The play A Midsummer Nights Dream by William Shakespeare, the short story The Hand, by Sidonie-Gabrielle-Colette, and the

poem Acquainted with the Night by Robert Frost all use many symbolic references within their texts in order to elucidate certain characteristic points about their respective prose. Many authors use symbolism in order to convey certain messages that are not so apparent in the writings. Symbolism is the systematic or creative use of arbitrary symbols as abstracted representations of concepts or objects and the distinct relationships in between, as they define both context and the narrower definition of terms (Wikipedia). These messages are presented as texts or images in the words, which have to be interpreted by the reader in order to extract their full meaning. All of the above-mentioned works contain certain elements of symbolism, which are very different in their nature, yet they all work to elucidate some points that are not mentioned so blatantly. A Midsummer Nights Dream is considered to be one of the most immoral of Shakespeares plays. Samuel Pepys remarked after watching the play: This day my oaths of drinking wine and going to plays are out, and so I do resolve to take a liberty to-day, and then to fall to them again. To the King's Theatre, where we saw Midsummer's Night's Dream, which I had never seen before, nor shall ever again, for it is the most insipid ridiculous play that ever I saw in my life. I saw, I confess, some good dancing and some handsome women, which was all my pleasure (Pepys 1662). Yet this play is considered to be one of the best comedies by Shakespeare and it includes various instances where he has used text and images to portray a certain mood or emotion. Shakespeare uses the people and the setting in order to differentiate between day and night, the rational and irrational, parts of the play. The beginning and the end of the play show Theseus and Hippolyta, while they are missing through the main action of the middle of the play. This signifies their presence as being that of the rational world, and they are seen as those who bring some kind of a direction to the lives of people. The time during which they are not on stage is marked by irrationality and appears to the audience as a dream. Thus, these two people symbolize rationality

in the play. Another way in which Shakespeare uses symbolism in order to explain the inexplicable and unpredictable power of love is by presenting it as a prank that the fairies play on the unsuspecting youngsters. These people keep falling in love with the wrong person as Demetrius, who was in love with Hermia falls in love with Helena. This prank of the fairies is symbolic of the actual power of love, which Shakespeare confesses through symbolism of being unpredictable and erratic. He tries to tell the readers that love cannot be predicted and it can happen to anyone at anytime and we are all just part of the world in which there as well might be fairies around us, sprinkling us with the magic potions of love. In The Hand, Sidonie-Gabrielle-Colette, writes about her husbands hand, as one night she realizes that she might have made a mistake by marrying this person so closely. The story begins with the couple in bed as the wife notices his husbands hand. She is reflecting on how strong this hand is when suddenly she realizes that this strength of the hand can be problem for her. It was mentioned that man had just recently been widowed but there was no mention of how the first wife was killed. In the dark, and in the deceptive light, the woman now sees the real shape of the hand, which appears to be quite menacing to her. Colette describes the hand as being a pliant beast with claws, a cruel crab, and a hand that takes pleasure in strangling someone. By reading deeper into this symbolic description of the hand, one realizes that it is about that same time the wife starts to suspect that maybe her husband was the one who had killed his previous wife, having strangled her with this very hand. Colette uses symbolism to tell us that it was the man who murdered his first wife by strangulation, although she does not openly writes about it. Alternatively, maybe Colette is describing the rising fear in the new wife that her husband might have been the murderer. In any case, the description of the hand that the wife sees clearly symbolizes that the wife is starting to get suspicious of her husband. In Acquainted with the Night, Robert Frost takes on a dark and tragic tone. He uses the

description of the street at night that is probably used to describe the authors state of mind. The street is dark and empty and this symbolizes that the author himself is feeling very gloomy, very dark, and empty from inside. By saying that he has become acquainted with the night, the author is saying that he had become used to his state of life. All the words that Frost uses in this poem signify that he has been very sad in his life and that he has been through many problems. The saddest lane could be the saddest event in his life, while walking in the rain, back in the rain could signify the tears that he has seen and have been drenched with during his lifetime. The watchman that he describes in his poem is used to signify the presence of God who stands ever watching on all of us. The authors inability to face the watchman and to look him into the eyes depict that the author must have done something so shameful or painful that he is unable to face the consequences. Frost also uses the allegory of the luminary clock in the sky to represent the moon. He says that the time is neither wrong or right, which means that it was not actually his fault, but the nights that he had to become acquainted with it; the night that is now become is dark life. Symbolism is very richly presented in all these three works by the various authors. Each author has his/her own manner of presenting the images that turn out to depict the hidden meanings that are embedded within the words. Shakespeare uses people and their actions in order to depict the differences amongst the moods of the play, and also to portray the true nature of emotions by emphasizing on the relevant mischievous part that the fairies had to play. Colette writes about the despicableness of the hand by describing the various shapes that the hand appeared to her in order to make it look menacing and threatening. Frost describes the setting of his poem in order to describe what his mind was like and how he was feeling by relating it with a deserted street and its haunted attire. Thus, all three writers use symbolism in different ways in order to get their meaning across.

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Reaction Page Now that I have finished this paper, I realize that I need to read all the three pieces of work again in order to delve more into symbolism and find out many more instances where the respective writers have used symbolic references. I would also now pay more attention to movies, films, and other books, and find out the places where the makers have used symbolism in order to elucidate their main points. I am sure that if I read these three pieces of work again, more thoroughly, I could come up with a better analysis of the symbolism presented within these texts. I learned many things in the process of writing this paper. The first and most surprising thing that I learned was that not everybody thinks that the best writers can always produce the best

pieces of work. I also learned that a writer must be involved in his/her work and he/she should be able to incorporate the feelings into the writings along with the words. This is not an easy thing to do and it requires the mastery of using symbols and words to represent the true and hidden feelings that lie within the writers head and heart. The writer must use allusions that most of the people can relate with, because the reader feels so thrilled and excited when he/she realizes that he has just figured out exactly what the writer was trying to say when he referred to some allusion.

Work Cited

1. Pepys, Samuel, Diary, Sept. 29, 1662, quoted in Friedlander, Ed, Enjoying a Midsummer Nights Dream, by William Shakespeare, Online, http://www.pathguy.com/mnd.htm (Accessed November 10, 2005)

2. Wikipedia, Symbolism, Online, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbolism (Accessed November 10, 2005)