What's the significance of the nature in "A Midsummer Night's Dream"?

The woods represent nature and the natural state. The characters let their passions get the better of them when they are in the woods (Lysander wants to *sleep* with Hermia, Demetrius threatens violence against Helena, Titania copulates with a helf-donkey, etc.). They do things in the woods that they would not even consider in a more civilized state. They have to navigate the wildness of the woods to finally settle into a tame state of love and civilization at the end.