A Midsummer Night's Dream Research Paper

True love’s path is paved with every step. Through the assistance of fanciful elements as well as characters Puck and Oberon, the true message of love in William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is revealed. The four lovers know the direction in which their hearts are inclined to turn, but when the love potion is administered, the bounds of their rectangle are thrashed without knowledge or consent. The rapid shifts in affection between the play’s “four lovers” is representative of the idea that love isn’t a conscious choice, but a cruel game in which we are the figurines, being controlled by whomever the player may be, relating the characters’ karmic fates.

Love is a timeless topic. It will forever be the theme of popular entertainment and source of confusion for men and women alike. No one understands this better than William Shakespeare, and he frequently explores this complex emotion in his plays. In "A Midsummer Night’s Dream" Shakespeare cleverly reveals the fickle and inebriating aspects of love through his mischievous character Puck.

A Misummer Night’s Dream is a comedy play written by William Shakespeare. In this play there are multiple themes however the most evident theme is love. Why is love an evident theme? It is an evident theme because the play commences with two Greek mythology characters─ the Duke of Athens, Theseus and Amazon queen Hippolita planning their marriage. However as Theseus plans his marriage he has to help Egeus persuade his daughter Hermia to marry Demetrius. Unfortunately both the Duke and Egeus failed to persuade Hermia into marrying Demetrius so the fairies (another set of characters. The fairies in this play consisted of goddess of chastity and Queen of fairies, Titania and King of fairies Oberon and his assistance Robin Goodfellow) decide

Puck manipulates Titania and Bottom through magic. Titania loses all free will, while Bottom is changed into a donkey against his will. For example, “And thy fair virtue's force perforce doth move me On the first view to say, to swear, I love thee (3.1, 140-41, Shakespeare). Titania loves Bottom, who has the head of a donkey, against her free will. Oberon placed a love potion on Titania’s eyes, which resulted in Titania loving Bottom. Furthermore, Bottom was changed into a donkey by Puck. The lines, “I see their knavery: this is to make an ass of me; to fright me, if they could” (3.1, 119-20, Shakespeare), allow the reader to know Bottom has the head of a donkey. In Scene Two, Hermia, Helena, Lysander, and Demetrius have conflict. In the lines, “Now she holds me not; Now follow, if thou darest, to try whose right, of thine or mine, is most in Helena” (3.2, 336-37, Shakespeare), Lysander begins to argue with Demetrius about Helena. Lysander’s loss of free will results in conflict. In the lines, “I will not trust you, I, nor longer stay in your curst company. Your hands than mine are quicker for a fray, my legs are longer though, to run away” (3.2, 341-44, Shakespeare), Helena is attempting to run away from the situation because Hermia was upset with the situation. Act Three summarizes the conflict. Shakespeare uses the loss of free will to spark conflict

I had the pleasure of seeing one of William Shakespeare’s most beloved comedies, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, performed beautifully at the Tucker Theatre at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro. This performance space looks more like an industrial warehouse than an art house, but walking in we are transformed to the magical land of Midsummer. I chose A Midsummer Night’s Dream play because its major theme is love. There is plenty of comedy to entice those who are not interested in love, and there are some fairies. Another theme is friendship. Friends and what they think and say are extremely important. Most will have had some experience of two

Two other mortals have entered the woods that night as well, Demetrius and Helena. Helena, hopelessly in love with Demetrius, is following him on his mission to find his betrothed, Hermia, and they are also subjected to the mischievous workings of Oberon and Puck. Oberon, after observing the two young mortals, feels bad for “sweet” Helena, that even though she is professing her undying love and devotion to Demetrius he rejects her at every turn. Demetrius hatefully tells Helena “ I’ll run from thee and hide me in the brakes, and leave thee to the mercy of wild beasts’’, along with other loathsome statements, in rebuttal to Helena’s

Puck’s interference with the Athenian citizen’s relationships and the love flower emphasizes the “the difficulties of love, the power of magic, the nature of dreams[,] and the relationships between fantasy and reality” (Bordas del Prado). When Oberon sends Puck to mess with Titania, Puck makes her fall in love with Nick Bottom, a member of the Athenian working class, after giving him the head of a donkey. When Titania professes her newfound love for Bottom, he admits, “Methinks, mistress, you should have little reason for that: and to say the truth, reason and love keep little company together nowadays” (Shakespeare). Bottom sees how illogical Titania’s interest in him is, but he goes along with it anyways. Puck creates such a strange relationship out of thin air, between two people that have absolutely nothing in common. The theme of love being completely unpredictable is evident between these two, as well as it is between the four Athenian lovers. Though Puck stirs up trouble, he is a benevolent spirit, and can easily convey the message of love to the audience. Many times in Shakespeare’s play, the main protagonist ends the show with a recap of events and a goodbye blessing. At the end of the play, Puck closes the show with a positive narration, “We will make amends ere long; else the Puck a liar

In the comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the plethora of comedic styles used by Shakespeare illustrate his intention to poke fun at love throughout the play. The play is notorious for its intricate and irrational plotline, mainly due to the constantly shifting love triangles. Once the powerful fairies become involved with the fate of the naive lovers – Demetrius, Helena, Lysander and Hermia – matters are further complicated. The complication inflicted by the fairies is credited to the powerful love potion that Oberon, King of the Fairies, hands over to Puck, a mischievous fairy, to use on his wife Titania, with intentions to embarrass and distract her. This spiteful attitude is due to Oberon and Titania’s argument over the custody of an

As the blurring of reality and illusion progresses, Oberon uses the unreliable Puck to spread the love potion, which completely upends all sense of reality for the wayward couples. Throughout this confusion, real emotions are being affected. As Dorothea Kehler suggests in A Midsummer

     In the movie version of A Midsummer Nights Dream, Puck has a more overt sense of humor. Although the dialogue is purely Shakespeare, the actions and direction of Puck’s character bring a new perspective to the story. When we are first introduced to Puck in the tree, he plays some jokes, such as vanishing, and turning up in a goblet of wine. He is speaking the same lines as in the play, but the addition of visual humor adds to the appeal of the original play. One is again exposed to this when Oberon and Puck discuss the flower while lying in the forest. Puck imitates Oberon’s position, adjusting himself in a friendly mocking manner towards his master. One also gets the impression from Puck’s body language that, although he

After observing the senseless behavior of the Athenian lovers, Puck exclaims to Oberon, “Lord, what fools these mortals be” (III.ii.115)! This line, aimed at Lysander’s foolish behavior is meant to be humorous, but it also cleverly addresses the prominent theme of the story: that love is not under human control. Puck is clearly referring to the foolishness and exaggerated emotions of the four lovers in the play; however, Shakespeare also intends to target the audience members by emphasizing that humans in general have the tendency to do and say crazy things because of love’s powerful grasp on their emotions. Therefore, a character such as Puck, according to Robert Diyanni, “may remind us in some ways of ourselves; they may appeal to us because they differ from us” (Diyanni 1270). Although the Athenian lovers neglect to realize the extent of their ludicrous behavior, their unbalanced emotions are very noticeable to the fairies, who replace the audience’s role in this scene. Moreover, it signifies the contrast between both the human lovers, who become so entangled in a disarray of emotion, and the enchanting fairies, always playful and rascally in

William Shakespeare is the author of the comedy play ‘A Midsummer Nights Dream’. This play was written around 1595. In this essay I will be answering the question how does Shakespeare creates humour in act 5 scene 1. There are many reasons as to how the play was humorous; one of the main reasons was the staging you would have the real audience, the court on the stage and on the original stage you would have the mechanicals perform. The other reasons on how Shakespeare creates humour are with the characters (fairies, court and mechanicals) and the repetitive incorrect use of language and errors. An example of this could be when in act 5 scene 1

Not only that, but to make a fool out of herself to fall in love with a beast. Puck is the character that embodies the play the most with tese little actions causing confusion within the lovers lead to the main plots in this play creating larger problems making him the center

I decided to do this part of the play because it's  where everything goes wrong. Oberon asked Puck to smear the potion on Demetrius eyes so that he will fall in love with helena. But Puck spreads the magic potion over Lysander’s eyes, thinking Lysander is Demetrius. Lysander falls into love with Helena, who thinks he is toying with her. Then, Puck spreads the potion over Demetrius’ eyes, so that he, too, is in love with Helena. Helena thinks that both boys are cruelly mocking her, while Hermia is left alone and equally confused. Puck's mistake separated true lovers that is hermia and lysander. This part therefore is very significant to the play.

A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play about four Athenian lovers. Theseus listens to both Hermia and her father’s request and he tells her to bend to her father’s will or die due to the old Athenian law. Hermia and Lysander flee Athens, into the domain of the fairy kingdom. At this time, Oberon is in a fight with Titania. This fight is over a human child of Titania’s friend. Oberon tells Puck, one of his loyal servants, to get a flower hit by Cupid’s arrow, and drop the oil into Demetrius’s and Titania’s eyes. However, Puck drops the oil into Lysander’s eyes due to Oberon’s vague description, making him fall in love with Helena and despise Hermia. Titania falls in love Bottom, who has the head of an ass, after Oberon places the oil