A Midsummer Night’s Dream Essay: The Perspective of Theseus

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

With these features she Helena says that she would attract Demetrius and except him, unlike Hermia who wishes him away. She asks Hermia to teach her the art of her beauty and win the affection of Demetrius heart. The last character that shows jealousy is Hermia. She shows Jealousy when Lysander is spelled, and falls for Helena. While under a spell, Lysander tells Hermia:

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.

The strong friendship between Helena and Hermia quickly disintegrated when they became involved with the two men. The love potion was meant to help, but Puck's mistake managed to completely reverse the relationship. When both Demetrius and Lysander were under the influence of the "love-in-idleness" flower, Helena believed that both were mocking her.

Lysander on the other hand was not able to hold on to his love for Hermia during the time in the woods. In the beginning he started out madly in love with Hermia and unable to hide his true feelings for her. He was forced by the spell to forget about Hermia and instead he wanted her friend Helena, because of the nectar in his eyes, which made him fall in love with the first person he sees (intervention of supernatural, to change destiny). Lysander chased Helena and begged for her love. The spell from the nectar caused Lysander to take a totally different view on his life. Now, he wanted Helena and he could not even stand to look at

Classical ideals of behavior between man and woman are presented in the play. Also Theseus seems to be noble and smart ruler, who cares about his nationals.

William Shakespeare starts with a seemingly unresolvable conflict in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The main characters are lovers who are either unrequited in their love or hassled by the love of another. These lovers are inevitably paired. How does Shakespeare make this happen? He creates many subplots that, before long, are all snarled up into a chaotic knot. So, what actions does Shakespeare take to resolve these new quandaries? He ends up trusting a single key entity with his comedy. It’s only then that he introduces a special character into his world: a mischievous fairy whom is known by the name of Puck. Puck is the catalyst for all these subplots and, indeed, for the entirety of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Try to take Puck

With its majority of scenes set in a fairy land, Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream still feels much more authentic and tangible than many other love stories, such as Romeo and Juliet, because the play greatly exposes the real difficulties of love. Such difficulties come not from external causes, but instead from the dark vision of our own human natures. In real life, the various impediments of love that Lysander and Hermia have mentioned, including “war, death, or sickness,” actually barely exist, but what we do face is the all-thwarting tests given by our own hearts (Shakespeare 1.1.142). To be more specific, in “The Darker Purpose of A Midsummer Night’s

Thus the order Oberon gives to Puck is in contrast to Cupid’s concept of being blinded by love, Fetch me that flower; the herb I show’d thee once: The juice of it on sleeping eyelids laid will make or man or woman madly dote Upon the next live creature that it sees. (2. 2.169-172). Puck, being the mischievous of fairies, had not correctly done what he was ordered to do by Oberon. In which, lead the chaos of making Lysander and Demetrius blinded by love towards Helena, whom was initially madly in love with Lysander without any love potion confused and betrayed. The setting and the concept of a dream like play due to the prevalence of the fairy world, which also creates an aspect of illusions. Which also is prevalent in the concept of blind love, and how it can be an illusion to those that are entrapped due to the love potion. Another important victim of the love potion was Titania, the Queen of Fairies by Oberon:

Ryan: And of course, Lysander wakes up to Helena, falling madly in love with her. But then Helena´s all like, you´re mocking me, what did I do to deserve all this embarrassment. But Lysanders dead serious, he was all out for Helena and started following her through the forest

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

“O, take the sense, sweet, of my innocence! Love takes the meaning in love's conference.” Lysander's quote, “The course of true love never did run smooth,” is proven throughout the play as three couples face challenges and hardships as time goes on, that no love is easy and that anyone would do anything they can to keep the love they have. In “A Midsummer Night's Dream,” there are many examples of rough love, as seen with Hermia and Lysander when Lysander stops loving Hermia, when Helena love Demetrius but he does not love her back and with Titania and Oberon, as they argue over the changeling boy.

Where Shakespeare's tragedies will tell the story, chiefly, of a single principal character, this is rarely the case with his comedies. The comedies are more social and deal with groups of characters. In the case of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the principal groups are, at first, introduced severally. Though, one group may interact with another (as when Puck anoints Lysander's eyes, or Titania is in love with Bottom) they retain separate identities.

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