A paradox is a self-contradictory statement or occurrence, and a paradox lies at the heart of this play: are all the events that happened at night in the forest "real" or merely a dream? They can't be both, yet the audience is left wondering. Puck will bring up this central paradox, saying:
If we shadows have offended,
Think but this,--and all is mended,--
That you have but slumber'd here
While these visions did appear
Another paradox the play explores is love's ability to be both kind and cruel. We think of love as joyful and blissful, but it also has a dark side, such as when Demetrius and Lysander are about to fight over Helena.
Alliteration is when the same consonant is used more than once at the beginning of the words in a line of verse. An example of alliteration in this play is "how easy is a bush supposed a bear?" with its repeated "b"s in bush and bear, and the following:
Thorough bush, thorough brier,
Over park, over pale,
Thorough flood, thorough fire,
I do wander everywhere,
Here we find alliterative pairings: bush/brier, part/pale, flood/fire.
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