A Midsummer Night’s Dream Essay: Order and Disorder

Although Hermia and Lysander are in love, Egeus attempts to exert control over them by arranging Hermia to marry Demetrius. He declares, “As she is mine, I may dispose of her;/Which shall be either to this gentleman/Or to her death, according to our law” (1.1.42-44). At his side, Theseus furthermore exerts control with an additional option, “To death, or to a vow of single life” (1.1.121). This also affects Helena’s love for Demetrius, since the marriage is arranged by Egeus rather than between Hermia and Demtrius. However, Demetrius himself attempts to exert his control her as well as Lysander by declaring “Thy crazed title to my certain right” (1.1.92).

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

Hermia and Lysander behave irrationally throughout the whole play because they’re head over heels for each other; however, their love is oppressed by both her father Egeus and the strict Athenian law. In Act 1, Scene 1 when Egeus is at court with Hermia he uses a demanding and dominating tone to state, ‘as she is mine i may dispose of her’ This causes them to act spontaneously and irrationally and as a consequence, they run away from Athens to get married. This entertains the audience by adding more conflict and complication to the story. After they elope to the forest, magic becomes the force that turns love to a dramatic and conflict filled experience that is also entertaining. Lysander acts in irrational ways when he is put under the spell of ‘Love in Idleness’ where he states how madly he loves on Helena, and how much he hates Hermia. ‘Hang off, thou cat, thou burr! Vile thing, let loose, / or I will shake thee from me like a serpent.’ Derogatory language and repetition is used to emphasise his hate toward Hermia and orders her to leave him alone. For example, in Act 3, Scene 2, Lysander has fallen in love with Helena and tells Hermia how he hates her. ‘Out, loathed medicine! O hated potion, hence!’ Conflict between characters create comedy in the play which entertains the audience because of the dramatic irony. Lysander’s insults in the statement are repetition as it is the same meaning but in different words. This language technique emphasises that Lysander wants Hermia to leave him alone.

Eqeus attempts to steal Hermia’s free will through the Athenian Law. For example, “Full of vexation come I, with complaint against my child, my daughter Hermia” (1.1, 23-34, Shakespeare). In this quote, Eqeus is attempting to steal Hermia’s free will. Eqeus is explaining to Theseus that Hermia is disobeying his command. Hermia wishes to marry Lysander, but her father wants her to marry Demetrius. Therefore, Eqeus is attempting to strip Hermia of her free will and use power to carry out his actions. Furthermore, in Act Two, Shakespeare incorporates fairies. The reader is introduced to Puck, Oberon, and Titania. Oberon, the king of the fairies, Titania, the queen of the fairies, and Puck, a servant. Using lines, “Churl, upon thy eyes I throw all the power this charm doth owe” (2.2, 78-79, Shakespeare), the reader learns fairies can use magic to manipulate free will. Puck placed a love potion on Lysander’s eyes, which results in chaos. The lines, “Where is Demetrius? O, how fit a word. Is that vile name to perish on my sword!” (2.2, 106-107, Shakespeare), show this chaos, Lysander now wishes to kill Demetrius for

Furthermore, the law was another problem obstacle that influenced affected love negatively. The Athenian law states that every woman must obey obey her father. “To you your father should be as a god.” (Shakespeare, 11). This quote states that to women, their father should be their God, only obeying him. and the only one they should obey. Hermia’s father, Egeus, refuses to allow to her to marry Lysander, as we wants her to marry Demetrius. Egeus uses using the power of the law over Hermia and this is is demonstrated when he says “As she is mine, I may dispose of her.” (Shakespeare, 11). Lysander and Hermia’s relationship is affected because Hermia must obey her father or face the consequences of the law. Additionally, the law impacts affects the love between Hermia and Lysander because Egeus takes the issue to the Duke, Theseus. Theseus states;

Despite magic and freedom there is also a hierarchy commitment, Puck serves to Oberon, Fairies serves to Titania. Oberon used the magic and deception to obtain desired. But he doesn’t like the results of misunderstood between lovers caused with magic, he orders Puck to prevent fight between Lysander and Demetrius “and all things shall be peace”.

Likewise, in A Midsummer Night's Dream, dreams mix with reality in the form of characters and their actions, mainly during the interaction between the Lovers and the Fairies. Hermia, committed to marry Demetrius by her father, Egeus, is instead in love with Lysander. Not desiring to go along with her father's primary plan, Hermia’s only options given to her by her father and Theseus, the dispenser of justice, are “Either to die the death, or to abjure /

Displaying her anger, she tells Helena: “I am amazed at your passionate words. /I scorn you not: it seems that you scorn me.”(III.ii.223-224). Although it is nice that Oberon cared about Helena, he should not abuse his power by meddling with the affairs of humans. Though Oberon tried to blame Puck for all the problems: “This is thy negligence. Still thou mistakest, /Or else committ’st thy knaveries willfully.”(III.ii.356-357), It was of no fault to Puck that the love potion was used on the wrong man because the only way that Oberon described Demetrius was by his Athenian garments, and both Demetrius and Lysander were wearing Athenian garments: “Did you not tell me I should know the man /By the Athenian garment he had on?”(III.ii.359-360). It was Oberon’s fault that the four lovers had a confusion because he was the one who ordered Puck to use the juice on Demetrius and Lysander. Also, Oberon knew that Puck was careless and should not have trusted him with such an important task. Although Oberon did not give precise instructions, Puck rushed and acted without thinking, much like his Master often does. When he was searching through the forest, Puck said:

As the play begins to unfold love is immediately illustrated to be the main theme of the play; starting with a wedding and leading up to tears shed by miserable lovers.Although it is an extremely rewarding, love is never an easy adventure. Lovers must be prepared to protect and fight for one another against everyone and anyone. In Hermia’s tragic situation her enemy was her father. Egeus passionately voices his disapproval by taking his daughter to Theseus and stating, “ full of vexation come I with complaint Against my child, my daughter Hermia.—Stand forth, Demetrius.—My noble lord,This man hath my consent to marry her.—Stand forth, Lysander.—And my gracious duke,This man hath bewitched the bosom of my child” (1.1. 22-27). When love is at last passionately felt amongst both lovers, it encounters a malevolent invincible demon; parental disapproval. Hermia and Lysander’s love is cursed and forbidden by her father’s

So, Hermia and Lysander decide to leave Athens to escape the law. Theseus found the lovers in the woods and stated “You pretty lovers are lucky you met me here. We’ll talk more about this later, Egeus.” (Act 4, Scene 1) Theseus decides that he’ll “overriding your wishes.

In the city of Athens the strict laws forbid Hermia and Lysander from happily marrying each other. For this, they conclude that the only way that they can be truly happy together is if they run away with each other to the rule free forest. Lysander and Hermia believe that the forest will offer them an escape from their dictated lives in the city.

The biggest obstacle in this play occurs when the power of love is challenged by authority. The play starts with Theseus, duke of Athens, being eager to marry Hippolyta, who he wooed with his sword in combat. Although Theseus promises Hippolyta that he will wed her “with pomp, with triumph, with reveling,” true love between them is questionable. By starting the play with Theseus and Hippolyta, Shakespeare hints the audience of the authority involved in their marriage and leaves the audience wonder if they actually love each other. The focus is then shifted to the four lovers: Hermia, Lysander, Demetrius and Helena - by establishing the story of Hermia being forced by her father, Egeus, to marry Demetrius, when the person she actually wants to marry is Lysander. However, Egeus

Shakespeare creates a sense of irony when Oberon, a fairy, makes two burly men, Lysander and Demetrius try to destroy each other for love. In this unfortunate event, Lysander was fighting for who he believed to be his true love. Lysander actually loves Hermia and they were gonna get married. Lysander would sacrifice anything for love because he fights for love, and he puts himself in danger for love. Early on in the text, Lysander fights for love.

The disorder throughout the play has been caused by the use of mythology. When Lysander and Hermia decide to run away together to his aunt's house, they are not aware of the presence of the fairies in the forest. The fairies Oberon and Titania who are king and queen are having a dispute about who gets the changeling boy. Oberon is angered about losing the dispute with Titania so he calls upon Robin Goodfellow to find a magical flower with the power to make someone fall in love. When Oberon sees Demetrius trying to get away from Helena he tells puck to find an Athenian man being chased by a woman in the forest and use some of the juices to make them fall in love. Oberon sees what happens and says“What hast thou done? / Thou hast mistaken quite / And laid the love juice on some true-love’s sight. Of thy misprision must perforce ensue”(III, ii, 90-92). Oberon sees the love juice worked, but on the wrong Athenian man. Oberon tells Robin he has mistaken

5. She decides to enter a nunery and live alone if she cannot marry Lysander.