Where Do You Get Love
As individuals, we seek a fantastical encounter with “true love.” Through the plays A Midsummer Nights Dream, As You Like It, and Twelfth Night, Shakespeare’s characters find “true love” through various tests in which one of the lover’s identity is masked, either physically or subconsciously. While these three plays share different plots, they all portray Shakespeare’s stance that romance exists in human love, and that if the love is pure, it will prevail over the most eccentric circumstances.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream employs several mythical qualities, such as fairy’s and love potions. The love between Hermia and Lysander is put to an immediate test when Hermia’s father, Egeus says, “Scornful Lysander, true, he hath my love, And what is mine my love shall render him. And she is mine, and all my right of her I do estate unto Demetrius” (I, I, line 95-98). This causes the young lovers to venture into the forest, so their love can exist without interference. Falling under this spell causes Lysander to ignore, and treat Hermia poorly. Despite the actions of Lysander, Hermia stays true to her feelings of love for Lysander. These examples of faith, conveyed by Hermia, are central to Shakespeare’s position that true love is more powerful than any authoritarian figure or “love potion.”
As You Like It portrays another example of Shakespeare’s vision of “true love.” The way in which Rosalind and Orlando meet and fall in love is conventional -- Rosalind falls in love with Orlando through his manly labors and good looks at his wrestling match with Charles. “Sir, you have wrestled well, and overthrown more than your enemies” (I, ii, 234-235). However, a new dimension is added to the play by Rosalind's disguise as Ganymede and her suggestion that Orlando pretend to court her. Rosalind charms the reader with the depth of her true love forOrlando. Shakespeare portrays Rosalind’s love both seriously and comically, through the quickness of her wit and her sense of humor when dealing with Orlando. As You Like It conveys Shakespeare’s belief that “true love” does exist in human love through a bizarre tale of unconditional love.
Twelfth Night portrays Shakespeare’s notion that “true love” will overcome all adversity. Shakespeare masks the identity of Viola, but contrary to the character of Rosalind, Viola finds herself caught between being in love, and being the love of Olivia. The concealing of the identity of Viola challenges her to honor her “true love’s” love for Olivia, a loyalty she even agrees to die for.
Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is a play commonly viewed and known as a true love story; however, after analyzing several hints portrayed by the protagonists, it is evident that Shakespeare did not intend to make Romeo and Juliet seem like a true love story but a criticism of how superficial society’s view on love is.
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.
... of my examination of love in A Midsummer Night's Dream, to arrive at the conclusion that none of its players exhibited any love at all, and Shakespeare's point was to prove that love is unreal; a fabrication of human imagination. I was excited to discover, however, that in the midst of the ugly scene he set up to emphasize this argument most strongly, he left a single bastion of true, honest, unadulterated (for Hermia is never charmed by the pansy's dew) love. To me, Hermia is an example of what humanity could be, and how it could love, were it to forget some of the smaller matters in which it so often becomes willingly entangled.
According to Elizabethan society, the center of Olivia’s dilemma with her marriage was ensuring her wealth, not marrying a man she loved (Joseph 170). Social class increases division among individuals in society. This play “ is not the story of a Juliet's or an Orlando's love .., but of the very realistic struggles and intrigues over the betrothal of a rich Countess, whose selection of a mate determines the future” (170). Readers looking past these boundaries created by class and gender, can find striking similarities in emotions characters have for each other. The personal struggles the characters face in this play demonstrate the obstacles that individuals faced because of their gender or place in the social hierarchy.
In similar fashion, Lily B. Campbell in Shakespeare’s Tragic Heroes indicates the perfect type of love emanating from both the heroine and the general:
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, one of the masterpieces of William Shakespeare, Shakespeare explores various aspects of love and friendship. With the help of the main characters such as Lysander, Demetrious Helena and Hermia, he endeavors that the path of love is full of obstacles, however, if one is committed and faithful, he/she can defy those obstacles leading him/her to success. As Lysander says “The course of true love never did run smooth”, the love stories presented in the play undergo difficult situations but eventually the genuine love is recognized by the triumph of the true loves.
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..
In stark contrast to the dark and tragic "Othello," is one of Shakespeare’s lightest and funniest comedies, "Twelfth Night." The theme of love is presented in a highly comical manner. Shakespeare, however, once again proves himself a master by interweaving serious elements into humorous situations. "Twelfth Night" consists of many love triangles, however many of the characters who are tangled up in the web of love are blind to see that their emotions and feelings toward other characters are untrue. They are being deceived by themselves and/or the others around them.
In the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream, love plays a huge role in the actions and consciences of many of the characters. Although the play is a comedy, it gives incite of Shakespeare’s view of women how they were treated during his time. Women usually had to marry men who they didn’t love and it was inevitable that women were to become solely dependent on men. Similar to many writers, Shakespeare expressed his opinions on sensitive subjects through his works. Shakespeare’s portrayal of women at his time were that they could allow themselves to be rebellious and vulnerable only when influenced by love.
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.
Love is an essential human desire. Once it is caught, dramatic, unexpected changes in ones life occur. Protecting the people one loves is a natural instinct that cannot be controlled. William Shakespeare demonstrates this in Twelfth Night through the relationship between Antonio and Sebastian. Furthermore, Viola continues to ensure the happiness of Orsino is met even if that means sacrificing the happiness of herself. Also, love is evident when one pays attention to, and dedicates himself to the small details in other peoples lives. William Shakespeare demonstrates in Twelfth Night the nature of true love through loyal friendship, bold romance and secretive love.
What is love? In William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night love is nothing more than another disguise. It is an illusion that fools everyone. Orsino, Olivia, Sebastian, and Viola do any of them find love in the end? No, they find nothing more than a disguise, an illusion of love. By analyzing each of these characters, their thoughts and feelings of, and their experiences with love throughout this play, we can determine that in the end, none of them have found true, genuine love.
...portrayed in Shakespeare's As You Like It, and to examine the love relationships in it. Through a careful observation of the characters' perceptions about love, and of the way they engage in love relationships, we may conclude that the concept of love may be attributed different meanings, depending on individual and personal beliefs. Our conclusion may be derived from the various types of comic relations: familial, sexual, romantic, and friendship.
One example of true love in Twelfth Night is Viola’s love for Orsino. At the beginning of the play, the reader experiences Orsino’s feelings about love. It is a confusing start however, because Shakespeare offers contradicting views on love. Orsino says, “Give me excess of it, that surfeiting, The appetite may sicken and so die” (Act 1, Scene 1, Line 2-3). This means that Orsino wants the musicians to give him so much love, that he gets sick of it and doesn’t love anymore. This shows the depth of Orsino’s desire for Olivia. He loves (or thinks he loves) Olivia so much that he can no longer control himself and wants to be rid of his love for her. The entire speech plays with the idea that love is not something tangible, but more or less an imaginative state of being....