Many people go through different chaotic experiences in their lives, however, how one decides to restore order to their chaos, is most important. In William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, due to simultaneous appearances of chaos throughout the play, it leaves the audience speculating about the order yet to come, thus, developing/strengthening the plot of the play. The various occurrences of order and chaos within the play include the arguments between Titania and Oberon, the unstable love circle between the four lovers and finally the bizarre relationship between Titania and Bottom. To begin with, the first occurrence of order and chaos within the play concerns Oberon and Titania and their quarreling. When the two main powers of the …show more content…
Shakespeare really spends a lot of time developing the chaos of the lovers, making the conflict much more intricate than any of the other cases. Lysander originally loved Hermia but now because of Puck and his potion, Lysander confesses his love for Helena saying “Not Hermia, but Helena I love.”(II.ii.119). Furthermore, Demetrius also falls in love with Helena and this causes many chaotic fights between the four lovers. The chaos is the most magnified here, because of the positive relationship the lovers had before it makes it harder for the audience to process their shocking altercations now. Like always, the restoration of order draws near the end of the play due to Shakespeare needing to develop different conflicts simultaneously. Oberon resolves the chaos by telling Puck to put a juice on Lysanders' eyes in order to reverse his previous spell (III.ii.452), this leaves the love circle altered to everyone’s liking and also resolves the fighting simultaneously. Throughout the play, Shakespeare has shown the audience the relationship between all of the lovers, he intertwines the real world and fairy world in order to effectively develop the plot by having the lovers directly impacted by fairies plan, concurrently, making it the most significant case of order and chaos. The final case of order and chaos that the audience experiences is presumably the …show more content…
The last consequence of the fairy world and real world colliding involve Titania and Bottom. Due to Oberon clouding Titania’s vision and Puck turning Bottom into an ass, it mixes together perfectly, to form a very humorous, yet chaotic situation. This relationship is very important for the structure of the play due to it being it the base for the entire plot. The whole reason Titania and Bottom’s relationship prevails is that Oberon needs a distraction for her, it would make his task much easier to acquire the child if Titania was preoccupied. The main plot revolves around this and soon after, more conflicts follow. This the last conflict that Shakespeare must restore order to, making it a very important moment. Oberon restores order to the situation after he has met his goal, saying “I will release the fairy queen [Squeezing a herb on Titania’s eyes]”(IV.i.69), Titania has no memory of the child or their altercations, therefore their relationship is now as it was before the child. Soon after, Hippolyta makes a remark indirectly addressing the order and chaos within the play,
Furthermore, Titania complains due to Oberon’s actions, she and her fairy friends have been unable to meet anywhere for their usual dancing and frivolity without being disturbed. In order to further expand the point of the irrationality of love to the audience, Shakespeare continues to use hyperbole to express her intense feelings. Titania reasons that because of Oberon’s insistence on taking the Indian boy as his knight, there is no place for her to meet—not “on hill, in dale, forest, or mead, by pavèd fountain, or by rushy brook, or in the beachèd margent of the sea” (Shakespeare II.i.86). His continual interruptions have prevented their dances and moreover, his revenge has brought about terrible consequences for the human mortals. As Shakespeare details the affects, he imaginatively uses personification to describe the pale moon in her anger filling the air with disease and the icy winter wearing a crown of summer flowers in mockery. As Titania’s closes her long rant directed at Oberon, she concludes by confessing, “And this same progeny of evils comes from our debate, from our dissension, we are their parents and original” (Shakespeare II.i.118). As a
Hermia of course is in love with Lysander , and Lysander is in love with Hermia. But there is also, Demetrius who is also in love with Hermia and Helena who is in love with Demetrius. They have been through many obstacles, like in the Act 3 scene 2. After Puck put the love potion on Lysander and he fell in love with Helena, he has followed her around nonstop. As Helena goes to find Hermia, Lysander follows close behind. “Lys: Why should you think that I should woo in scorn? Hel: You do advance your cunning more and more.” This is Lysander and Helena talking to each other, Lysander saying why would I mock you if I love you and Helena saying you just get better and better at your jokes, but in a sarcastic way. This shows the relationship between Hermia and Helena in Shakespeare's a Midsummer’s Night Dream.
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.
Titania, before her bewitchment, warns Oberon that their own lovers' spat is causing havoc on earth. She speaks of "winds, piping to us in vain/As in revenge" (2.1 88, 90), of the moon, "pale in her anger" (104), and how the seasons "change/Their wonted liveries" (112-13). At first, Oberon cannot see beyond his jealousy of the little changeling Titania has adopted. He sets into motion fantastic spells that upend real love, mimicking the more serious complications wrought by human politics. Naturally, Titania's premonition bears fruit when Puck transforms Nick Bottom into an ass, and again when Lysander falls in love with Helena and forgets about Hermia. These turns of events eventually worry Oberon, too. He tells Puck to make sure to "lead these testy rivals so astray/As one come not within another's way" (3.2 358-59). He prescribes the potion to set things straight, calling the evening's pranks "a dream and fruitless vision," and declaring that with his corrective action, "all things shall be peace" (3.2 377).
Some optimists have compared love to a blissful dream, but Shakespeare's clever intrigue shows what a confusing nightmare love can be. As the audience ponders the revelry they have just seen as the play comes to a close, Puck steps forth to conclude the confusion:
In William Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream is about the love quadrangle that develops among Hermia, Helena, Lysander, and Demetrius. While a group of actors rehearse a play in the woods, and find their lives changed by the doings of Oberon and Titania, the king and queen of the fairies. It begins with Hermia refusing to marry Demetrius and her running into the woods with Lysander. When Hermia finds out and reports this to Demetrius in hopes of gaining his attention. Hermia likes him but he does not like her back. These relationships on who likes who all get messed up thanks to Puck, who on Oberon’s orders puts a love potion in Lysander's eyes creating the love quadrangle. The reason for the love potion being Oberon is jealous of Titania and the changeling boy. Matt Groening once said “Love is a perky elf dancing a merry little jig and then suddenly he turns on you with a miniature machine gun.” and the audience can see this play out in a Midsummer Night’s Dream when things like the love potion come into effect and everyone is falling in love with the people they do not want to.
Love, while considered to be a wonderful experience, can also be a turbulent force that causes chaos. In Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream, love contributes much to the conflict involving Lysander, Demetrius, and Hermia. This conflict is shown in three ways: Hermia's life is threatened for wanting to marry the man she loves. Hermia and Lysander are forced to make a risky decision to preserve their love, and a hateful relationship forms between Demetrius and Lysander due to their love for Hermia. The confused relationships between these lovers causes turmoil within A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Titania is able to swiftly understand things distinctly again, and though Titania seems to not remember why or how she had ended up alongside the absent-minded Nick Bottom, Titania surely no longer wants to be in his presence. Another major change is the heartfelt tone of Titania and Oberon's relationship. Titania and Oberon started out, in the play, fighting
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.
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
With the variety and emphasized themes of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare was able to make this play particularly relatable. Everyone has experienced the phenomena of dreaming. The subtle series of thoughts, emotions, or scenarios intertwined together to makeup another dimension during sleep. Humans and even other organisms on earth inherit the ability to dream. The characters, throughout the play, reminisced on the obscure and bizarre events that took place in their dreams.
Another conflict that shows the contrast between rationality and irrationality is the relationship dynamics of Titania and Oberon, the queen and king of the fairies. They are both extremely stubborn and selfish, which causes a disturbance in the typical weather patterns of their realm. In spite of their responsibility to ensure the well-being of the forest, they argue over foolish things-especially over the Indian boy that Titania has been raising. Oberon decides he cannot be happy unless he has the boy for himself, and resorts to desperate measures to get his way. In this case, irrationality wins against rationality. Rather than working through his marriage problems with Titania, Oberon sends Puck to put a potion on Titania’s eye, which makes her fall in love with the first thing she sees. This conspiracy allows Oberon to snatch away the child while Titania is distracted. Although the marriage worked out in the end, it is based on the deception of a desperate husband who wanted his way.
This leads Oberon to take matters into his own hands. Where Puck was taking the place of Cupid, casting love relatively blindly and stupidly about the forest, as"...love [is] said to be a child because in choice he is so oft beguil'd" Oberon, therefore, takes the place of reason in the unreasonable realm of love. True love in A Midsummer Night's Dream is in 3 forms. Theseus and Hippolyta, Oberon and Titania and Hermia and Lysander.
The fairy king and queen live in a type of parallel universe to their human counterparts. The forest that they live in represents a break from reality, or at least the reality initially presented. Despite their supernatural abilities, Oberon and Titania endure arguments like any couple, which instantly creates a blurring of reality and fantasy in the play. It is from an argument regarding the young Indian prince that propels Oberon to be at odds with his wife, which compels him to create chaos through magic. He is driven by the love for his wife, and love is also a prevalent theme throughout the play. It is love that drives all the characters, and not always rationally. As Robert Dent writes in his article, “Imagination in A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, “love sees with that part of the mind that has no taste of judgment (177)”, which is clearly displayed by the couples in the play. Interestingly, the blurring of reality and illusion originates with a lover’s spat, highlighting the impact that love can have on reality.
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.