Nobody is safe from love. This is a fact that William Shakespeare demonstrates in his play "A Midsummers Night's Dream." In this play, all characters transform by the power of love in its various forms. It is inevitable that all people will be transformed by love at some point, but ultimately, it is up to the person transformed to decide what to make of the transformation whether that be for better, or for worse.
One of the main conflicts in “A Midsummers Night’s Dream” is romantic love, and the jealousy that arises from the romantic love. In “A Midsummers Night’s Dream,” Shakespeare presents both sides of romantic love, detailing Lysander and Demetrius’ love for Hermia as well as presenting the jealousy that arises from Helena because of
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Egeus believed he was acting in his daughter’s best interest and is only doing so out of love for her. Egeus' intention becomes clear when Egeus states "Thou (Lysander) hast by moonlight at her window sung / with feigning voice verses of feigning love, / and stol'n the impression of her fantasy" (I, i, 30-32). This line states that Egeus is worried that Lysander has stolen his daughter's love through trickery and deceit. This is an example of a negative type of transformation that can occurred because of parental love. Because parental love is what blinds Egeus from seeing that Lysander and Hermia shared true love. A positive example of parental love when Theseus is willing to ignore the law and change his decision about Hermia and Lysander being able to marry, "Fair lovers, you are fortunately met. / Of this discourse we more will hear anon. / Egeus, I will overbear your will; / For in the temple, by and by, with us / These couples shall eternally be knit" (IV, i, 170-174). As a king, Theseus has a type of parental love for all of his citizens, and because of this love, makes a wise …show more content…
Through his love for himself, Bottom draws the conclusion that he is able to play all of the roles in the play that the citizens of Athens are putting on for Theseus and his soon-to-be queen better than anyone else can play a single part. While self-love can create confidence and positive transformations, such as the transformation that self-love causes in Hermia when she decides that she loves herself enough to fight for what makes her happy, self-love can also lead to the transformation that occurred when Bottom started acting condescendingly towards other people, making an ass out of
Every action made in A Midsummer Night’s Dream revolves around the idea of love. It is a concept which few people can understand because of the extremity a person can go through to go after their love. “Lovers and madmen have such seething brains, such shaping fantasies that apprehend more than cool reason ever comprehends.” Lovers see the world in a way which everyday people cannot comprehend. The idea of love leads to them making irrational choices which may seem
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...
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...
Love is a powerful emotion, capable of turning reasonable people into fools. Out of love, ridiculous emotions arise, like jealousy and desperation. Love can shield us from the truth, narrowing a perspective to solely what the lover wants to see. Though beautiful and inspiring when requited, a love unreturned can be devastating and maddening. In his play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, William Shakespeare comically explores the flaws and suffering of lovers. Four young Athenians: Demetrius, Lysander, Hermia, and Helena, are confronted by love’s challenge, one that becomes increasingly difficult with the interference of the fairy world. Through specific word choice and word order, a struggle between lovers is revealed throughout the play. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare uses descriptive diction to emphasize the impact love has on reality and one’s own rationality, and how society’s desperate pursuit to find love can turn even strong individuals into fools.
In "A Midsummer Night's Dream," William Shakespeare explains the difficulties of the nature of love. Both false love and true love prevail in the end, leading the reader to come to the conclusion that all types of love can triumph. Hermia and Lysander represent the existence of a "true love", while Helena and Demertrius represent the opposite extreme. Shakespeare presents the idea that love is unpredictable and can cause great confusion. Love is something that cannot be explained, it can only be experienced. Shakespeare challenges us to develop our own idea of what love truly is.
The Theme of Love in A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare In the play ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ many aspects of love are explored. In this essay I will be exploring how Shakespeare conveys the theme of love including illusion, confusion, escape, harmony and lust. Historically, it has been suggested that ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ was written for a wedding, signifying the importance of love in this play, however there is no real evidence to prove this myth. Rather, the Lord Chamberlain’s men performed ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ on the London stage.
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is a play based on a romantic love story. In this play, there are several types of love displayed between several of the main characters in the play. One of the most famous quotes from the play was by Lysander and it was “The course of true love never did run smooth” (Act 1, Scene 1). This meant that with any type of love, a person will experience its ups and downs, they will agree to disagree, but more importantly, love is unpredictable. Parenteral love, forced love, and true love are 3 types of love displayed/expressed in the play “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, penned by the acclaimed author William Shakespeare, demonstrates erratic relationships in the form of a romantic comedy. The play takes place in ancient Athens where Theseus, duke of Athens, and his fiancé, Hippolyta, prepare for their grand wedding. During the preparations, Theseus must settle a dispute between a man named Eugeus and his daughter, Hermia. Hermia desires to marry a charming young man by the name of Lysander, however, her father forces her to wed Demetrius. Throughout the story, Hermia and many other women, battle with their love affairs. Through these chaotic love affairs, the predominant female characters show their strengths as well as their weaknesses through various events in the play. Two
William Shakespeare, an illustrious and eminent playwright from the Elizabethan Age (16th Century) and part owner of the Globe theatre wrote A Midsummer Night’s Dream in which he portrays the theme of love in many different ways. These include the paternal love seen in the troubled times for Egeus and his rebellious daughter Hermia, true Love displayed with the valiant acts of Lysander and Hermia and the destructive love present in the agonizing acts of Titania towards her desperate lover Oberon. Through the highs and lows of love, the first love we clasp is the paternal love from our family.
First, Shakespeare uses the motif of the seasons early on in the play to solidify the connection between love gone awry and chaos. The initial romantic conflict is established when Egeus brings his daughter, Hermia, to Theseus to try and force her into marrying Demetrius, the man of his choice. Hermia has no interest in Demetrius because she is madly in love with Lysander. Unfortunately for her, Theseus sides with Egeus and threatens to enforce Athenian law if she does not obey him. Obviously, this situation is awful for Hermia; she is being kept from her true love. Her options are dismal: she has the choice of disobeying Egeus, betraying Lysander, or living a lonely life as a nun. Either way, she loses. The situation seems completely hopeless. Shakespeare illustrates this hopelessness by connecting Hermia’s grim future with the winter. When Theseus describes Hermia’s potential future, he calls her a “withering” rose and a “barren sister,” destined to a life of “chanting faint hymns to the cold fruitless moon” (Shakespeare 1.1.75). Essentially, Hermia will be trapped in an endless winter. This unnatural seasonal change will become a reality if she becomes a nun and remains celibate. For a young woman who is passionately in love with a young man...
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.
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
He then recruits his “Jester”, Puck to use a so-called Love Juice on his wife, Titania, so that whatever she lays her eyes on first, she will fall madly in love with. Just Titania’s luck, the first thing she saw when she woke up was Bottom, who had unfortunately been given the head of a donkey/ass. As predicted, Titania fell head over heels in love with Bottom, and of course, he has little to no problems with this. This is clearly a reference to love being blind, and that we, as humans cannot choose who we fall in love with: “Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, and therefore is winged Cupid painted blind”. This means that, like I mentioned, true love does not necessarily have to be based on looks or
This play not only makes readers laugh but also shows readers that how true love can be found in non-traditional ways. True love is the narrative strategy of the whole play. Also, despite the many thematic references to "dreams" and the fantastic setting of the Athenian forest, the
Exercising his will as her father and someone who knows what is best for her, Egeus pledges Hermia’s hand in marriage, “I beg the ancient privilege of Athens: as she is mine, I may dispose of her,” (Shakespeare, 1610-11/2014) much to Hermia’s chagrin. It is here Egeus relays to Theseus about Demetrius, “This man hath my consent to marry her,” (Shakespeare, 1610-11/2014). Hermia boldly responds, “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, 1610-11/2014). Hermia, is in fact, passionately in love with Lysander; which is yet another type of love displayed in the