Subversion And Containment In A Midsummer Night’s Dream And Twelfth Night

Year 2025, Volume: 11 Issue: 2, 167 - 179

Deniz Yildiz

Abstract

In this article, I aim to examine William Shakespeare’s comedies A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Twelfth Night within the framework of Stephen Greenblatt’s theory of subversion and containment. In both plays, normative structures concerning gender roles, class hierarchy, and desire are temporarily subverted within the play’s universe: however, these subversions ultimately result in the reestablishment of the existing ideological order. The identity confusion that begins with Viola’s disguise as a man, Olivia’s unconscious love for someone of the same sex, and Malvolio’s ridicule are moments in Twelfth Night when “subversive” elements become visible. Similarly, in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Titania’s love for a figure from the lower class, the power struggle in the fairy world, and the festival atmosphere presented in the play offer a collective hallucinatory environment, allowing for a temporary relaxation of social norms. Yet, in both plays, the final scenes end with the restoration of order through “restorative” heteronormative marriages, social exclusion, and the regaining of power by authority figures. This study argues that, as Greenblatt suggests, theatre is not only a structure that reinforces the ideological order, but also one that reproduces this order by making its limits visible.

Keywords

A Midsummer Night’s Dream , Twelfth Night , Subversion and Containment , New Historicism , Stephen Greenblatt

William Shakespeare’in A Midsummer Night’s Dream ve Twelfth Night Komedyalarında Yıkıcılık ve Sınırlandırma

Abstract

Bu makalede, William Shakespeare’in A Midsummer Night’s Dream ve Twelfth Night adlı komedyalarının Stephen Greenblatt’ın yıkıcılık ve sınırlandırma kuramı çerçevesinde incelemeyi amaçlamaktayım. Her iki oyunda da toplumsal cinsiyet rolleri, sınıf hiyerarşisi ve arzuya dair normatif yapılar, oyun evreni içinde geçici olarak altüst edilir; ancak bu altüst oluşlar, nihayetinde mevcut ideolojik düzenin yeniden tesis edilmesiyle sonuçlanır. Viola’nın erkek kılığına bürünmesiyle başlayan kimlik karmaşası, Olivia’nın aynı cinsiyetten birine duyduğu farkında olmadan gelişen aşk ve Malvolio’nun alaya alınması, Twelfth Night oyununda “düzen karşıtı” unsurların görünür kılındığı anlar olarak öne çıkar. Benzer biçimde, A Midsummer Night’s Dream oyununda da Titania’nın alt sınıftan bir figüre duyduğu aşk ve periler dünyasındaki güç savaşları ve oyunda yer verilen festival ortamı kolektif bir halüsinasyon ortamı sunar ve bu da toplumsal normların geçici olarak esnetilmesine olanak tanır. Ancak her iki oyunda final sahnelerinde düzeni “onarıcı” heteronormatif evlilikler, sosyal dışlamalar ve otorite figürlerinin yeniden güç kazanmasıyla son bulur. Bu çalışma, Greenblatt’ın öne sürdüğü gibi, tiyatronun yalnızca ideolojik düzeni pekiştiren değil, aynı zamanda bu düzenin sınırlarını görünür kılarak onu yeniden üreten bir yapı olduğunu savunur.

Keywords

A Midsummer Night’s Dream , Twelfth Night , Yıkıcılık ve Sınırlandırma , Yeni Tarihselcilik , Stephen Greenblatt

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