Shakespeare imbued A Midsummer Night's Dream with extraordinary complexity. This ethereal fantasy involves four different levels of representation, which intermingle but never wholly fuse. The enchanted forest in which most of the action takes place proves to be the ideal setting for a comedy exploring the intersection of reality and illusion, love and desire. This invaluable new literary reference presents a selection of the best contemporary criticism of one of Shakespeare's greatest plays, introduced by an essay from esteemed scholar Harold Bloom and featuring a bibliography, index, and chronology of the Bard's life.