How does Shakespeare present order and disorder in the play 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'?

A useful way to start thinking about the duality of order and disorder in A Midsummer Night's Dream is to compare and contrast Shakespeare's use of settings. The tale begins in Athens, where the state is founded on ideals of order, adherence to law and obedience. The state expects its citizens to obey Athenian Law as demonstrated by Hermia's conflict with her father over her intended marriage to Demetrius. However, this conflict threatens to trigger a sense of disorder and a disruption to the equilibrium of the state. Alternatively, the forest within the play symbolises disorder and revelry. The scenes within the forest seem to draw upon historical evidence of the Summer Solstice: a night where men and women came together to celebrate around campfires and tell tales of fairies and witchcraft. Often, English citizens would venture into the forest to continue this celebration, and so the forest represents a boundary between every-day life and the madness and mischief condoned by the internal woods. Within the woods, Titania and Oberon are also in conflict presenting a sense of parallelism between Athens and the Forest. However, it is magic that eventually provides relief. The conflicts must reach a peak point of hysteria, orchestrated by the puppet master Puck, before collapsing and finding a restored sense of logic. In the forest, conflict is more easily resolved through a sense of liberation, play and upheaval, and it is here that the couples finally unite before returning to the order of the Athenian state.