In a “Midsummer's Night Dream” play written by a famous playwright named WIlliam Shakespeare, many people tried controlling other people for their own good. The play is about a love triangle with a hint of drama and magic. From what I read, when characters from the play wanted to control someone, it backtracked and slapped them in the face with more drama and confusion. Having the authority over someone is hard and very unpredictable. Some characters from the play found out about this the hard way.
At the very beginning of the play, Egeus tries to make Hermia (his daughter) marry Demetrius or die. Not wanting to die, she and Lysander (the man she actually loves) decided to run away. In act 1 scene 1 it says, Lysander says, “There gentle Hermia, may I marry thee; And to that pursue us. If thou lovest me, then steal forth thy father’s house tomorrow night.” This shows that when Egues tried to control Hermia, she did things differently to get what she wanted. In act 1 scene 1 it also says, “To fit your fancies of your father’s will, or else the law of Athens yields you up to death or to vow of a single life...” This evidence describes that Hermia has no other choice but to run
…show more content…
In act 2 scene 1 Oberon tells Puck to get him a magical flower that makes you fall in love with the first thing she/he sees, “A sweet Athenian lady is in love with a disdainful youth. Anoint his eyes but to do it when the next thing he espies may be the lady.” This evidence shows Oberon controlling other’s. Another example is in act 2 scene 2, it says, “Nights and silence! Who is here? Weeds of Athenians he doth wear. This is he my master said despised the Athenian maid.” Puck thinks he found the guy who Oberon was talking about but he was mistaken. As you can see, trying to control someone usually doesn’t end up the way you
Sometimes, when a person becomes controlling, he can lead others down a path to destruction and failure. Control is a huge theme in A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare. Inside the play, certain characters try to make other characters do what he or she wants, and it often ends poorly. One example of this is Nick Bottom, a weaver who is a part of the players performing the play “Pyramus and Thisbe”. He often tries to be controlling by stepping into play other’s parts, and, the results don’t turn out the way he and the others quite expected.
Exerting the type of power that is influenced by malicious intentions can cause one to make decisions that are not beneficial to others. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is written within a time period and setting that favors men instead of woman. In other words, men have all the authority to control the events that occur in their own lives as well as the lives of others whom are considered insignificant. The plot displays the catalysts that ignite many characters’ desire for control that is misused by higher status people. Shakespeare’s use of characterization demonstrates how the wanting of control causes the characters to act irrationally through the misuse of power. Shakespeare’s use of setting, plot and characterization causes the ordeals that the characters ultimately face. In turn, the deceitful choices of a few individuals with status impacts whether the lives of lower status people are enhanced.
Everyone has control over something, weather it be themselves, someone else, or a possession, they have control. Throughout the play “MacBeth”, by William Shakespeare, Macbeth is so called controlled by three witches and their fate. Macbeth is not a helpless victim of fate as he was completely in control, so he was responsible for his actions that he committed.
In the first part of the play Egeus has asked the Duke of Athens, Theseus, to rule in favor of his parental rights to have his daughter Hermia marry the suitor he has chosen, Demetrius, or for her to be punished. Lysander, who is desperately in love with Hermia, pleads with Egeus and Theseus for the maiden’s hand, but Theseus’, who obviously believes that women do not have a choice in the matter of their own marriage, sides with Egeus, and tells Hermia she must either consent to marrying Demetrius, be killed, or enter a nunnery. In order to escape from the tragic dilemma facing Hermia, Lysander devises a plan for him and his love to meet the next evening and run-off to Lysander’s aunt’s home and be wed, and Hermia agrees to the plan. It is at this point in the story that the plot becomes intriguing, as the reader becomes somewhat emotionally “attached’’ to the young lovers and sympathetic of their plight. However, when the couple enters the forest, en route to Lysander’s aunt’s, it is other mischievous characters that take the story into a whole new realm of humorous entertainment...
Throughout A Midsummer Night’s Dream the theme of conflict with authority is apparent and is the cause of the problems that befall the characters. It also is used to set the mood of the play. The passage below spoken by Theseus in the opening of the play clearly states this theme.
In act 1, Scene 1, we are introduced to the paternal love of Egeus and Hermia. Egeus, being Hermia’s father has all right over who she marries and so he chooses Demetrius as Hermia’s to-be husband however she doesn’t truly love Demetrius and has her heart set in Lysander. This led to troubled times for her as if she didn’t marry Demetrius she had two options: execution or becoming a nun.
The nature of both control and fate are explored in Macbeth, one of Shakespeare’s most horrific tragedies, in which the titular king is driven to murder in a quest to gain power. Under Macbeth’s kingship, more and more people die as both Macbeth and his kingdom are driven to chaos. Despite Macbeth’s apparent control over his own fate, other characters have an integral role in determining how the plot unfolds. The weïrd sisters give Macbeth the initial desire to murder King Duncan, while Lady Macbeth gives him the final push he needs to commit this act. Throughout this play, control appears as a fluid entity—constantly changing hands and shared unequally between the characters mentioned previously. Although all three appear to have influence
Lady macbeth towards the beginning of the book was showing that she is in control by planning a murder.However, she really was weak as she had to ask for help to rid her of tenderness to commit the
Society needs order because it is the keystone that keeps modern civilization from collapsing in on itself. Once removed, society succumbs to its most basic state: emotions. Pure, raw emotions fill the void where logic once dictated and the world falls into chaos. It is this very situation where Shakespeare drew his inspiration for his play, A Midsummer’s Night Dream. In a world with four lovers, hoodwinked by the lord of the fairies and his loyal servant Robin, disorder ensnares the human race and chaos ensues. Through the use of prosody, Shakespeare was able to juxtapose the Athenian nobles, the working class, and the fairy world to create a sense of disarray that demonstrated the human need for order.
In The Taming of the Shrew, the concept of love is a means of emotional manipulation, and manipulation is nothing more than a means of control between men and women. William Shakespeare critiques the patriarchal social structure by ironically employing the manipulative stance Petruchio takes towards winning Katherine as his wife by charming her with words and manipulating her psychologically, and then taming her after their marriage through legal, physical, financial, and psychological control and manipulation. Though Petruchio may think he yields power over his wife, Katherine uses obedience as a tool of manipulation and has the control of the household, as can be seen by her ironic speech at the end of the play, where she claims women must serve their men. Shakespeare uses the irony of a man using manipulation as a tool for control to magnify the significance of the power women yield through manipulation, thus proving that men and women engage in a power-shifting struggle.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream portrays magic through many places in the text. Magic is a key component to the plot of the story. Magic can make a problem disappear, or it can intensify the problem. There are many reasons magic is powerful, but one of the main ones is because not everyone understands it. Magic in one way or another affects everyone in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, but the perspective with which each character views magic is different. The power of magic is something that is hard to understand, even those who use magic often cannot fully understand magic because in many ways it is irrational and inexplicable.
In A Midsummer Night's Dream, playwright William Shakespeare creates in Bottom, Oberon, and Puck unique characters that represent different aspects of him. Like Bottom, Shakespeare aspires to rise socially; Bottom has high aims and, however slightly, interacts with a queen. Through Bottom, Shakespeare mocks these pretensions within himself. Shakespeare also resembles King Oberon, controlling the magic we see on the stage. Unseen, he and Oberon pull the strings that control what the characters act and say. Finally, Shakespeare is like Puck, standing back from the other characters, acutely aware of their weaknesses and mocks them, relishing in mischief at their expense. With these three characters and some play-within-a-play enchantment, Shakespeare mocks himself and his plays as much as he does the young lovers and the mechanicals onstage. This genius playwright who is capable of writing serious dramas such as Hamlet and Julius Caesar is still able to laugh at himself just as he does at his characters. With the help of Bottom, Oberon, and Puck, Shakespeare shows us that theatre, and even life itself, are illusions that one should remember to laugh at.
The use and misuse of magic has an important role in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. As a reoccurring theme, Puck’s use of magic creates humor, conflict and balance in the play.
Hermia is the daughter of Egeus. She is a tiny woman that possessed sparkling eyes and a lovely voice. Hermia is very adamant about what she wants from the balance of the play. She has only eyes for Lysander and is very faithful, even when faced with the obstacles of death or the nunnery. Throughout the play Hermia emotions were confused at times. She even says "Am I not Hermia? Are you not Lysander? (Act III Scene 2 Line 292). We see at this point that she is confused and her feelings are hurt. At that very moment I think she feels like she has lost part of herself, a part that she has given to Lysander. So when Lysander returns to her, she is her self once again.
Magic affects both the plot and the environment of William Shakespeare’s play “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” as it influences the thoughts and actions of the characters through most of the play. Through its power, magic confuses the characters and creates conflicts between them, but it also solves the conflicts. The character’s use and misuse of magic lead to some of the ridiculous moment of the play.