According to Shakespeare, what kind of play is Midsummer Nights dream considered as?
Well, you say, “according to Shakespeare,” and we just don’t know how to answer that–Shakespeare didn’t leave a set of memoirs or notes on the plays behind, telling how he wanted them classified. But, going back to ancient times, plays have traditionally been classified as comedies and tragedies. Tragedies are serious, sad plays, in which the hero suffers and often dies. That doesn’t sound like Midsummer! Comedies are not necessarily “funny,” (although they can be), but they have a happy ending–true love wins out, families are reunited, slaves are freed, poor people win fortunes, or all of the above. Now you’re talking! So we call Midsummer a comedy. In Shakespeare’s time, a third type of play became very popular, and that was the “Chronicle History,” which told a story about the history of England–not exactly a tragedy, not exactly a comedy. So Shakespeare’s plays are traditionally divided into histories, tragedies, and comedies.
