Theme Of Fairies In A Midsummer Night's Dream

Shakespeare’s Use of Magic in A Midsummer Night’s Dream One of Shakespeare’s most famous plays, A Midsummer Night’s Dream starts out with a very complicated web of love issues. Demetrius, a young Athenian man who was originally meant to marry Helena, falls in love with a woman named Hermia (who is also Helena’s best friend). In spite of his obsession with her, Hermia does not love Demetrius. She is in love with Lysander, another young man from Athens. However, Hermia’s father, Egeus, wishes for her to marry Demetrius.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream is one of the most unforgettable plays about love written by William Shakespeare. The play includes the four main characters: Lysander, Hermia, Demetrius, and Helena. Lysander and Demetrius, who fight for Hermia’s love, have anointed by Oberon, fairy king, and his servant, Puck, with a love-juice. This juice causes the four lovers to fall in or out of love with each other. Without knowing that their actions are controlled by the potion, the lovers are ironically convinced that they fall in love because of essential "reasons".

When Lysander wakens the effects of the love potion creates conflict between him and Demetrius, and also between him and Helena and Hermia. The men are fighting for Helena’s love and attention which causes Hermia to become jealous of Helena. Hermia is also quite confused because when she went into the forest she had two suitors, Demetrius and Lysander. After the love potion is sprinkled ... ... middle of paper ... ...uote, Puck and King Oberon share a good laugh as pals and reflect on how their plans are falling into place perfectly. In the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the fairy King Oberon’s servant, Puck, is notably the best fit as the protagonist in the play.

A Midsummer Night's Dream as an Elizabethan Comedy "A Midsummer Night's Dream" could have turned out as a tragedy; it can be compared to Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet". Lysander and Hermia love each other but Egeus, Hermia's father, wants her to marry Demetrius. This means they have to disobey Egeus and escape Athenian law to be able to marry. These are comparable characteristics of "Romeo and Juliet", an Elizabethan tragedy. In "Romeo and Juliet", Romeo, a Montague, falls in love with Juliet, a Capulet, but there families do not allow them to marry.

This is what brings Lysander and Hermia into the forest in the first place. The reader also sees true love through Helena. She tells Demetrius of the couples plan’s to elope in hopes that he will let go of Hermia and fall in love with her, Helena. The reader can also see the love between Titania and Oberon despite their bickering when we are first introduced to these characters. Love is an important part of the play, however magic is what truly holds the story

Puck, or Robin Goodfellow, is a fairy who makes love potions for Oberon. Lastly, Nick Bottom is a weaver whose head is turned into an ass for his ridiculous mistakes and foolishness. The setting takes place in Athens and in the forest. The time period is approximately around ancient Greece. There are three conflicts throughout the play, which are: the dilemma between Lysander and Demetrius both falling in love with Hermia, Helena’s plan to regain the relationship with Demetrius, and the decision of whether the Indian prince should be knighted or not.

Puck first appears in Act 2 Scene 1 when he runs into another fairy. We find out he is boastful and quite proud of himself because the fairy asks him if he is 'that shrewd and knavish sprite'. The words the fairy uses to describe him are 'shrewd', 'knavish' and 'sprite'. Shrewd because she thinks that he is very mean and nasty and the knavish meaning the fairy thinks he's childish and quite naïve because he doesn't know the outcome of his actions and how they may hurt people. The word sprite comes out quite strongly because a sprite is an evil spirit, while Puck is meant to be a sweet fun loving fairy.

In a later scene, a group of fairies are shown dancing, singing and getting intoxicated in the enchanted forest. The fairy king, Oberon and the fairy queen, Titania are depicted as godly creatures, which are all seeing and all knowing. They saw their self as the parents of the humans and felt that it was their responsibility and duty to take care of them.

Choosing to blame the humans for his mistake, Puck says “Lord, what fools these mortals be!” (III.ii.115). Puck, deeming the Athenian couples in the play as fools, portrays irony to the audience. Having caused the trouble himself, Puck was to blame for the situation. When called on account of the dilemma, Puck acts in his defence, saying he put the potion on the eyes of an Athenian man and when told to resolve the problem, Puck sadly agrees, seeing the mischief as a very entertaining. (III... ... middle of paper ... ...ssary character for comical relief, changing the play from a fantasy into a comedy.

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.