In this play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, true love plays a huge role in the play.
Several relationships begin true love such as Hermia and Lysander’s and Hypolyta and Thesus’ but some that did not begin in true love, end as true love such as Helena and Demetrius’.
Helena and Demetrius in my perspective were meant to love each other so that everyone may be able to love each other in harmony. The love potion was only the push Demetrius needed so that he could be happy forever
True love is the most powerful love in this story as it is the sort that hurts no one and is really from the heart. It is demonstrated when Lysander says " There, gentle Hermia, may I marry thee, and to that place the sharp Athenian law cannot pursue us. If thou lovest me, then, Steal forth thy father's house tomorrow night" act 1 scene 1 161-164. It shows that during those harsh times their love was strong enough to even risk the anger of their parents.
In my opinion unrequited love is the most painful type of love there is in this play.
The main example of this is the sad situation of Helena and Demetrius during the early stages of the play.
Helena is madly in love with Demetrius and would give her life for just one kind word from him.
In this play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, true love plays a huge role in the play.
Several relationships begin true love such as Hermia and Lysander’s and Hypolyta and Thesus’ but some that did not begin in true love, end as true love such as Helena and Demetrius’.
Helena and Demetrius in my perspective were meant to love each other so that everyone may be able to love each other in harmony. The love potion was only the push Demetrius needed so that he could be happy forever
True love is the most powerful ...
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...be able to love each other in harmony. The love potion was only the push Demetrius needed so that he could be happy forever
True love is the most powerful love in this story as it is the sort that hurts no one and is really from the heart. It is demonstrated when Lysander says " There, gentle Hermia, may I marry thee, and to that place the sharp Athenian law cannot pursue us. If thou lovest me, then, Steal forth thy father's house tomorrow night" act 1 scene 1 161-164. It shows that during those harsh times their love was strong enough to even risk the anger of their parents.
In my opinion unrequited love is the most painful type of love there is in this play.
The main example of this is the sad situation of Helena and Demetrius during the early stages of the play.
Helena is madly in love with Demetrius and would give her life for just one kind word from him.
An important passion shown in this story is the passion of friendship from Helena. Lysander and demetrius were both deeply in love with Hermia, but suddenly they became slaves for Helena, under the spell of a love potion. This antagonises Helena and she blames it all on Hermia and her cruel joke. She says to Hermia, “The sisters’ vows, the hours that we have spent, when we have chid the hasty-footed time for parting us,-o is all forgot” (III.II.199-201)? Helena asks her if she has forgotten about their friendship, about the vows they took to be like sisters and never leave each other. This shows that although Hermia may have forgotten their friendship, Helena will always remember because friendship is really important to her. Friendship is a bond Helena feels really passionate about and takes very seriously. Another quote that shows Helena’s passion for friendship is “ Both warbling of one song, both in one key, as if our hands, our sides, voices and minds have been incorporated”(III. II. 207-208). This represents that Helena took their friendship sincerely and she believed in them and nothing could break their bond. Her last bit of her anger com...
The mood immediately changes and we discover that Hermia rather than being filled with filial love is determined to marry Lysander rather than her father’s choice for her. And so the love theme is made more complex as we have the wrathful love of her father confronted by the love of her daughter for the man who is not her fathers’ choice. The love theme is further complicated by the arrival of Helena. Here we see the platonic love of two friends.
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.
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
The nature of the infatuation Demetrius has for Hermia is fickle and selfish. Demetrius affections switch from Helena to Hermia, sparing no thought for Helena, who is deeply in love with him. Lysander calls Demetrius a ?spotted and inconsistent man?, indicating Demetrius? fickleness towards women, that he is flirtatious and flawed.
Different Aspects of Love Presented in William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream Lysander + Hermia = True love? Sexual Attraction (Lust) ------------------------------------------------------- Titania + Oberon = Love or hate (Married )
Helena and Rosalind both are in love with a man that they cannot have until the conflict is resolved. Helena has been rejected by Demetrius, who now says he is in love with Hermia, Helena's best friend. Helena is devastated and asks Hermia to help her regain Demetrius' love and attention by teaching Helena how to be more like Hermia:
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.
Love plays a very significant role in this Shakespearian comedy, as it is the driving force of the play: Hermia and Lysander’s forbidden love and their choice to flee Athens is what sets the plot into motion. Love is also what drives many of the characters, and through readers’ perspectives, their actions may seem strange, even comical to us: from Helena pursuing Demetrius and risking her reputation, to fairy queen Titania falling in love with Bottom. However, all these things are done out of love. In conclusion, A Midsummer Night’s Dream displays the blindness of love and how it greatly contradicts with reason.
"The course of true love never did run smooth." Love, as one of the worlds biggest motivators, is the driving force for many decisions and actions. Love can make you a fool, feel lost, betrayed, disheartened, devastated, and many other emotions. In greek mythology, love caused the Trojan War, which destroyed the city of Troy, all because a man named Paris had a desire for love, which ended in Paris’s death. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a story with a plot fueled by love. Most of the motivations for the characters are based on love, and how love is never certain or simple. I believe this story is satirical towards love, and how it holds little value, and how it can change so easily. A Midsummer Night’s Dream deals with love in a way that shows how it is sporadic and indecisive, much like any other emotion.
why Lysander and Demetrius are suddenly both in love with her because she knows Lysander
In the struggles of Hermia and Lysander to find a place where they can freely express their true love, it is evident that the course of something as scarce as true love always comes with obstacles. Lysander says: “How now, my love? Why is your cheek so pale? / How chance the roses there do fade so fast?” (1.1.130-131), showing that he and Hermia make a faithful couple truly showing their adoration for each other. However, Hermia’s father Egeus refuses to allow to these two lovers marry. This is the conflict Hermia faces: to disobey her father (and the Athenian law), or to mind her father’s will and allow this “edict in destiny” to lose course. “O hell, to choose love by another’s eyes!” (1.1.142), Hermia decides. Hermia chooses to follow the path her true love brings rather than to do what her father insists. In this example, complications manifest in the troubles with true love. In addition, even Titania and Oberon have difficulties
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
The play shows how the ideal relationship is that in which the affections and the reasonable mind are both in harmony. At the start of the play, both Demetrius and Helena are clearly at fault. Demetrius has allowed his love for Helena to abate; she, by fawning on him, is guilty of doting, which exacerbates his dislike. An honourable man would stand by his promise and try to re-discover his love for Helena, and it is this which draws Lysander's taunt that Demetrius is "spotted and inconstant". In time, perhaps, Demetrius might reconsider Helena's merits, but in the brief ti...