Shakespeare uses the motif of a dream to continuously remind us that fantasy can hold a mirror up to reality. Hermia’s dream, in which she sees Lysander watching on with a smile as a serpent eats her, mirrors reality because while she is dreaming, Lysander is off chasing Helena, her best friend. Titania’s belief that her experience with Bottom was all just a dream until she sees Bottom sitting right next to her furthers the notion that dreams are deeply symbolic of reality, even if they do contain some fantastical elements. Bottom believes he could make a play out of his ‘dream’ (which is in fact reality), and decides to call it “Bottom’s Dream,” suggesting that like dreams, theatre too can hold elements and truths of reality. This is further developed with Puck’s request that the audience treat Midsummer as purely a dream.
