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Shakespeares view of love
Shakespeare’s attitude toward love essay
Love in Shakespeare
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A Midsummer Nights Dream is a comedic play written by the famous author, William Shakespeare. The story has many themes different themes like women inequality and begins with tragedy as a young lady, Hermia is being forced to marry a man she does not love, Demetrius. This compels her to run away into the forest with another man, Lysander. A young lady called Helena loves Demetrius even though he adores Hermia. Demetrius follows the lovers while Helena follows Demetrius, as she shows love for him. In the forest strange tragedies happen as love is mixed around and betrayal is shown. In the story love causes disorder and women to man equality is very biased towards men.
In the play, love causes disorder. Puck accidentally drops some love potion into both Lysander and Demetrius's eyes, so the first thing they place their eyes upon is the thing they love. It is represented in the play by causing disorder, confusion, pain, and betrayal. "Be certain, nothing truer--'tis no jest that I[Lysander] do hate thee[Hermia]
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"Ay, in the temple, in the town, the field, you do me mischief. Fie, Demetrius, your wrongs do set a scandal on my sex! We cannot fight for love, as men may do. We should be woo'd, and not made to woo."2.1 242-248. Shakespeare wanted to suggest that women should have things done for them. The part 'you do me mischief' suggests that men can take control of them and do what they wish. 'We should be woo'd, and not made to woo." Implies that women were not made to pursue and should not have to endear men. Theseus says - "As she is mine, i may dispose of her; Which shall be either to this gentleman or to her death." 1.1 42-44. The phrase 'As she is mine i may dispose of her' implies that Hermia is a just a toy he can do what he pleases with. That she is just a thing with no meaning but what he does for her. Theseus says that if she doesn't do what he says, she will die. This implies that the girl is worth
...evenge on her for giving more importance to the Indian boy rather than him, which shows jealousy. This passion is one of the most significant because if it had not been for Oberon’s jealousy he wouldn’t have used the love potion, and if he didn’t do that, then Lysander and Demetrius would both still be fighting over Hermia and Demetrius would never fall for Helena. Therefore the play would have never gotten its happy ending, or maybe the problem wouldn’t even have occurred.
The Greek myth of Theseus and Hippolyta tells of Theseus kidnapping Hippolyta in order to take her as his wife (“Theseus”). In the play, the character Theseus alludes (within the allusion) to these circumstances: “. . . I wooed thee with my sword and won thy love doing thee injuries. But I will wed thee . . . with pomp, with triumph, and with reveling” (Shakespeare 1.1.16-19). Interestingly, in the myth, Theseus never marries Hippolyta like he does in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Hippolyta instead escapes, and Theseus is forced to look elsewhere for love (Theseus). This might make one wonder why Shakespeare chose to change the story’s ending. Perhaps this change helps to foreshadow Hermia’s eventual escape from Demetrius’s
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
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.
Some of the most prominent themes in A Midsummer Night’s Dream are the omnipresence of love and desire and the tendencies of characters to manifest their defining traits. Helena and Hermia are two perfect examples of this. Hermia is the lover, and Helena the desirer, and both thrive off of their obsessions. In fact, both women are so tied to these traits that when they are taken away, their characters deflate and fall static.
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 funniest part of this play seems to be when Puck, the trickster, keeps mixing up the people who he is assigned to put the love juice on. Even when he did put the love juice into the right people's eyes, they still fell in love with the wrong people sometimes. The first example of this mistake of Puck's is where he puts the love juice in Lysander's eyes, mistaking him for Demetrius. Oberon tells Puck to put the love juice in the eyes of an Athenian man, Demetrius, and to make sure that the first thing he sees after this is the woman whom he hates, but who loves him so much, Helena. Puck ends up finding Lysander and Hermia, lovers, sleeping on the forest floor. He puts the love juice in Lysander's eyes and leaves. Then along come Helena and Demetrius to this spot. They are still arguing and Demetrius leaves her with the sleeping Lysander and Hermia. Helena notices them there and tries to wake Lysander. Lysander wakes and the first thing he sees is Helena. "And run through fire for thy sweat sake. Transparent Helena! Nature shows art, That through thy bosom makes me see thy heart."(2.2.103). This is what Demetrius says to Helena when he sees her. He has fallen in love with her. This is where the comedy of this love mix up begins. Now Helena is confused and thinks that Lysander is playing a trick on her so she runs away. This is a most particularly funny part of the play and these mix ups with whom loves who seem to be the funniest pieces of the play.
The first scene of A Midsummer Night’s Dream introduces a tangled web of lovers. Hermia presents herself for judgement as she refuses to marry Lysander, the man of whom her father approves, as she is infatuated instead with Demetrius. Meanwhile her friend Helena is besotted by Demetrius, but he loves Hermia. The scene plays out like a soap opera with dramatic relationships galore, but Shakespeare establishes greater depth with the help of allusions. The most significant references in this scene appear when Hermia and Lysander speak privately for the first time. In their brief conversation, Hermia alludes to Cupid, Venus, and Dido. The first two are gods of love, and Dido is a queen who burned herself on a pyre after being abandoned by her lover. Shakespeare uses each of these mentions of mythology to make the point that the affair between Hermia and Lysander is no passing fancy. However, when Helena enters and converses with the star-crossed lovers she makes no mention of mythology as she discusses her unrequited love for Demetrius and resulting jealousy of Hermia. The absence of allusions in Helena’s speech accentuates the divide between herself and her friend. Barbara A. Mowat speaks eloquently on this concept in the Folger Library edition introduction. As Ms. M...
She exemplifies her strengths in one occurrence by standing up to her father’s wishes concerning her wedding. Speaking to her father, Hermia proclaims, “So will I grow, so live, so die, my lord, ere I will yield my virgin patent up unto his lordship whose unwished yoke my soul consents not to give sovereignty” (I.i.81-84). Hermia demonstrates immense courage and strength by standing up to her father and threatening to pursue the occupation of a nun for the rest of her life. This persistence in marrying the love of her dreams, Lysander, shows incredible courage that resonates throughout the play. Here, Hermia exhibits boundless courage and strength and from now on, her vigor only grows stronger. Later on in the play, knowing that the rules of Athenian law of marriage did not apply outside of Athens, Hermia and Lysander snuck out of the city. As Hermia and Lysander conversed alone, Hermia demands, “Nay, good Lysander. For my sake, my dear, lie further off yet. Do not lie so near” (II.ii.47-48) when Lysander desires to draw nearer to Hermia. By this point, Hermia battled her father and contains immeasurable mental strength. At this instance, Hermia gains greater moral strength when she resisted Lysander’s inappropriate love. Displaying courage to stand up to her father and her moral strength to resist Lysander, Hermia exemplifies a strong
Shakespeare’s literature exemplifies creativeness and powerful word use to create bodies of work with strong attributes that grab the reader’s attention. Midsummer’s night dream is an example of some of Shakespeare’s best work. The thesis of this essay is Hermia’s father, Esues wants his daughter to marry someone that he approves of and more importantly he wants someone for her that is respected by the rest of society to admire. This play has love, drama and characters that follow their hearts. Hermia is told she is not allowed to love or marry Lysander by her father. Her father Esues wants her to marry Demetrius. The setting of the play is taken in Athens. Athens is a place of order and royalty and a place where people are supposed to marry
A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a play of conflicted love. Thus semi-comedy displays the notion of, the spiritual and natural world working together. The play begins with a noble family discussing a planned marriage. Hermia is arranged to marry a man she does not love. In rebellion she and her lover (Lysander) flees to the woods so they can avoid Athenian law. Before leaving Hermia tells her sister about her plans to run away. In desire to gain revenge and find love herself Helena (Hermia’s sister) chases Hermia and her intended mate into the woods. The forest is where the spirits live, the fairy king, Oberon, is desperate to gain the affection of the fairy queen. He saw cupid shoot his love arrow, which landed on a flower. He is determined that,
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 hilarious play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, by William Shakespeare, tells the twisted love story of four Athenians who are caught between love and lust. The main characters: Hermia, Helena, Lysander, and Demetrius are in a ‘love square’. Hermia and Lysander are true love enthusiasts, and love each other greatly. Demetrius is in love with Hermia, and Helena, Hermia’s best friend, is deeply and madly in love with Demetrius. Hermia and Lysander try to elope in the woods because Egeus, Hermia’s father, disapproves of Lysander. Helena, hearing about their plans, tells Demetrius, and all four of them end up in the woods where Lysander’s quotation, “The course of true love never did run smooth”(28), becomes extremely evident due to several supernatural mix-ups, authority, and jealousy.
Presented with many obstacles and complications to overcome, we know that Hermia is the protagonist in the play. She has relations with almost all the characters in the play. The first and most important relationship is her love, Lysander. From the very beginning we see that Hermia loves Lysander with all her heart and soul and he loved her the same. The only tragic flaw in their relationship was when Puck put the magic juice in Lysander's eyes and he fell in love with Helena. Hermia felt sad and rejected when that happened. But when Puck finally realized that he had made a mistake and corrected it, Hermia and Lysander were in their heavenly bliss of love once again.
In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the main conflict is between love and social relations. The play revolves around the magical power of love which transforms many lives. As a result of this, it gets the reader’s emotionally involved through ways of reminding us of love’s foolishness and capabilities, as well as violence often followed alongside of lust. This play shows passion’s conflict with reason. For example, the father presented in the play Egeus, represents tradition and reason while Hermia represents passion for love and freedom. Egeus wants Hermia to marry Demetrius and accuses Lysander of “bewitching” Hermia with love charms and songs. This is one way love’s difficulties are presented in the play between father and daughter. Additionally, Helena recognizes love’s difficulties when Demetrius falls in love with her best friend Hermia. Helena argues that strong emotions such as love can make extremely unpleasant things beautiful. This is another way the play presents love’s difficulties between lovers and capricious emotions.