Arranged marriage is something every woman in the 16th century has to go through. The worst thing that could happen is the person picked for you is the person your best friend is in love with. It’s even worse if you already love somebody too. I, Hermia, am in love with Lysander and I wanted to marry him. The problem is that Demetrius was chosen to marry me, not Lysander. The other problem is that my best friend in the whole wide world, Helena, loved Demetrius. It was almost a love triangle: Lysander and I love each other, Demetrius loved me and Helena loved Demetrius.
The main issue of that drama was my father, Egeus. He is the person who decided who would marry me and he was being so strict and mean that I can’t persuade him. So I had to control myself and chose marriage to Demetrius, death, or convect. The decision was difficult, but then Lysander came up with an amazing idea to run away and elope at his aunt's house. We fled Athens the next day. Trust me you would have done the same thing. At first I thought it was an amazing idea but, it only caused more problems. Oberon, the king of the fairies, had to go and put a magical spell of Lysander causing him to fall in love with Helena. I mean it was a mistake, made by Robin, but, it still happened and caused a lot of issues. I mean it turned our somewhat love triangle into a square:
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But then you won't believe what happened. Oberon tried to fix it causing both Lysander and Demetrius to love Helena. I really had to control myself to not kill Helena out of jealousy and I still had to decide what to do with the rest of my life at age
...evenge on her for giving more importance to the Indian boy rather than him, which shows jealousy. This passion is one of the most significant because if it had not been for Oberon’s jealousy he wouldn’t have used the love potion, and if he didn’t do that, then Lysander and Demetrius would both still be fighting over Hermia and Demetrius would never fall for Helena. Therefore the play would have never gotten its happy ending, or maybe the problem wouldn’t even have occurred.
Is love controlled by human beings who love one another or is love controlled by a higher power? There are many people who believe that a higher power has control over love. An example of a higher power would be a cupid, a flying angel-type creature who is supposed to shoot arrows at people to make them fall in love. There are other people who reject the idea that a higher power controls love and that the people who experience love can control it. In the novel, "A Midsummer Night's Dream", by William Shakespeare, several examples of love's association with a higher power are presented. With the use of examples from the above novel, this essay will discuss the evidence that love is associated with a higher power. Examples like: Thesius arranging a marriage between himself and Hippolyta, Egeus choosing who Hermia should marry and the fairies who have the ability to control love in the Enchanted Forest.
Lysander tells Theseus that Demetrius "Made love to … Helena, And won her soul.” Helena says that before Demetrius looked upon Hermia, "He hail'd down oaths that he was only mine.” In an attempt to win back some of Demetrius's affection, Helena tells him of Hermia's plan to meet in the wood and elope with Lysander.
Both the play's humans and fairies try to shape love into forms that are advantageous not to the lovers, but to the leaders. Egeus insists that Hermia submit to Demetrius or die; Hippolyta must ...
Love, lust and infatuation all beguile the senses of the characters in this dreamy and whimsical work of Shakespeare, and leads them to act in outlandish ways, which throughly amuses the reader. True love does prevail in the end for Hermia and Lysander, and the initial charm of infatuation ends up proving to have happy consequence for Helena and Demetrius as well. Even when at first the reader thinks that, in theory, the effects the potion will wear off and Lysander will once again reject Helena, Oberon places a blessings on all the couples that they should live happily ever after.
Love is chaotic and free, and because love is so powerful, we often do extreme and erratic things to capture it. The tradition of marriage, or mawage, is so firmly established in history that the gender roles common to marriage are often inescapable, no matter how strong love is, or how powerful a person is. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, William Shakespeare uses imagery to portray the theme of gender roles and show how love has the spell-bounding power to either change or reinforce those roles.
Staying true to one's love is so very important when one believes in their true love with every fibre of their being. Hermia and Lysander are so in love that nothing else seems to matter. They want to be together at all costs and they will not let anything get in their way, this is true especially for Hermia. In this example she is defending her true love and standing up for herself, “I do entreat Your Grace to pardon me./ I know not by what power I am made bold,/ Nor how it may concern my modesty/ In such a presence here to plead my thoughts;/ But I beseech Your Grace that I may know/ The worst that may befall me in this case/ If I refuse to wed Demetrius” (Shakespeare 1.1: 58-64). This shows that although she has no way of controlling what happens to her future she still wants to let others know of her convictions. No woman in that time period would ever attempt to defy the command of her father and the law, but in this case Hermia's true love has taken over. She wants the world to know that her and Lysander share this same true love. She is willing to sacrifice her life and become a nun or even face the ultimate finale of death in order to get what she wants at this point. Lysander also came up with an idea to temporarily get them out of this situation, “A good persuasion. Therefore, hear me, H...
As the story unrolls Helena, and Demetrius love each other, while Hermia and Lysander feel the same way about one another. Theseus realizes that all is well and against Egeus’s will he letts the lovers remain with each other. Here are his own words, “Egeus, i will overbear your will; for in this temple, by and by, with us these couples shall eternally be knit” (4.1.174-176). This part of the play brings them out of “the wild” and back to the castle where all is excellent. The story shows a considerable difference in the transition from wilderness to the court yard. While in the wilderness everything seemed to go wrong. They always seemed lost, confused, and taken away from the truth. The truth being the law of the land. Then once they enter the courtyard everything changes and nothing but truth and love come out of the four lovers.
Infatuation causes Helena to lose all sense of dignity, as can be seen when in the woods, she desperately pleads with Demetrius to ?but treat me as your spaniel?. Here, Helena also becomes irrational, obsessed with pursuing Demetrius, though it is obvious that Demetrius is fixated on winning Hermia?s hand in marriage. Helena?s infatuation also causes her to see things from a skewed perspective, for she falsely believes that when she divulges Hermia?s plans for eloping with Lysander, Demetrius? love for Helena will rekindle. As the audience, we know that the most probable course of action for Demetrius upon hearing such news is to pursue Lysander and Hermia, or to report them to Theseus or Egeus. Clearly, infatuation has clouded Helena?s ability to think clearly, and she sees things in her own idealistic way.
From the beginning, Hermia defiantly denies her father’s attempts at an arranged marriage, in favor of her whirlwind romance with and marriage to Lysander. In her defense, she uses words of chastity and moral purity to claim her fidelity and love towards Lysander and inability to wed Demetrius “I know not by what power I am made bold / nor how it may concern my modesty” (pp). The concern, or befitting, of Hermia’s modesty, by not wedding Demetrius, is protecting the very essence of her womanhood from someone whom she feels isn’t worth of the ultimate consummation of love – marriage (and the subsequent sex). This is continued in her next dialogue, where Hermia states that she would rather die “quote” (pp) or become a nun than give up her virgin “privilege” “quote” (pp). Hermia’s claims of “privilege” and “sovereignty” validate her chastity and moral purity as something that should only be shared with Lysander, not Demetrius. However, the sovereignty of Hermia’s claims also fits in with Demetrius’ arguments regarding his rights to Hermia’s hand in marriage: “quote” (pp). Demetrius’ use of “sovereignty” and “right” turns the supposed “love” of Hermia and Demetrius’ arranged marriage into a legal contract, where Hermia is property and social placeholder instead of a loving companion.
Love can be quite chaotic at times. As much as poets and songwriters promote the idea of idyllic romantic love, the experience in reality is often fraught with emotional turmoil. When people are in love, they tend to make poor decisions, from disobeying authority figures to making rash, poorly thought-out choices. In the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare uses various motifs to illustrate how love, irrationality, and disobedience are thematically linked to disorder.
During much of the play, Helena relentlessly chases Demetrius, giving him love no matter how many times he spurns her. While in pursuit of him in the woods, where he tells her that he will never reciprocate her feelings, she tells him, “I am your spaniel; and, Demetrius,/The more you beat me, I will fawn on you” (II.i.203-204). She is so desperate to win him over that she lowers her own status, calling herself his dog; no matter how many times he may abuse her, she will always adore him. Out of love, Helena is willing to swallow her pride to prove her devotion to him. More evidence of Helena’s blind love towards Demetrius can be found in her overlooking the flaws in Demetrius’ character. For example, he proves himself to be quite insensitive towards Helena: when they are in the woods, he says he will “leave [her] to the mercy of the wild beasts” (II.i.228) if she doesn’t stop following him. He also says to her, “…I am sick when I do look on thee” (II.i.212). Lastly, he threatens her, saying “…if thou follow me, do not believe/But I shall do thee mischief in the wood” (II.i.237). Helena acknowledges this aspect of his character, though choos...
The hilarious play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, by William Shakespeare, tells the twisted love story of four Athenians who are caught between love and lust. The main characters: Hermia, Helena, Lysander, and Demetrius are in a ‘love square’. Hermia and Lysander are true love enthusiasts, and love each other greatly. Demetrius is in love with Hermia, and Helena, Hermia’s best friend, is deeply and madly in love with Demetrius. Hermia and Lysander try to elope in the woods because Egeus, Hermia’s father, disapproves of Lysander. Helena, hearing about their plans, tells Demetrius, and all four of them end up in the woods where Lysander’s quotation, “The course of true love never did run smooth”(28), becomes extremely evident due to several supernatural mix-ups, authority, and jealousy.
Demetrius received no love from Hermia who he wanted to pursue, therefore he does not have perfect happiness. At the time when Demetrius can still make rational choices of who he loves, he loves Hermia instead of Helena. In order to pursue Hermia, Demetrius requested Hermia’s father Egeus to marry to her, but she never take Demetrius as a consideration. With all of Demetrius’ efforts, Hermia totally ignores him. Compare to Lysander and Hermia’s inseparable relationship, Demetrius is unhappy by staying alone. The person he loves does not love him, and the person he does not love loves him. Demetrius is a person who knows what he wants. Throughout the play, he loves Hermia consistently until the fairy put a spell on his eyelid.
The relationship between Demetrius and Hermia is problematic, in that Demetrius is seeking the affections of Hermia, while she is in love with Lysander. However, Hermia’s father approves of Demetrius and tries to force her to marry him, but Hermia refuses because of her love for Lysander (A Midsummer Night’s Dream 1.1.22-82). Lysander points out the flaw in the situation through this comment, “You have her father 's love, Demetrius –/Let me have Hermia 's. Do you marry him,” (A Midsummer Night’s Dream 1.1.93-94). The second flawed relationship is between Lysander and Helena, as a result of an enchantment put on Lysander that made him fall in love with Helena. Helena does not want the affections of Lysander, but rather the love of Demetrius, and believes that Lysander is taunting her. In addition, this relationship creates tensions because Hermia is in love with Lysander (A Midsummer Night’s Dream 2.2.109-140). Both relationships are not desirable due to a lack of mutual admiration and the creation of non-peaceful and unsatisfying