The nature’s nature

One of the dominant element of the Shakespearean compositions is the nature: woods, forests, flowers and plants are some of the most important elements in his productions, where the nature is an active element which influences the development of the characters. The relationship between nature and the characters in the Shakespearean opera has a unique connotation: it is not an unkind-nature, not a positive guide that helps the characters. What Shakespeare presents is an universe where the man is responsible of what happens around him. But is that really possible to struggle against the nature’s strength? Or at the end it will all be meant to be as the power of the nature wants to? For a better understanding, I chose to talk about A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Tempest, because they could be useful to clarify which is the role of the nature I am talking about.

Midsummer night’s dream, Glenn Marshall, 2012

Starting from the title, A Midsummer Night’s Dream presents more than the simple story of a wedding: the events take place during the night before the wedding between Theseo and Hippolita. There is not a detailed description of the natural elements that surrounded the protagonists, but in all the comedy the presence of the magical element connected to the nature is preponderant: it participates and observes quietly the characters’ choices. 
The introduction of the potent love potion of the purple, yellow and white wild flower shows how the nature is not that divine and mysterious strength that gives order and leads a man to his destiny, but, on the contrary, it is one of the instruments that its own creatures use on each other. 
Going on with the events, it turns out that the attempt of using the love potion of the magical flower fails and the only consequence is the confusion of all the characters involved. Shakespeare sets the drama of a powerless man, who tries to dominate the nature and subject it to his will, but without succeeding in it. It is important to say that the comedy ends during the first light of the day: the interchange day-night and dark-light could be considered as the symbol of the opposition between the human dimension, dominated by chaos, and the natural one, dominated by the order.

The Storm, Charles H. Buchel, 1904

The problem of the relationship man-nature is shown even in the tragedy The Tempest. Even in this case, the choice of the title is singular, evoking one of the four basic natural elements: the water, that become a way to express revenge. Shakespeare does not give a specific setting: it is not clear the name of the island, its geographical position and what kind of species live there. Once again, it seems that the nature is just an element of background, as a frame that contains characters and events. But, actually it is quite the opposite: the author wants to give nature a sense of mystery, making it a quiet and unknown energy capable of define man’s faith. 
In this tragedy, such as in the comedy I quoted in the lines before, what happens is not what the main character wanted: the tempest should have been an element for planning a revenge, but it actually led the story to a happy ending.

In both Shakespeare’s masterpieces, the characters pretend to be the creator, trying to take nature’s place. 

But what are the consequences? Do they succeed in it?

If we talk about nature in Shakespeare’s works, it is appropriate to underline its singular value. Looking at it in a superficial way, giving to the word only a literal meaning, which consist of the phenomena and elements used as setting in the representations, is not enough. It is necessary to give a deeper interpretation: nature is the instrument used by man for his purposes, but, at the same time, it is the guideline of the majority of the events. The human being has only the feeling that he can modify this energy according to his will, but in the end, he should admit that nature is the only one that can give order, no matter how hard he tries to control it.

Works cited:
http://ricerca.repubblica.it/repubblica/archivio/repubblica/2015/05/09/da-ariosto-a-shakespeare-gli-alberi-della-scritturaPalermo09.html