Difference Between Shakespeare And Irrational Love

Shakespeare and Irrational Love

Exploratory Essay - Emma Linklater

Love can mean so many different things. It is unconditional, selfless, accepting; an addictive feeling people crave. When a person falls in love, they fall in love with their heart and not their head. It’s an impulse from emotion, not rational judgement. Love is sometimes beyond control, defying logical reason. It is beautiful and insane all at once and doesn’t always make sense. Love and irrationality are set as the same, however rival entities, in a Midsummer’s Dream. As Shakespeare wrote, “...to say the truth, reason and love keep little company together nowadays.” This is communicated through the story, specifically through four teenage lovers -- Hermia, Helena, Demetrius,

After a long night of mythical and unjustifiable events, disclosing of irrationality in many forms, where relationships only made sense on the inside and seemed unreasonable to everyone else, the morning was finally reached. At this point in the story, irrationality becomes slightly more rational when the Duke calls for a marriage of the four teenagers after finding them asleep in the morning light. Overall, the perception of love seems to come from the amount of time the personal relationship has lasted -- as if love can become suddenly rational the longer it’s existed. Therefore, marriage is the most rational form of love that exists. So as Theseus says for the awoken pair of lovers, “These couples shall eternally be knit … for the morning now is something worn,” their irrational love of the night will finally turn into rational for eternity, now that a ring is involved. Shakespeare captured the whole idea of love and everything brutal and beautiful about it 400 years ago, and it’s all the same now. In a world that continues to throw you obstacles, having a commitment makes it all a little bit easier. Once Hermia and Lysander, and Helena and Demetrius get married everything becomes perfect in their worlds. They’re now unstoppable with the other by their side. The change in mood and rationality changes the initial theme, turning from irrationality in love and jealousy to rational love. Shakespeare thinks this is where love meets rationality, but is it? I will never truly get to know what Shakespeare’s true intent was for changing the theme in the story, but there was definitely a reason behind the message he was trying to get across to the audience.It would make sense that he wanted us to believe that although love is all over the place, at some point it will finally make sense, and then can become so