Compare And Contrast The Love Potion In A Midsummer Night's Dream

Shakespeare and the author of Tristan and Iseult display a vastly different role of love potions in relation to the concept of love in their works. When a love potion is added to the plot of the two writings one can see how it inherently displays the irrational state of love that can come as a side effect of sudden infatuation. In a Midnight Summers Dream, Shakespeare writes the love potion into his plot in a relatively humorous way, while the author of Tristan and Iseult, reflects the conception of love through pain and tragedy. The two authors highlight the irrationality of love, though with different intentions. The ways in which the love potions are utilized in the plots of the two stories indicates several differences about the authors

The love potion is a symbol of the erratic and bizarre/inexplicable behavior that can come from sudden love. The love of Titania and Bottom under the potion, is an example of how Shakespeare places hilarity in the notion that reason and love do not coincide. Despite never haven seen each other prior to this first exchange, Titania tells Bottom, who is literally an ass that, “On the first view to say, to swear, I love thee” (Act 2, Scene 2, 68). The potion has made her lose sight of her senses and fall in love with someone that in any other situation she would have never considered. Later in the story, Shakespeare a comparison made between lunatics, lovers and poets, in that they all believe that true happiness can come from someone or something, and that alone makes them mad. The latter idea is shown when Lysander and Demetrius want to fight each other to see who will get to be with Helena, despite the fact that prior to the potion they hadn’t given her the time of day and now they are ready to sacrifice their friendship for her

There is this notion by the author, that when love is real it can transcend all boundaries furthermore, love, even if its forbidden as in the case of Tristan and Iseult is always worthwhile. The love between the two is in contrast to Shakespeare’s notion of love which cannot transcend physical qualities such as looks. The author of Tristan and Iseult, writes about a love between two characters that involved the loving of the soul versus the love of a body. Although the two stories show a contradiction in how love can be perceived, the two authors in their own ways reflect on the tragic disease like irrationality that can spur from love. Shakespeare exhibits love as a disease, something that plagues the senses of people to look beyond beauty, reason etc. While the author of Tristan and Iseult doesn 't allude to love being a sickness, the actions that the two characters take part in show how the power of love can lead an individual to do crazy things, such as kill, betray and commit