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The thesis analyses interpretations of <i>A Midsummer Night’s Dream</i> by Freudian and post-Freudian clinicians, and by literary critics influenced by psychoanalytic theory. The primary material is principally taken from the Psychoanalytic Electronic Publishing database, and includes 37 papers or chapters by psychoanalysts and some by psychoanalytically informed literary critics, addressing aspects of the <i>Dream</i>. This considerable body of critical analysis of the play has largely been ignored by literary critics. Certain themes in this substantial body of criticism are identified and analysed: how dreams in the play have been variously interpreted psychoanalytically; the clinical interest in dreams within a dream and the relevance of this to the play and to the device of the play within the play; the dark side of the <i>Dream</i> including the function of comedy to disguise the play’s nightmare quality; and the dominance of oedipal interpretations to the neglect of other aspects of Freud’s writing about love. The thesis considers how far psychoanalytic criticism of the play reflects changes in psychoanalytic theory and phases of literary criticism. The thesis highlights the absence of meaningful interaction between Freudian clinicians and literary critics who examine the <i>Dream</i> during the same sixty year period from the 1950s, missing opportunities for productive intellectual dialogue. The thesis observes that literary critics refer more than clinicians to more recent psychoanalytic thinking; and that there are places where the clinicians could have enhanced their interpretations by reference to Freud’s writing on humour, on love and object choices, on illusion and transference-love. The thesis concludes that psychoanalytic critics of the play make a complementary contribution to literary criticism, and that the papers merit greater prominence in the reception history of the play.

This thesis offers the first full study of English productions of Measure for Measure on stage and screen from the Jacobean period to the early twenty-first century, based on archival research examining primary sources such as prompt books, video recordings and photographs. Because of its ambiguity and open silences, Measure for Measure is an ideal text to demonstrate W. B. Worthen’s thesis that, in performance, meanings are produced through various theatrical factors which necessarily go beyond the text. In this thesis, I argue that the ambiguity of Measure for Measure maximises its potential in production to reflect social and political climates of the time, anticipate changes and shape spectators’ perceptions of difficult issues such as authority, morality and gender politics. This argument is supported through my investigation into archival research which reveals how social context influenced productions and how those productions, in turn, shaped future productions and society. The Introduction argues that Measure for Measure is an ideal text to demonstrate Worthen’s concepts that the ‘work’ is always absent, and that ‘Shakespeare’ and the words in the text are not the most important sources of meaning. There are many crucial gaps in the text that performances need to fill. The Introduction analyses space, audience, actor and scenography as important factors which shape meaning and effect. In the first chapter, I argue that, because of its indeterminacy, in the early modern period, Measure for Measure helped not only to reaffirm the absolute authority of the monarchy but also to cultivate scepticism towards it, and how spectators at Whitehall and the Globe read performances would have depended on the conditions of the playing venues, spectators’ social statuses, gender and religious beliefs. Chapter Two argues that, in adapting the text of Measure for Measure or transcoding it into a different, two-dimensional media of the screen, the adaptor sets himself up as a rival authority to that of Shakespeare and, in consequence, changes our perception of the ‘work’. The adaptations of Measure for Measure from the Restoration to the modern period, both on stage and on screen, are covered in this chapter. Chapter Three argues that performance spaces have a strong impact on playgoers’ reactions towards performances and the spectators’ attitudes towards the genre and issues of authority and morality. This chapter focuses on the ‘Elizabethan’ revival productions of William Poel, arguing that it contributed to the view of Measure for Measure as a ‘problem play’; the production by John Dove, which revived its reputation as a comedy, and modern touring productions. Chapter Four argues that productions of Measure for Measure from the Georgian period to the 1960s tried to solve the play’s ambiguous treatment of morality, authority, gender politics and ‘vulgarity’ and, in so doing, such productions reflected, anticipated and shaped not only ‘Shakespeare’ but also society. The final chapter argues that, as publicly-funded theatres, the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre have a commitment to speak to the nation and, due to their agendas and policies, the productions of Measure for Measure after 1970 at the National successfully engaged with contemporary issues of gender politics, racial equality and state power while the Royal Shakespeare Company largely failed to engage with these difficult issues.

This thesis explores the parent-child relationships in Shaw’s early and middle plays, with a special focus on the destructive and constructive role of parents and children in social and human evolution. It examines how Shaw uses these particular relationships and what they represent in light of his views on social progress, evolution, and education. Although children received a great deal of attention from Shaw, their representation in Shaw’s drama has not received much serious attention from scholars and critics. This thesis explores parents and children in eight of Shaw’s plays in terms of generational conflict: Mrs Warren’s Profession (1894), The Devil’s Disciple (1897), You Never Can Tell (1896), Man and Superman (1902), Major Barbara (1905), Pygmalion (1912), Misalliance (1910), and Fanny’s First Play (1911). The first two chapters demonstrate the constructive role of the child in social progress and human evolution and the destructive effect of the parent on the child’s progress. The third chapter explores the constructive role of the parent in the child’s education and development. The final chapter examines the parent-child relationships in Shaw in light of his views on the family as a social institution. Throughout my study, I refer to a variety of Shaw’s non-dramatic writings, such as his prefaces, letters, interviews, and criticism. As a result, this thesis draws the reader’s attention to the relation between Shaw’s dramatic and non-dramatic writings. My study reveals that there is a link between Shaw’s progressive views and his plays: both are meant to agitate and provoke the audience into thinking, questioning, and challenging. The conclusion is that Shaw used drama, in general, and the family, in particular, as a vehicle for his views. This is important in understanding Shaw’s plays, and it provides evidence of Shaw’s commitment to the socialist cause and the didactic purpose of art.

In the early works, typically in Rosencrantz and Guildenstem Are Dead and Lord Malquist and Mr Moon. Stoppard presents modem man's desperate efforts to find meanings in his lives and the world, on the one hand, and the agonizing process of an aspiring writer trying to establish his own identity as a creative writer, on the other. In spite of their instinctive and intuitive belief in the order of the world, however, the early protagonists are unredeemably entrapped in chaos, and end up in ignominious deaths. After the spectacular success of Rosencrantz and Guildenstem Are Dead, the tone of Stoppard's works changed in a significant, if almost imperceptible, way. The frustration and helplessness which permeate his earlier works almost disappeared. More significantly, Stoppard deliberately tried to expound and defend his own ideas on such fundamental issues as morality and art in Jumpers and Travesties, respectively, and the ideas have basically remained the same throughout his whole career. After Travesties there took place more explicit changes in style and subject in Stoppard's works which marked Stoppard's so-called political theatre. The works of this period can best be explained as occasional and transitional, and, it is through these political works that Stoppard's individualist ethic found its most clear-cut expression. The Real Thing signals a new, maturer era of Stoppardian theatre. Stoppard almost for the first time furnished the stage with fully fleshed-out characters not only in terms of the protagonist but down to every and each minor character. Ideas are not simply presented as preconceived, but unfold themselves to the final conclusion through dramatic actions and conflicts. Love, a rare theme in the Stoppardian theatre until then, finally takes centre stage as "the real thing", and is presented in such a way that only through love is a real union possible between the people (individuals). Arcadia is the closest to Stoppard's dramatic ideal of "the perfect marriage between ideas and high comedy".

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