Passion For Power In A Midsummer Night's Dream

Ahmed Nour
Mrs. Harris
ENG1D7
21 April 2014
The play A midsummer night’s dream by William Shakespeare, is a tale that drags you through many emotions, conflicts, and jokes. Due to all of the things Shakespeare has incorporated in this play, many passionate characters come about and many of the things that they are passionate about play a huge role in this play. Throughout the story there have been many instances of passion and devotion such as Oberon’s passion for power in the fairy realm. Power is not the only form of passion that is portrayed in this play as Helena’s passion for companionship quickly hijacks the play in a way that leaves the reader speechless, also passion is shown strongly through Bottoms passion for the arts.

A passion for power is something that is very common in our daily societies. We all see it in many leaders in our world today, such as President Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jung Un, who are both leaders of their respectful countries, but at the same time are considered dictators because they rule, without the opinion of the people. Although Oberon isn’t exactly like these power thirsty people, he does portray some of the same characteristics. Oberon wants everything his way. His wife isn’t unfamiliar to power, which is why I believe Oberon is trying to assert himself as the leader, or the pants of the family and since Titania isn’t the easiest person to confront, he tries to take away what means most to her, (her little Indian Boy), using magic. Oberon displays his power at full force when exclaiming “Why should Titania cross her Oberon?” (II.i.103). As you can see in this quote, Oberon sees himself as a huge leader and that no one can cross him and he believes that no one should defy power and even con...

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...me so overwhelmed with his passion that he wanted to be every part in the play. Another example is when he said, “What beard were I best to play in” (I.ii.39). As you can see in this line Bottom only cares about himself and may come off cocky, but at the end of the day it is what is best for him and his passion. His passion was huge to the play because it was what was going to be presented to the king and queen on their wedding day.

In conclusion, the play A midsummer night’s dream is a play that shows many different types of passions and devotions and how largely these passion can have an effect on life in general. It showed us how power can blind one’s self, how important love is to the soul, and how having a dream and a passion is sometimes all you need in life. “Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you” – Oprah Winfrey