate the murders of the out-
Becomes a virtuous bachelor and a siders and manage to keep the evidence of car-
maid. nage to the minimum to retain their fairy-like idyl-
So far be distant; and good night, sweet lic sense of community and serenity. Like fairies,
friend. (2.2.62-66) the Harga is capable of simultaneously existing as
Hermia demands Lysander sleep far as not to im- nature’s caretakers and horrific figures. They are
plicate their pre-marital consummation. Both film introduced as high dreamy nature lovers that also
and play use menstrual blood and virginity to sym- turn humans into blood eagles and cut faces off.
bolize the ability to distort love as one chooses. The most horrific part of the movie is that despite
Maja does so forcefully, as she drugs Christian their atrocious actions, their ability to justify the
into mating with her against his will, but Her- violence based on tradition and constant smiling
mia clearly states the boundaries of their physical makes the audience excuse their actions, if only
relationship, especially before official marriage. for a brief second. A specific instance is the re-
Magic and drugs influence love or lovemaking in sponse to the ritual suicide of the elderly man and
both the film and the play. woman by jumping off a cliff that took place early
Further evidence of magic in Midsommar is during the group’s stay with the Harga. Dani was
the interpretation of the play’s fairies as the film’s particularly horrified, but Christian dismisses it as
Harga cult members. The fairies abide by the fairy part of the Harga’s normal cultural practices and
queen Titania. While the Harga men and women admonishes Dani, and inadvertently the audience,
flitter around in the background, they also heav- that they needed to respect the Harga’s customs.
ily respect nature and abide by their May queen, While short-lived, the one second of accepting
Dani. The movie introduces Dani’s grief of los- their horrific traditions as ‘cultural’ seems to be
ing her family, and as she enters the Harga, the the most terrifying aspect of the movie. The mi-
feeling of community and a homogenous embrace crosecond of justification for murder in the name
immediately washes over her. Embrace, or “feel- of tradition and culture demonstrates the inner
ing held,” is essential for Dani’s character arc, as self’s animalistic and violent loving nature. Al-
Published by eRepository @ Seton Hall, 2021 5Locus: The Seton Hall Journal of Undergraduate Research, Vol. 4 [2021], Art. 10
though the film excludes supernatural elements, it with rape, regardless of gender, especially viewing
depicts magic in the love potion, frequency of hal- rape in film. After ingesting a drink with “special
lucinogenic drugs, and fairy-like qualities of the properties,” Christian becomes nearly lucid when
Harga to resemble a contemporary folk adaptation the mating ritual between him and Maja com-
of the play. mences. Gregory Marie’s article for Lithium mag-
Another contributing factor to support the film azine, “Midsommar, Perceptions of Male Sexu-
as an adaptation of the play is the defilement of ality, and The Quiet Around the Two,” discusses
human and animal bodies that contribute to eroti- the Christian and Maja scene in depth. Con-
cism. Bottom is famously transformed into a don- cerning Christian’s rape scene, which is what it
key by Puck and is intentionally placed to be the is as opposed to what Vanity Fair calls Midsom-
first creature Titania saw. The sexual implications mar’s ‘Wild Sex Scene,’ Aster comments in in-
of Titania and Bottom’s relationship are implied terviews “that this moment is an intentional sub-
as Oberon explains how the flower works: “The version of the trope within horror movies of sex-
juice of it on sleeping eyelids laid / Will make ual violence toward women” and which highlights
or man or woman madly dote / Upon the next “that as a society, we don’t view male-bodied vic-
live creature that it sees” (2.1.176-78). There- tims of non-penetrative sexual violence as valid,
fore, similar to the immediate love Lysander and and maybe even as possible” (Marie). Christian is
Demetrius had for Helena, Titania felt the same extremely drugged, stripped, and coerced into in-
erotic and romantic affections towards the hideous tercourse with Maja and, if that was not horrific
man-donkey Bottom. Note the deliberate wording enough, the entire time he is surrounded by naked
“the next live creature,” which grotesquely con- Harga women eerily mimicking Maja’s moans.
firms all aspects of love, including sexual desires Therefore, Christian, similar to Bottom, become
even towards animals, demonstrating bestiality in involuntary victims of magic, drugs, and sexual
the play (2.1.178). Bottom, although known as affairs. The erotic relationship of Titania and Bot-
the play’s fool, is physically mutilated without his tom parallels the consensually questionable rela-
consent. His upper half is transformed into a don- tionship between Christian and Maja.
key and ordered by Titania to remain in the woods Meanwhile, Lysander and Demetrius are also
as her love pet as “enacted on stage, the consum- under the influence, yet are too consumed in fight-
mation of a perversion in which Titania liberates ing each other to truly act on their drugged love
a deep dark sexual instinct to rape a hairy beast, for Helena as all four Athenians are “swept away
with Oberon the voyeur” (Lewis 253). View- by the impetuous irrationality of emotional re-
ing the relationship based on lack of consent and sponse” as “the laughter they evoke is prompted
force, it turns the comedic plot of Titania blindly by the ludicrous extremes to which passion will
loving a half-man half-donkey to the realization carry them, harmless and inoffensive. On the
that both Titania and Bottom are victims who lose other hand, the young lovers may be seen as cruel,
consent over their body and sexual desires, thus nameless, and fickle, distorting love for erotic sat-
with the erotically grotesque assumption that off isfactions” (Lewis 254). The distortion of love
stage Titania may have had bestial relations with connects the film and play as they both create an
Bottom against her, and his, free will. unsettling, unconsented kind of eroticism to in-
Midsommar’s Christian relates to Bottom as voke strong emotions from the audience. Tita-
they both are victims to magic, or in Christian’s nia loving a man-donkey may be meant as a joke,
case, potent drugs, and Pagan sacrificial mating but the sexual assumptions are far from harm-
traditions. The scene between Christian and Maja less, while the Harga’s maltreatment of Chris-
requires delicacy because of the trauma associated tian directly leads to the final act as Dani discov-
https://scholarship.shu.edu/locus/vol4/iss1/10 6Pino: It Was All a Dream
ers Christian and Maja, assuming he is willingly nights pass and feminizes the moon. The moon
cheating on her. Dani’s assumption that Christian is a common feminine symbol often used to rep-
exchanged her for a younger, attractive woman resent the female menstrual cycle. The signif-
display that “changing partners in a psychedelic icance of the female moon is that it represents
trance can be fun and innocent in youthful games, Theseus’s dismissal of female voice and control
or it can be a cruel reversion to the anonymity of over their own sexuality and bodies. Theseus can
sex,” as she collapses in pain upon her discovery own Hippolyta, legally and sexually, through mar-
(Lewis 254). In the forest of Athens and Hals- riage because with marriage comes the ability to
ingland, social barriers are non-existent as sexual have intercourse without social repercussions. In
desires and free will are corrupted. In the play and other words, it is not that Theseus cannot wait to
film, the woods act as a liminal space that allows marry Hippolyta, rather he cannot wait to sleep
love to be warped and mangled. Love becomes with her. He won the battle, and his prize is
a chance for one person to control another and the sexual ownership of Hippolyta. More subtly,
one person to lose their sexual, physical, and emo- Hippolyta does not reciprocate the desire to sleep
tional free will. Their erotic undertones demon- with Theseus. As shown in the quote above, she
strate the horrific and macabre details of the play states how quickly four days and four nights will
and film. pass. A quick reading of the play may seem as
though she is attempting to comfort him, but I ar-
4. Sweet Dreams are Made of... Blood Eagles gue she is secretly voicing her disdain for a fate
she cannot change. She also refers to the moon
The play opens with Theseus lamenting as a divine feminine symbol and, almost sadly,
the long wait before he can marry the Amazon proclaims how the moon will be present to wit-
Hippolyta. The play begins with the dialogue, ness that night, similar to the many women forced
into marriages beyond their control. While Hip-
THESEUS. Now, fair Hippolyta, our polyta holds little power, Dani, on the other hand,
nuptial hour gains power over Christian. Just as the moon and
Draws on apace. Four happy days bring sky’s significance has a role in the play, the sky
in also has an important role in distinguishing be-
Another moon. But, O, methinks, how tween reality and dream in the film. When Dani
slow drinks the tea for the first time and awakens from
This old moon wanes! She lingers my her acid trip, she asks what time it was, to which
desires Pelle answers nine in the evening, even though it
Like to a stepdame or a dowager is broad daylight. The extended daylight symbol-
Long withering out a young man’s rev- izes the Halsingland as a “primordial zone where
enue. Time and Space are characterized by circularity
HIPPOLYTA. Four days will quickly and express an endless cycle of renewal and regen-
steep themselves in night; eration,” which corresponds to the Harga belief of
Four nights will quickly dream away the an eternal cycle (Falk 266). The film rarely di-
time; vulges into darkness, except in the opening suicide
And then the moon, like to a silver bow scene of Dani’s family and Dani’s nightmare, and
New-bent in heaven, shall behold the continues to use daylight as a motif that what ap-
night pears may not always be as it seems. Theseus and
Of our solemnities. (1.1.10-20) Hippolyta display that what may seem like love
First, Theseus complains about how slowly the is merely a distorted version of love through their
Published by eRepository @ Seton Hall, 2021 7Locus: The Seton Hall Journal of Undergraduate Research, Vol. 4 [2021], Art. 10
arranged and politically motivated marriage. “affekts,” or traits. In a vegetative state, Christian
The final connection between Midsommar and has no other choice than to accept his sealed and
A Midsummer Night’s Dream is that they both decided fate. The camera pans on his eyes, sug-
contain gruesome themes in addition to distort- gesting that he is horrifically aware of everything
ing love. By singling out individual assumptions, happening around him yet has no power or con-
the play can be twisted to be considered a hor- trol over his fate. While Christian was a terrible
ror rather than a comedy. Morbid elements in the boyfriend, partner, and support system, the Harga
film and play that have already been discussed are ultimately manipulated Dani into choosing Chris-
rape and bestiality. Animal abuse also appears in tian as the ninth and final sacrifice. The Harga
the play, through the sexualization of Bottom with uses Dani’s love for Christian for their benefit and
a donkey’s head, and the film, by the exploita- to fulfil their sacrificial customs.
tion of the bear. Bears are significant to Pagan At the heart of both the film and play are love
Norse culture as “Vikings were said to go berserk and relationships, as the film focuses on Dani and
(bear-serk) during battle, transmuting from mere Christian’s deteriorating relationship and the play
humans to grizzly supernatural warriors, imbued toys with the intricacies of the love quadrangle.
with the spirit of bears” (Gaither). When first en- The relationships in the play become entangled
tering Halsingland, a caged Grizzly bear prompts and interwoven. Theseus and Hippolyta demon-
Simon to comment, “So we’re just going to ignore strate a clear difference in power, and “as for the
the bear then?” and Ingemar brushes him off, re- lovers, Hermia must come to comprehend loss,
plying, “It’s a bear.” Symbolism and foreshadow- Helena gain. Lysander must understand the vows
ing surrounding the bear are present as early as in of fidelity, and Demetrius the rewards of stabil-
Dani’s apartment when a painting of a girl with a ity” (Falk 270). Dani tragically lost her biological
crown touching a bear appears in the background. family, yet Pelle proclaims, with the Harga, she
Christian stares at an image of a standing bear on gained a new one. She grows from her lukewarm
fire, foreshadowing his future death, as he waits to relationship with Christian, and instead of burn-
be questioned by Siv about his intentions to mate ing all his old belongings like a usual breakup, she
with Maja. While the Harga are not seen beating chooses to burn him alive instead. Dani must com-
the animal, the bear was killed and cleaned out to prehend the loss of her family and lover. Christian
be a vessel for the upcoming human sacrifice, and must deal with the consequences of his disloyalty
I constitute that as animal abuse and maltreatment. to Dani within the Harga community and in the
After Dani is crowned May queen, there appears real world. Christian is responsible for bringing
to be a scene where a Harga member is teaching his friends to the Harga, as Pelle sacrifices them
young Harga boys how to disembowel the same for their flaws. Mark suffers from his ignorance,
bear’s internal organs. The most horrific scene of and Josh succumbs to his arrogance. In Midsom-
the movie, out of the many, is Christian’s inca- mar and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Falk aptly
pacitation, where he cannot move or speak and is concludes,
stuffed into the bear to be burned alive. By stuff- remnants of the sacred world have
ing Christian into a bear, it represents the rever- been transformed into the world of ro-
sal of internal and external characteristics. Chris- mance, whose root assumption is the
tian’s internal ruthlessness and animosity are re- pastoral myth: human regeneration and
flected as he is placed inside the bear. Christian’s indeed transformation require periodic
animalistic and negative qualities are accentuated and temporary disengagement from a
by placing him inside a bear and offering him as complex and oppressive environment
a sacrifice to purge the commune’s most unholy into one that is relatively simple and
https://scholarship.shu.edu/locus/vol4/iss1/10 8Pino: It Was All a Dream
free. (276) would be strong elements of nature, magic, and
The Athenians enter the woods to free themselves mischief around love. Those assumptions are
from the pain of rejected love, one couple rejected present in the film with an addition of realism-
by Hermia’s father and the other couple rejected based psychological horror as well. On a global
by unreciprocated feelings. The dream must take scale, Shakespeare constantly adapts and changes
place free from strict laws and even the rules of re- the way ‘traditional’ Shakespeare may be con-
ality, as magic and fairies run rampant to interfere sumed while telling the same story just through
with human affairs. In Halsingland, the Harga are different genres, times, and spaces.
so removed from society that the social expecta-
Works Cited
tions of viewing murder and suicide as taboo are
abolished to make way for the Harga belief in re- El-Mahmoud, Sarah. “Midsommar Ending Ex-
generation and sacrifice. The separation from so- plained: What Happens To Dani And What The
cial norms and rules allow love to be distorted for Insane Twist Means.” CinemaBlend. Accessed 12
the benefit of a select few, Helena and the Harga. Apr. 2021.
In conclusion, Midsommar and A Midsummer
Night’s Dream use magic, drugs, and a setting dis-
Falk, Florence. “Dream and Ritual Process in
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‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream.’” Comparative
mar qualifies as a film adaptation of A Midsummer
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There have been purposeful horror adaptations of Marie, Gregory. ““Midsommar,” Perceptions
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summer Night’s Scream and Sleep No More, an in- Two.” Culture & Entertainment, Lithium, 2019.
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immediately brings audiences a sense of famil-
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https://scholarship.shu.edu/locus/vol4/iss1/10 10You can also read
