A Midsummer Night’s Dream Essay: Importance of the Nighttime Forest

Titania is uncertain whether her vision is a dream or reality, because dreams are soon

A flower was struck by the arrow of cupid. Consequently, a love flower was born; the nectar of this flower when applied to someone’s eyes will make them fall in love with the next living thing they see. Oberon orders Robin to apply the nectar to Demetrius’ eyes because he notices how mean he is to Helena. Unfortunately, Robin anoints the eyes of Lysander instead. When Lysander awakes, the first person he sees is Helena. Lysander claims to Helena,”Content with Hermia? No, I do repent The tedious minutes I with her have spent”(1.1.118,119). The love flower makes Lysander fall in love with Helena. The flower is a major challenge for the couple because Lysander is suddenly madly in love with Helena. Lysander and Hermia left Athens to escape the law together. Unfortunately, Lysander despises Hermia. When Hermia awakes, she does not see Lysander and begins to worry. Hermia sobs to Demetrius, “If thou hast slain Lysander in his sleep, Being o’er shoes in blood, plunge in the deep And kill me too”(1.1.49-51). Lysander is chasing Helena whom he loves because of the flower. Helena thinks Lysander is playing a practical joke. Meanwhile, Hermia believes that Demetrius kills Lysander. The quote demonstrates how much Hermia loves Lysander because it shows she would rather die than be without Lysander. The flower creates a huge complexity in Lysander and Hermia’s relationship by splitting them up and making Lysander love another

Above all the tensions created by the discussion of marriage, Lysander deliver a quotes to his love Hermia. “The course of true love never did run smooth…” (Act 1, Scene 1, line 134) is a famous quote by Lysander. In the quote he conveys to readers that love is not perfect, it also has its ups and downs and that he and Hermia are going through a tough situation. Hermia and Lysander both love each other and have made a plan to meet in a forest and then escape Athens however the problem arises when Hermia has tells Helena this and she plans to tell Demetrius about this so that he will love her and not Hermia. The King of fairies− Oberon hears all this and decides to settle the dispute between all of them. He instructs his assistant Robin Goodfellow to search for Demetrius and put the love juice on his eyelids so that he is compelled to love Helena, he informs him about the dressing style of Demetrius in "thou shalt know the man by the Athenian garments he hath on" (Act 2, Scene 1, line 263-264). However there is a problem, in the forest there are two Athenian men dressed in Athenian garments and their identities were mistaken; instead of putting the love juice on Demetrius's eyelids Robin Goodfellow put it on Lysander's eyelids. Now Lysander "loves" Helena and wants to get away from Hermia. After discovering Robin Goodfellow's mistake, Oberon tries to correct this mistake by putting the same love juice in Demetrius's so that he loves Helena eyes however

If there was no such thing as sympathy, empathy, or love in our world, it would be a hard place to live. If there was no hard law or reason in our world, it would be a crazy place to live. Neither of these worlds would be anybody’s first choice as a home - it's just common sense take away either of these two fundamental aspects of life, and everything is immediately chaos. In fact, it is only in a world such as ours, where legal and human emotion work together, that we are happy. In William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare recognizes this truth and uses the two settings to represent the city of Athens as law, order, civility, and judgment, while the woods represent chaos, incivility, dreams, and love.

Helena is first introduced storming past Hermia and Lysander, being quick to accuse Hermia of stealing Demetrius’ love from her. Helena’s lengthy response, use of exclamations, sarcastic and whiney tone, and admitted jealousy, portray her perfectly. In fact, the audience better comes to understand the character in her following monologue containing phrases such as: “…how happy some o’er other some can be! Through Athens I am thought to be as fair as she”; “…he hailed down oaths that he was only mine… heat from Hermia…dissolved, and showers of oaths did melt”; “I will go tell him of fair Hermia’s flight…if I have thanks, it is a dear expense.” This shows that Helena isn’t just a jealous friend, but a hurt girl with low self-esteem; she is desperate to have love and happiness again to extent of giving Demetrius what he wants at the expense of her friends’ wellbeing. Despite the late hours, dangers of the night, and Demetrius’ annoyance with her, Hermia expresses her desperation and relentless love for him by proclaiming “…you [Demetrius] draw me, you hard-hearted adamant”, “I love you the more”, and “… spurn me, strike me…only give me leave… to follow you”. Humorously enough, even when Demetrius does not grant Helena permission, she still devotedly follows him. Due to the constant flow of insults and abuses from Demetrius, Helena’s character is pushed to the point where she wallows in self-pity and despair as well as further compare her darker, less attractive complexion to Hermia’s. When Lysander awakens under a love spell and professes his undying love for her, she runs away in distress believing he is implementing a cruel joke on her. When Demetrius follows in the same love-struck manner, she becomes exasperated and falls further into her self-pity. Helena’s tone even become satirical towards the two men and Hermia which not only offends

Another example of Love present in the play is unrequited love. This love is presented through the characters Helena and Demetrius. Helena is deeply in love with Demetrius, but

7. What is Lysander’s comment about Demetrius’s previous love affair with Helena? What does this say about

Occurring in Act 2 scene 1, Helena informs Demetrius of Hermia and Lysander’s plans to run away together in hopes of winning Demetrius’s heart. After hearing about their plan, Demetrius is determined to stop Hermia and pursues after her into the woods. Helena isn’t far behind and tries to reason with Demetrius. Once again she expresses her love for him and even offers him to do anything

The obstacle that Helena faces occur because of her love for Demetrius. She is in love with him, however the love is not returned. Helena’s love stems from a night she spends with Demetrius. Lysander explains that Demetrius has won Helena’s heart by saying, “Demetrius, I’ll avouch it to his head, Made love to Nedar’s daughter, Helena, And won her soul; and she, sweet lady, dotes,” (Shakespeare 1.1. 108-110). Demetrius does not have any feelings for Helena, he uses her for his own sexual pleasure, However, Helena falls more in love with Demetrius after she experiences the sexual act. This further causes a strain in Helena because of the feelings she has for Demetrius. Helena must figure out whether he shares the same feelings that she does for him. Helena recognizes that her love for Demetrius has a strong influence on her actions. Helena explains that she loves Demetrius’s very basic qualities saying, “So I, admiring of

Love is anonymous. It is superior to everything that matters. Love is a test, that sometimes can be failed, or sometimes can be worth those one- hundred points. Love is messy, and unorganized, it spills over the edges of everyones life. When love is controlled, it is complicated to figure out how to deal with it. It can have a good or bad ending. Confusion can occur when the love is tampered with. It can be saved with re-uniting of the love, and then living a happy ending. Many love connections are effected somehow either that person doing it to themselves, or someone else who mixes the love relationships up . Confusion within the love can cause misconception and turn into a disaster amongst each other. In Midsummer Nights Dream by

Only in the forest do women exercise power. How far do you agree with this statement?

The two locations of Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' are essential to the development of the plot, although their presentation relies wholly on the characters we meet there, their adventures and their descriptions of these places. Athens is not an accidental choice of location: although much of the detail of the play is quintessentially English, the classical setting enables Shakespeare to introduce the notable lawgiver, who has had his own problems in love; it makes plausible the reference to the severe law, and it allows Oberon to refer seriously to Cupid and Diana without the play's seeming blasphemous.

What literary criticism lens is most effective in creating meaning and entertainment throughout Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream? The play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, has several characters involved in a love triangle. Many scenes in the story involves power being used or taken away and use of money. Throughout the play, readers and viewers experiences Hermia’s power is being taken away by her father, Eugues,which is her kindred, not letting her marry the man she truly loves,Lysander. Later throughout the story, Robin, character from the story contains a enthrall love juice that has power and makes another character from the story, Titania, fall in love with a donkey.The marxist literary criticism lens is the most effective in creating meaning and entertaining readers and viewers in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Mandy Conway Mrs. Guynes English 12 16 March 2000 A Critical Analysis of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" William Shakespeare, born in 1594, is one of the greatest writers in literature. He dies in 1616 after completing many sonnets and plays. One of which is "A Midsummer Night's Dream." They say that this play is the most purely romantic of Shakespeare's comedies. The themes of the play are dreams and reality, love and magic. This extraordinary play is a play-with-in-a-play, which master writers only write successfully. Shakespeare proves here to be a master writer. Critics find it a task to explain the intricateness of the play, audiences find it very pleasing to read and watch. "A Midsummer Night's Dream" is a

Throughout history literature has changed into many different forms and styles, it has also stayed the same in many different ways, literary techniques and elements are key to a good piece of writing, a perfect example that shows us just this is in, A Midsummer Nights Dream, where we will further explore the different literary elements that were used most notably the plot. The plot of a story lays out the foundation and the background for the entire play to come, we'll compare and contrast this element and look at the different sub elements which are produced. We will define similarities and difference in these elements form both the play o the film. Taking a look at things such as climax, play incidents, and the conflict will all give us