Love in Conflict “An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
Gandhi believes that love might cause blindness. Thus, love makes the person delusional like seeing inverted colors, such as white as black and the black as white. Love is like putting the person under a magical spell and they will not be able to differentiate between what is right and what is wrong. The quote reflects exactly what happens in A Midsummer Night’s Dream where Helena agrees with Gandhi’s thought about love. The play mentions "Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind; and therefore is wing'd Cupid painted blind”. A Midsummer night’s dream is a play written by the legendary author; William Shakespeare. This play took place when
…show more content…
Cummings. Additionally, Shakespeare semis love with the smoke and its fume of sighs, where he declares; “Love is a smoke and is made with the fume of sighs” William Shakespeare. Thus, Love is a wonderful feeling that human can ever felt. By love peace, honest and respect will spread. Hence, the power of love can rule the entire world. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a play which starts with a dilemma of range love then love potion and ends with love marriage. At the time of the role of Elizabethan, women since that period of time has no right for many different aspects, such as education, marriage and voting. They were under the power of male community. Therefore, the authority goes to men only. Women were dominated to their male family members, so they must obey not only their father, but also their brothers. Disobeying was seen as a crime and any woman do not follow the rules will be punished with a whipping stool, and it is defined as “a former instrument of punishment consisting of a chair in which an offender was tied to be plunged into water”. Moreover, women could not be heir to their father titles, solely by sons or brother to brother. For that reason, women were pity creatures who had no right to give or say their opinion or at least express themselves. According to the protestant leader John Knox wrote: "Women in her greatest perfection was made to serve and obey man." Consequently, women had no choice to refuse, because that will make them not only disobeying their family but also their religion. Since, A Midsummer Night’s Dream has written in the Elizabethan era, Shakespeare includes women rights in indirect way during the play. The event is when Hermia’s father Egeus forces his daughter to marry Demetrius the man that her father himself chooses, otherwise she will be
When love is in attendance it brings care, faith, affection and intimacy. This is proved true in the spectacular play A Midsummer Night's Dream written by William Shakespeare. This play displays the facts about lust, hatred, jealousy and their roles in something powerfully desirable. It is entitled love. Love is present everywhere, in every form, in every condition and even when one least expects it.
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.
The time period and setting in which this play is written causes the characters to crave control that affects the fate of others. Shakespeare writes this play during the time period of the mid-1500s to the early 1600s. The hierarchy of power during this time favors men more than women. Similarly, women are strictly valued as property rather than equal counterparts to men. England’s societal pyramid during this time period is evident in A Midsummer’s Night Dream as Egeus threatens to end his daughter’s life unless she complies with his wishes to marry a man she does not love:
“Love is blind,” says the old cliche. At the very least, that cliche is 400 years old, since it appears in William Shakespeare’s play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream when Helena says, “Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind. And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind” (Shakespeare 1.1.234-235). These lines are also an allusion, which conveniently restate that old cliche of “love is blind.” It is just one of many allusions to Greek mythology in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. One could spend days explaining all the allusions in the play, but three of the most well-known are below. Many of the allusions in the play help the audience learn more about the characters or the plot by making
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
...lemma of romance, and while the play engages several different romantic elements, it does not represent a genuine love chronicle. A Midsummer Night's Dream separates the spectators from the sentiments of the proponents with the purpose of triggering amusement at the troubles and difficulties experienced by people in love. The analysis of the relevance of the plot, characters and theme in the play in today’s world will offer a deeper understanding of the play structure and the author’s intention. All the three authors expressed a common understanding: Shakespeare was ahead of his time in terms of style, approach and content. Even during the Elizabethan era, he was able to write and successfully produced a play that contained seamless dance, music and costumes, it was a century after his death that most of the styles were fully understood and successfully implemented.
What is love? Love is a very powerful emotion! Love is something that can come at any time in your life. It can appear in any way, shape, or form. In the famous play “Midsummer Night's Dream,” by William Shakespeare, love is a major theme that affects many people and causes many challenges. In order for love to conquer these challenges one needs to stay true to their love, they may need the help of some magic, and must be persistent.
Similar to other works by Shakespeare, such as The Taming of the Shrew, A Midsummer Night’s Dream embellishes the pressures that arise between genders dealing with complicated family and romantic situations. The plot includes a duke who is going to marry a woman he conquered in battle, the king and queen of the fairies embroiled in a fight so fierce that it unbalances the natural world, and a daughter fighting with her father for her right to marry the man she chooses. The girl’s father selects Demetrius to marry his daughter, but she is in love with another man, Lysander, who loves her in return, and her friend Helena is in love Demetrius, but he wants nothing to do with her. Considering the fact that males were dominant during that era, whereas, men chased women, and women remained submissive, Shakespeare dallies with those traditional roles and there are several possible reasons why. Perhaps he made women a stronger force in his plays because he wanted to give his audience a break fr...
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.
The overriding theme of the play "A Midsummer Night's Dream" by William Shakespeare deals with the nature of love. Though true love seems to be held up as an ideal, false love is mostly what we are shown. Underneath his frantic comedy, Shakespeare seems to be asking the questions all lovers ask in the midst of their confusion: How do we know when love is real? How can we trust ourselves that love is real when we are so easily swayed by passion and romantic conventions? Some readers may sense bitterness behind the comedy, but will probably also recognize the truth behind Shakespeare's satire. Often, love leads us down blind alleys and makes us do things we regret later. The lovers within the scene, especially the men, are made to seem rather shallow. They change the objects of their affections, all the time swearing eternal love to one or the other. In this scene Shakespeare presents the idea that both false love and true love can prevail..
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.”
William Shakespeare does this by the exploration of true love, unrequited/imbalanced love and manipulated, which is used through several symbolisms, such as the potion for love at first sight, Shakespeare also introduces the idea of foolishness that mortals carry when blinded by love. The playwright incorporates all the ideas through the quote “love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind; and therefore is winged cupid painted blind,” Shakespeare reinforced the idea even more through his explorations, that looking further into the mind, and personality true love is possible for the modern
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 Shakespeare's “A Midsummer Night's Dream” First put to the stage in the 1600s it is made clear that Shakespeare wanted the men in his play to be seen as power hungry and wily. Through a fight over a small child, and multiple fights about the wrongs and rights of marriage and love, men are portrayed as cruel and willing to do anything to gain influence and power. Although at first it may seem like women in the play are stubborn and dramatic, but if you look closer into the situation and happenings you can see that they are driven to do what is right and the fight has only become so intense and crazy because of the Man’s craving for power. Through the portrayal of Oberon, Egeus, and Demetrius and his lover (Helena), the play is indicating