TEHRAN - Persian translation of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, a comedy play by legendary English playwright, poet, and actor William Shakespeare has been published in Persian and is available at Iranian bookstores.
Written in about 1595 or 1596, this work has been translated into Persian by Ala-edin Pazargadi (PhD). Tehran-based Soroush Publishings has released ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ in 62 pages.
The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One subplot involves a conflict among four Athenian lovers.
Another follows a group of six amateur actors rehearsing the play which they are to perform before the wedding. Both groups find themselves in a forest inhabited by fairies who manipulate the humans and are engaged in their own domestic intrigue. ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ is one of Shakespeare ‘s most popular and widely performed plays.
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important. It’s been argued that in this play Shakespeare aligns himself not with the aristocrats, but with Bottom and the artisans. It is their task to produce a wedding entertainment, precisely the purpose of the writer on working in this play.
‘’A Midsummer Nights Dream’ has also been viewed as full of symbols. The Moon and its phases alluded to in the play, in his view, stand for permanence in mutability. The play uses the principle of discordia concors (in which opposites are juxtaposed so that the contrast between them is striking) in several of its key scenes.