A Midsummer's Night Dream

The love that Lysander and Hermia share is very unlike the relationship between Helena and Demetrius. Lysander and Hermia have loved each other for a very long period of time and have dreamed of getting married. However, Hermia’s father, Egeus, disapproves of this couple. Hermia and Lysander’s love for each other is tested when Egeus tries to shatter their relationship

Lysander and Hermia also portray true love. Refusing to marry her suitor, Demetrius, she willingly gives up everything and runs away from Athens with her lover, Lysander, “There my Lysander and I shall meet, and thence from Athens turn away our eyes.” In the play within the play, Pyramus and Thisbe also present us with true love. Their situation

Hermia’s love for Lysander can be seen as genuine as she states ‘I would my father looked but with my eyes’ which means she wishes her father could see Lysander the way she does. This suggests that she is not under his spell as she truly sees him with her own eyes, and loves him. The audience also sees that she is very passionate about Lysander, as she chooses to ‘yield my virgin patent up’ and live the life of a nun or die rather than ‘wed Demetrius’. We also see the love between Lysander and Hermia is genuine later in Act 1 Scene 1 when ‘Exeunt all but Lysander and Hermia’, as it appears that Lysander is finishing Hermia’s sentences, indicating they are very familiar with each other, and he is comforting her lovingly. Lysander also states ‘true love never did run smooth’ which suggests they truly believe what they feel is true love. Another technique used by Shakespeare to emphasise their love is vivid imagery. Hermia’s speech declaring that she would meet Lysander in ‘the wood’ is filled with imagery suggesting love and passion, such as ‘by Cupid’s strongest bow’ and her reference to the Greek Goddess Venus: ‘By the simplicity of Venus’ doves’, emphasises her passion for Lysander.

Midsummer Night’s Dream is a Shakespearian comedic play with three separate, converging story lines. The story lines consist of a love feud, chaos in the fairy kingdom, and a group of struggling actors in Athens. The love arc consists of four lovers: Lysander, Hermia, Demetrius, and Helena. Lysander and Demetrius both love Hermia and Hermia wants to be with Lysander, meanwhile, Helena hopes to regain Demetrius’s affection. The fairy arc is a feud between king Oberon and Queen Titania; the two accuse each other of infidelity and Oberon wants Titania’s changeling boy because he wants Titania all to himself and the Changeling will be his henchman. Oberon has his friend and right hand Puck help him execute his plan that he creates in order to have

Several relationships begin true love such as Hermia and Lysander’s and Hypolyta and Thesus’ but some that did not begin in true love, end as true love such as Helena and Demetrius’.

“The course of true love never did run smooth” (1.1.134) is very true in the play, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”. Throughout the play three different couples’ love lives become very messed up in the play. The course of all their love lives become full of problems, which are all caused by a love potion, which was meant to fix all of the lovers’ problems. “The course of true love never did run sooth,’ (1.1.134) applies to Demetrius and Helena, Hermia and Lysander, and Titania and Oberon.

Love is such an abstract and intangible thing, yet it is something that everyone longs for. In Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the difficulty of love is explored through the obstacles that characters have to face while pursuing their loved ones. Those characters that are in love in the play were conflicted with troubles; however, the obstacles of love do not seem to stop them from being infatuated with each other. The concept of true love is examined throughout this play. By creating obstacles using authority and a higher power, Shakespeare examines the power of love. Through Hermia and Lysander’s loving words, it is reasonable to conclude that love conquers all if you believe in it.

Anyone can have affection towards anyone at any time. Love is unexpected. This quote is important because it illustrates the theme of love. This quote is later presented in the woods by having Lysander and Demetrius switch their passion from Hermia to Helena. It gives us an understanding of how Lysanders love for Hermia ends quickly with a drop of magic love juice.

“Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, and therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.” This quotation of Helena’s is one of the most significant quotes in the entire play as it defines love. Love is a slippery substance according to her and most of the actors in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Does this mean Shakespeare is trying to tell us that love isn't smooth? Indisputable, he wants to send us a message.

Shakespeare’s language usage in Midsummer Night’s Dream is full of strong metaphors to help emphasis important laws on human nature. A perfect example of a metaphor Shakespeare uses to shake up our understanding on people is when Hermia states, “That he hath turn’d a heaven unto a hell!” while exchanging words with Helena. This metaphor was used by Hermia in an attempt to explain the strength of her love for Lysander and to ease Helena’s uneasy mind. Her uneasy mind was apparent upon the initial greeting offered by Hermia. Instead of a formal greeting back, Helena begins complaining about how lovely Hermia’s features are. Concluding her rant, Helena asks Hermia for advice on how to win over Demetrius. Hermia, seeing Helena in clear distraught, attempts to ease her mind by telling Helena of her and Lysander’s plans to leave Athens. Upon doing so, she directly relates Athens to a “paradise” she once knew. The restrictions within Athens, preventing her from loving Lysander, has turned this “paradise” unto a “hell”. This is made clear to the reader when Hermia says, “Before the time I did Lysander see, / Seem 'd Athens as a paradise to me”. Hermia’s love for Lysander simply trumped her love for Paradise and in having to decide between the two, Hermia chooses Lysander. Throughout the rest of Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare consistently uses powerful metaphors, such as the one Hermia gave, within the dialect of the characters to draw conclusions on the chaotic and foolish

(3.2.290-291). Hermia had thought that Helena had stolen Lysander’s affection from her, enraging her and thus creating an even larger conflict (for the lovers) in the process than if they had settled things in a civilized

For example, Lysander explains to Hermia that love is difficult, and that we need to be patient for it to be right. "The course of true love never did run smooth," he stated (Ii136). He elaborates on this by saying, "war, death, or sickness did lay siege to it" (Ii146). Lysander understands that love can be interrupted at any moment, and that is part of what makes it difficult. According to him, this problem can make love seem as momentary as a sound, swift as a shadow, short as any dream, brief as the lightning in the coiled night" (Ii145-147). Helena is facing a different problem: imbalance. She loves Demetrius to a great extent. However, Demetrius hates her thoroughly. The thing that is ruining her love, in this case, is another person. Her once loyal lover, Demetrius, immediately turned his back on her when he saw Hermia. And in the story, Helena is described to be as fair and as wealthy as Hermia. Helena, in her lines, relates love to child "because in choice he is so often beguiled" (Ii248). Shakespeare portrays the idea that love can be deceiving when Helena states, "things base and vile, holding no quantity,/love can transpose to form and dignity" (Ii241-242). Clearly, she also knows that love can trick people, and that will never allow it to run smoothly. All in all, love in the play goes wrong in numerous places due to its instability and its ability to deceive

Shakespeare's play “Midsummer Night’s Dream” was portrayed very effectively through the Hoffman movie as it followed the themes of the original play, it effectively uses cinema techniques, and helps the audience connect and learn. Theme are an important part of a play and the Hoffman movie admires these themes and portrays them phenomenally well. The Hoffman movie shows the power of dreams and how real they seem but at the end some of us are affected as others are just touched. A major theme of shakespeare's play is reality vs dream, the Hoffman movie portrays this theme very similarly resulting in a more influential play that follows shakespeare's ideas and so without the replica of these themes the movie wouldn't seem as a effective representation.

Lysander and Hermia are lovers without much difficulty in the beginning of the play, but through their love they incite

A Midsummer’s Night Dream, possesses four different perspectives of one intertwined plot. It begins with Hippolyta and Theseus planning their wedding. Then, the conflict is introduced where a young woman, Hermia, has to choose between marrying a man she does not love, Demetrius, or being punished by death or becoming a nun for disobeying her father because she loves another, Lysander. There is also a woman, Helena, who is in love with Demetrius, but he does not feel the same towards her. These young lovers become victims of Oberon’s scheme.