Love has always been a controversial topic. There are many definitions such as the scientific, the dictionary, and the personal definitions. The scientific definition states that love is a reaction of an increased amount of Oxytocin, a hormone created by both men an women to serve as a mutual attraction between mates. The Merriam Webster dictionary states “strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties.” as their definition. Shakespeare had many personalized definitions of love, one being that any type of love can be immortalized some how; as we read through his works, we can come to realize that it ends up being a reoccurring theme. Within Shakespeare’s sonnets and plays, he doesn’t simply give us his definition in …show more content…
Hermia went against her father and the duke when they both told her she had to marry Demetrius or be sent to a convent or executed, instead she ran away into the woods to elope with Lysander. Lysander stayed with Hermia and ran into the woods, risking being lost and possibly death, for a chance to marry Hermia. In Shakespeare’s 29th sonnet he explains how at times he wishes he had more; more beauty, more possessions, and more power, until he thinks of this girl, after that he feels confident and content with the love and the life he possesses, and he wouldn 't trade places with anyone, including a king. this he also shows is true love, undoubting, positive and forever supporting. The risk of a fallacious love for a chance of true love, is often considered worth it, however as humans we are surrounded by love but more often than not, its platonic instead of …show more content…
In Shakespeare’s first sonnet he declares his admiration and adoration towards this mans beauty, begging him to take pity on the world and reproduce to share with the rest of the world and generations to come his beauty that can be passed on through a child. He also compares in his 18th sonnet the beauty of another man with a summers day, stating that he is in fact more beautiful than a summer day because summer’s beauty ends and this mans beauty never will. It will forever be etched on paper in a poem Shakespeare has written. This shows his admiration and love toward these men, without any romantic or sexual interest. We can tell he has no sexual interest because he explains in sonnet 18 that mother nature got overly excited creating this perfect of a being, and added an extra part that was of no use to shakespeare. There is also no indication that these men have any personal connection to shakespeare, pushing away the idea of a love involving personality. This type of love can be eternal or temporary, all depending on the people who are a part of it. A type of love that is undeniably most common is the kindred
Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, “Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.” Love is a complex idea that can turn hate into love. Enemies can become friends because love can change the feelings of how one views another person. Romeo and Juliet become lovers even though their families are enemies and hatred is turned into love. In Romeo & Juliet, Shakespeare agrees with the idea of love shown in “Love’s Vocabulary” by Diane Ackerman, “A Handbook for Love” by Barry Newton, and I Corinthians 13:4-8a. Shakespeare’s idea of love is similar because he writes about love that has may emotions and many cause a strong sensual passion and is not easily angered.
This is evident in the quote where Lysander says, “Athenian law cannot pursue us.” This would not of been a trial for them, but fate had something else in store. “Content with Hermia? No, I do repent The tedious minutes I with her have spent. Not Hermia, but Helena I love” (II.i ll. 118-12). Puck, a fairy, put cupid’s love juice into Lysander’s eyes. This is evident in the quote, “Night and silence! Who is here? Weeds of Athens he doth wear. This is he my master said, despised the Athenian maid, and here the maiden, sleeping on the ground. Pretty soul, she durst not lie near this lack-love, this kill-courtesy. Churl, upon thy eyes I throw all the power of this charm doth owe” (II.i ll. 76-85). As it states in the quote, it made him fall in love with the first person he saw, which happened to be Helena. This is proven when Lysander said, “but Helena I love”. Lysander told Hermia he was in love with Helena, not her, so the elopement was off. This is evident when he says, “I repent the minutes I spent with her.” This is difficult for Hermia because she is confused, and does not know what is going on, or why Lysander was acting this way. This is evident when she takes her
Shakespeare shows different types of love in the play, such as true love, lust and platonic love. He also wrote poetry about love, like in Sonnet 116 and Sonnet 18 which can be linked to Romeo and Juliet.
Love; an intense feeling of deep affection. In the play Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare emphasized love and made it a driving factor in the play. Love is what drove Romeo and Juliet to get married, love is what made Lord Capulet try to force Juliet to marry Paris, and love is the reason Romeo and Juliet die at the end of the play. In the play Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare tries to teach the audience about the dangers of love.
Shakespeare creates a situation in which two pairs of young lovers, Lysander and Hermia, are forced to elope from the oppressive authority of their Elders, here we see Lysander asking Hermia to flee to the woods, “there gentle Hermia may I marry thee; and to that place the sharp Athenian law cannot pursue us” Freedom is not permitted in Athens, therefore the two lovers plan to escape into the woods. Hermia has two options given from her oppressive father, ‘either to die the death, or to abjure for ever in society of men’. She disobeys his commands. Shakespeare uses images to reflect Athens, and to magnify and to solidify Lysander and Hermia’s love for each other, which is strong and cannot be broken, without the use of magic. ‘Withering on a virgin thorn, grows, lives, and dies in single blessedness’.
Although Hermia’s father did not want her to marry Lysander, she was madly in love with him and wanted to go against her fathers’ wishes just to be with him, and she did just that. By the end of the play, Hermia and Lysander’s relationship with one another was a success. True love is defined as a love worth fighting for and that is exactly what Hermia and Lysander did, they fought for each other.
She exemplifies her strengths in one occurrence by standing up to her father’s wishes concerning her wedding. Speaking to her father, Hermia proclaims, “So will I grow, so live, so die, my lord, ere I will yield my virgin patent up unto his lordship whose unwished yoke my soul consents not to give sovereignty” (I.i.81-84). Hermia demonstrates immense courage and strength by standing up to her father and threatening to pursue the occupation of a nun for the rest of her life. This persistence in marrying the love of her dreams, Lysander, shows incredible courage that resonates throughout the play. Here, Hermia exhibits boundless courage and strength and from now on, her vigor only grows stronger. Later on in the play, knowing that the rules of Athenian law of marriage did not apply outside of Athens, Hermia and Lysander snuck out of the city. As Hermia and Lysander conversed alone, Hermia demands, “Nay, good Lysander. For my sake, my dear, lie further off yet. Do not lie so near” (II.ii.47-48) when Lysander desires to draw nearer to Hermia. By this point, Hermia battled her father and contains immeasurable mental strength. At this instance, Hermia gains greater moral strength when she resisted Lysander’s inappropriate love. Displaying courage to stand up to her father and her moral strength to resist Lysander, Hermia exemplifies a strong
In the opening of the play, Hermia and Lysander face the objection of Egeus. Since he is the father of Hermia, Egeus believes he has the sole right to choose whom his daughter will marry, and this man is Demetrius: “Stand forth Demetrius, my noble lord; this man hath my consent to marry her” (I, i, 25). In the eyes of Egeus, the love Lysander offers Hermia is merely a play on her innocent mind and heart because he has stolen her heart away from Demetrius. Without the approval of her father, the love is ultimately unworthy and unacceptable. Hermia’s disobedience to her father leads him to seek advice from Theseus, so he can gain his “claim to power over her in Athenian law” (Slights 3). Since Egeus argues the law with his request, Theseus’s ruling on the matter is for Hermia to marry Demetrius or be put to death by the Athenian law. In order to escape the wrath of her father and the Athenian law, the two lovers plan to elope to the woods: “There, gentle Hermia, may I marry thee; and to that place the sharp Athenian law cannot pursue us” (I, i, 165-167).
When he writes "And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare as any she, belied with false compare." (lines 13-14) in the final couplet, one responds with an enlightened appreciation, making them understand Shakespeare's message that true love consists of something deeper than physical beauty. Shakespeare expresses his ideas in a wonderful fashion. Not only does he express himself through direct interpretation of his sonnet, but also through the levels at which he styled and produced it. One cannot help but appreciate his message of true love over lust, along with his creative criticism of Petrarchan sonnets.
Our perception of Lysander and Hermia’s love develops in the following events: Hermia chooses to become a nun rather than submit to marrying the man her father has chosen for her; Lysander comforts Hermia and shares his plan to elope; They lose their way in the woods and negotiate sleeping arrangements; Lysander deserts Hermia to pursue Helena and to kill his rival, Demetrius.
Shakespeare’s sonnets include love, the danger of lust and love, difference between real beauty and clichéd beauty, the significance of time, life and death and other natural symbols such as, star, weather and so on. Among the sonnets, I found two sonnets are more interesting that show Shakespeare’s love for his addressee. The first sonnet is about the handsome young man, where William Shakespeare elucidated about his boundless love for him and that is sonnet 116. The poem explains about the lovers who have come to each other freely and entered into a relationship based on trust and understanding. The first four lines reveal the poet’s love towards his lover that is constant and strong and will not change if there any alternation comes. Next four lines explain about his love which is not breakable or shaken by the storm and that love can guide others as an example of true love but that extent of love cannot be measured or calculated. The remaining lines of the third quatrain refer the natural love which can’t be affected by anything throughout the time (it can also mean to death). In the last couplet, if
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
When we first meet Hermia in the play called A Midsummer Night's Dream, written by William Shakespeare, she is a girl in love against her father's wishes. From the very start of the play we can see how much enamored she is with Lysander. We can also see that Hermia is a woman with her own desires, and does not liked to be forced to do things that she does not want. She does not want to marry the man that her father betrothed to her, even though it could mean her demise. Her choices of living in a nunnery and live the life of chastity was not an option for Hermia. She loved Lysander and all she wanted was to be with him.
In this play, Shakespeare associates love with many characteristics. Love is often associated with selflessness in this play. Part of the answer to the question of love is also selflessness. And an important part of love is truth. Love embodies all of the greatest characteristics of a person: truthfulness, selflessness, and faithfulness.
William Shakespeare, a famous and well known poet and playwright, has used several poems, plays, and sonnets to convey his cynical view he has on love and the way it changes a person. He has used “Sonnet 130” to satirize the way that love poems are created on seemingly ugly women and muses. “SOnnet 130” was supposed to be used to make fun of those poets who create beauty from muses who are less than so. Love is a real feeling that can change the views and feelings of the one in love, as proved by the words of other fellow poets Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman. The way that Shakespeare writes plays and poems creates his characters and his persona as one with the tragic flaw as being one who falls in love foolishly, while may be amusing, is not the way a person is when they fall into love. Within the tragedy “Romeo Juliet”, Shakespeare has created a large conflict that killed six people, including the lovers themselves, because of the love between Romeo and Juliet. While Shakespeare seemingly attempts to try and make the young lovers appear tragic because of their quick love, everything seemed to change for the better when they had fallen in love. Romeo had not been so discriminate against Capulets after he had realized he was in love with Juliet, and even though they had died together, their families forgot their differences and forgave each other. Their love for each other was no flaw and it created a better