On The Carnival Features Of A Midsummer-Night's Dream

M·Bahktin is one of the most important thinkers of the 20^th century, whose Carnival theory has a great influence worldwide, encompassing mythology, sociology, anthropology, linguistics, aesthetics and other academic disciplines. Bahktin's theory was introduced into China when the study of Dostoevsky was in vogue. The 1990s saw a great interest in the study of Bahktin. In 1982 Xia Zhongyi interpreted the work of Dostoevsky with the aid of Carnival theory for the first time in China. After that the works of Shakespeare, Joyce, Faulkner as well as some Chinese writers such as Mo Yan were interpreted from the point of view of Carnival theory. Up to now, several articles have been published on interpretation of Shakespearean plays through Carnival theory, among which only one has reached some depth and minuteness. And even in this one article there are a lot of problems which remain un-explained. Based on that, the current study aims to analyze in a deep and minute manner the Shakespearean play A Midsummer-Night's Dream with the help of Bahktin's Carnival theory. Meanwhile the current paper questions some of Bahktin's viewpoints.The paper is divided into three parts.Part I: Carnival ---- in this part the origin of the Carnival is traced back to ritual sacrifices in ancient Greece. Carnival and play are inevitably connected with each other in what they try to express due to their shared origin. Through interpreting various festivals and carnival rituals in A Midsummer-Night's Dream, the author of the paper holds that the Midsummer Festival, May Festival, the Weddings and masked dancing are all typical carnival festivals.Part II: Carnival experience ---- in this part the carnival world values behind the rituals, combining spirit of alteration and regerneration, spirit of dialoguing equally included in this kind of world value, are interpreted, And Bahktin's viewpoint is questioned where he denies the dialogue feature of plays.Part III: Carnivalization---- in this part the carnival features of the plots, the characters and language in A Midsummer-Night's Dream is analyzed into the depth. In the play, the solidification in time of the Athens suburban forest and non-realism in space made up of the unique illusionary time-space, which has the characteristics of imaginary...