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Shakespeare is an English poet and playwright. He is known for his revolutionalisation of the English language. He wrote over 38 plays, some of which have inspired countless movies, ballets, operas and books. Most of his plays and poems are still being studied today! A Midsummer Night's Dream  was written somewhere around 1595-96. Shakespeare was 31 or 32 when he wrote this play, and he wrote it at about the same time as Romeo and Juliet, and Richard II. A Midsummer Night's Dream has been made into movies, a ballet and an opera. One of the last plays he wrote was called The Tempest, which was a romantic comedy, has also been made into a movie. The play was written in 1610, and its movie counterpart was released 400 years later, proving that Shakespeare's plays have remained popular to this day.

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Samuel Pepys states ". . . 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." http://mentalfloss.com/article/70783/5-writers-who-really-hated-shakespeare
Samuel pepys clearly believes that Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream is silly, even though it is supposed to be a comedy. A mans head gets turned into a donkeys one, and there is a lot of magic, which isn't real, and Pepys probably thought that it was ridiculous doing a play on something so unrealistic.

Leo Tolstoy, author of War and Peace, was not a fan of Shakespeare either. In fact, he wrote a 100 page critique of Shakespeare's plays and his reputation as a writer. Tolstoy said that his plays were"trivial and positively bad". Tolstoy also admitted to reading Shakespeare's complete works, to see whether his tastes had changed since he was younger when he wrote the 100 page essay, but his thoughts didn't change. He said"I have felt, with even greater force, the same feelings — this time, however, not of bewilderment, but of firm, indubitable conviction that the unquestionable glory of a great genius, which Shakespeare enjoys and which compels writers of our time to imitate him and readers and spectators to discover in him non-existent merits (thereby distorting their aesthetic and ethical understanding)—is a great evil, as is every untruth".
http://mentalfloss.com/article/70783/5-writers-who-really-hated-shakespeare
There is no real evidence why he hated Shakespeare so much, apart from the fact that he just didn't like his work.

Voltaire, a French writer, was originally inspired by Shakespeare, and even adapted a few of his plays for the French stage, although, as he grew older, his dislike for Shakespeare increased a lot. This was because Shakespeare was becoming very popular, not just in London, so his plays went out of popularity, and he turned very bitter against Shakespeare. He said "France has not insults, fool’s-caps, and pillories enough for such a scoundrel. My blood boils in my own veins while I speak to you about him … And the terrible thing is that … it is I myself who was the first to speak about this Shakespeare [in France]. I was the first who showed to the French a few pearls which I had found in his enormous dunghill".
http://mentalfloss.com/article/70783/5-writers-who-really-hated-shakespeare
He clearly just doesn't like being overtaken by someone already dead. This is all based on hatred for shakespeare in general, for pretty much putting his plays out of action.

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Patronage, is when someone commissions someone (e.g. an artist, a writer, a playwright etc) to write paint or draw a piece of work for them. The commissioner is generally wealthy as they have to pay to get someone to do work for them.
Early in Shakespeare's career, he became friends with Henry Wriothesley, the Earl of Southampton (who was his patron). He dedicated his first two poems to him : "Venus and Adonis" (1593) and "The Rape of Lucrece" (1594).  Many more commissions followed that. Educated guesses say that a Midsummer Night's Dream was commissioned for an aristocratic wedding, which Queen Elisabeth attended. we couldn't find much information on this topic, although we know that the queen would have commissioned some of shakespeare's plays, as she was a bit fan of his. she would of had to have paid a lot, since she was queen.

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Either to die the death or to abjure

For ever the society of men.

Therefore, fair Hermia, question your desires;

Know of your youth, examine well your blood,

Whether, if you yield not to your father's choice,

You can endure the livery of a nun,

For aye to be in shady cloister mew'd,

To live a barren sister all your life,

Chanting faint hymns to the cold fruitless moon.

Thrice-blessed they that master so their blood,

To undergo such maiden pilgrimage;

But earthlier happy is the rose distill'd,

Than that which withering on the virgin thorn

Grows, lives and dies in single blessedness.

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This passage from a Midsummer Night's Dream, by Shakespeare (1596) was spoken by Theseus, to Hermia, to convince Hermia to marry Demetrius, even though she loves Lysander.
The first line in this passage is an example of the style that Shakespeare writes in. This style is very poetic and old English, to us it sounds very formal. it is also saying that she will cease being popular, or renounce everything if she does not marry Demetrius. Line 6 clearly states that if she doesn't marry she will become a nun, and with that, she will never marry, the fact that she won't marry is said again in line 8, my google search didn't tell me exactly what a barren sister was but i know barren means (one of the meanings) is that a woman cannot have a child, and sister is a name for a nun, so this line is saying she will be a childless nun her whole life.

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Usborne illustrated stories from Shakespeare, Usborne
This book was useful because we learnt the story of a midsummer night's dream from it, and a bit about shakespeare's life
this helped us with perspectives
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tempest
this helped us with significance
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronology_of_Shakespeare%27s_plays#Richard_II_.281595.29
this site gave me an overview of all his plays, and the exact dates
this helped us get an overview of midsummer nights dream (originally)
http://shakespeare.mit.edu/midsummer/full.html
we got the analysis passage from this site
http://www.biography.com/people/william-shakespeare-9480323
This site helped us alot with the perspectives, because we were able to find good and bad perspectives on him.