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Essay on A Midsummer Night’s Dream: The Variations of Love

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Love is only as strong as the people who share it. In William Shakespeare’s play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, there are relationships from all different viewpoints of love. Four Athenian lovers are caught in a web of love for the wrong person, according to fellow peevish characters. Along the story line of the play, one will be introduced to additional characters that try to be helpful by committing acts they presume will benefit the young lovers, but these characters actually create plot-twists. Also, there are other characters that have the authority to change whatever they feel is necessary without thinking twice. Furthermore, throughout this humored play, Shakespeare portrays various forms of love through arranged marriages, forbidden …show more content…

Helena, whom fancies Demetrius, decides to inform him of the happenings between Hermia and Lysander. Demetrius, infuriated by this news, decides to follow Hermia and Lysander out in to the forest. Helena is following along; against Demetrius’ repent of the action. Ultimately, along the love story between Hermia and Lysander we discover the second variation of love in the play: forbidden love. These two characters, desperate for one another, decide since their love is forbidden in their own home, they will travel to someone else’s and finally become one. This is their silent protest to what the Duke and Egeus have declared of their love. In Act II Scene 1, you are introduced to Oberon, the reigning king of the fairies, to Puck, Oberon’s servant of sorts, and to Titania, the queen of the fairies. Oberon and Titania are in a quarrel over a young boy, which Titania currently has possession of. Oberon desperately wants to have the boy from Titania, despite her repetitive negative answers. Oberon then turns to his ways of magic, seeing as he is the king of the fairies. He orders Puck to go find a flower he describes as “…now purple with love’s wound”, to use to distract Titania (Crowther). “The juice from this flower, when placed on the eyelids, can cause the person to fall in love with the first thing they next see” according to Oberon’s magical knowledge (Dowd). Oberon, then seeing how Helena chases after

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