How Shakespeare express Love in his Plays

William Shakespeare, in the 16th century, wrote two plays that both involved love. Although both showed love, their genres contrast with one of them a comedy and the other a tragic. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, a character named Hermia refuses marriage with Demetrius with the reason that she loves Lysander. Hermia’s friend, Helena, loves Demetrius. With parents involved in the scandal, the group rebel and run of into the woods. A fairy named Puck interferes and in the end, all lovers end up happy. In Romeo and Juliet, two lovers in families that have feud fall in love but their families do not allow it. Romeo and Juliet accept a secret marriage needs to happen in order for them to stay together. During their plan, Juliet appears dead from a potion, Romeo, who does not know, kills himself with poison. Juliet sees him and kills herself with a dagger. This essay will only discuss the plays, not the films. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare explores how the setting of the play, night and daytime, show how love never runs smooth, with characters in each play facing conflicts in the daylight and expressing love in the night.

In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare conveys how night and daytime show love never runs smooth, with characters forced to face conflicts in the daylight and then express their love at night. In Act 1, Scene 1, Hermia’s dad named Egeus disallows marriage between Lysander and Hermia. In disappointment, the two lovers plan to meet at mid night tomorrow in the woods to get married, “Keep word, Lysander: we must starve our sight / From lovers’ food, till morrow deep midnight” (1.1.222-223). Hermia’s idea to “starve our sight” till tomorrow mid night shows how they have to wai...

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...rince’s hunt men. Eventually, Romeo dies due to love for Juliet and in return she does the same. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, one character named Hermia refuses marriage with Demetrius with the reason that she loves Lysander. Hermia’s friend, Helena, loves Demetrius. With parents involved in the scandal, they rebel and run of into the woods. A fairy named Puck interferes and in the end, all lovers end up happy. The overall theme of these plays convey how the setting of the play, night and daytime, show how love never runs smooth, with characters in each play facing conflicts in the daylight and expressing love in the night.

Work Cited

Shakespeare, William. A Midsummer Night's Dream. Lexington: n.p., 2013. Print.

Shakespeare, William. "Romeo and Juliet: Entire Play." Romeo and Juliet: Entire Play. Jeremy Hylton, 1993. Web. 10 Mar. 2014.