Pacifism and Performance in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Abstract

This essay takes A Midsummer Night’s Dream as a case study for exploring Shakespeare’s relationship to pacifism. We argue that this play, which uses a love potion to end conflict and to suggest parity across various competing spheres, taps into early modern discourses about peace as well our own contemporary anti-war discourses. We take inspiration from Bernie Boston’s photograph “Flower Power” and Allen Ginsberg’s essay that first articulated that notion as we imagine the play’s faeries to be “flower children.” The essay ultimately argues that Shakespeare’s play, as well as its play-within-a-play, dramatize the power of love as an anti-war and pacifist force.