William Shakespeare often used his literary works to make statements about social issues. A Midsummer Night's Dream obviously deals with the conflict between men and women by describing different relationships, father and daughter, husband and wife, in which the man tries to exert his will on the woman. Shakespeare chose to use an interesting perspective in A Midsummer Night's Dream, presenting a play within a play to represent different endings of similar conflicts between father and daughter, one tragic, the other happy. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Shakespeare's use of Pyramus and Thisbe in A Midsummer Night's Dream also allowed him to make important statements about the dramatic genre of his time (Smith N. Pag.). A Midsummer Night's Dream may be among Shakespeare's most outlandish works, but he brings together powerful statements on two different subjects in an extraordinarily skillful way. Shakespeare used the play Pyramus and Thisbe within the play A Midsummer Night's Dream to comment on the position of the theater in his day, which was often subject to the will and whims of both church and state, and often threatened of censorship. recognize the history of theater to understand the status of theater during the Renaissance. Traditionally, the theater was a church entity, offering miracle and mystery performances on holy days as a way to educate audiences about the history and teachings of the church, rather than as entertainment. As theater became more public and topics other than church history began to appear, both church and state severely opposed and attempted to control theater, enacting laws to maintain control over artists and playwrights. Queen Elizabeth (1558–1603) was a supporter of the theater and attempted to pioneer its growth, both by being a patron of the arts in London, and in 1559, by pleading with the mayors of her kingdom to license theatrical performances ( Child N. Page). It is, in fact, widely accepted that Shakespeare wrote A Midsummer Night's Dream expressly to be performed at a wedding attended by Queen Elizabeth (Smith N. Pag.). In 1572, companies of actors not linked to noble houses were declared "knaves and vagabonds" (Wilson N. Pag.). The Protestant Reformation was underway, and with the onset of Puritan tendencies, the play was deemed unethical and immoral. A Midsummer Night's Dream, widely believed to have been written in the mid-1590s, provided Shakespeare with a venue to assert to audiences that drama by its very nature was not real, it was entertainment, which coincidentally addressed questions of ethics and morality. In his play, Shakespeare uses both the audience and the actors in Pyramus and Thisbe to comment on the drama. Shakespeare introduces the actors Pyramus and Thisbe at the beginning of A Midsummer Night's Dream and uses their dialogue to demonstrate the importance of the play to the common man, as well as their fear of censorship. In the first act, second scene, a group of traders is introduced. These kids are very excited to have the opportunity to play an interlude at the wedding of Theseus, Duke of Athens, to Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons. In this scene Shakespeare has taken care to show with the seriousness of these merchants that they take this play seriously, but he also uses their conversation about role assignments to highlight the consequences of censorship. Below, the weaver, and by far the most outgoing of the troupe, offers to do the>.