In a paper on the chiastic structure of Midsummer Night’s Dream , a student, Jason Helsel, suggests that two scenes with the mechanicals “serve as a link or portal between the city and the forest.” Nicely put; the path from the city of law and justice to the magical world of the fairies lies through art, and theatrical art at that. Theatrical art is also the passage in the other direction, bringing us from the world of miracle to the quotidian world of the city. More abstractly, art serves as a contact point with a transcendent realm, and also mediates that transcedence back to social life. It’s no accident that Bottom, the leading figure in the theatrical troupe, is the one who has a bottomless dream, a fleeting contact with what eye cannot hear and ear cannot see.
As always, Shakespeare’s theater is about theater, it is meta-theatrical.
Peter Leithart
Peter J. Leithart is President of Theopolis Institute. He is the author of numerous books on theology, literature, and culture, including Theopolitan, Defending Constantine, and Baptized Body.
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