Examples Of Forbidden Love In A Midsummer Night's Dream

Although Hermia and Lysander are in love, Egeus attempts to exert control over them by arranging Hermia to marry Demetrius. He declares, “As she is mine, I may dispose of her;/Which shall be either to this gentleman/Or to her death, according to our law” (1.1.42-44). At his side, Theseus furthermore exerts control with an additional option, “To death, or to a vow of single life” (1.1.121). This also affects Helena’s love for Demetrius, since the marriage is arranged by Egeus rather than between Hermia and Demtrius. However, Demetrius himself attempts to exert his control her as well as Lysander by declaring “Thy crazed title to my certain right” (1.1.92).

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

Hermia and Lysander behave irrationally throughout the whole play because they’re head over heels for each other; however, their love is oppressed by both her father Egeus and the strict Athenian law. In Act 1, Scene 1 when Egeus is at court with Hermia he uses a demanding and dominating tone to state, ‘as she is mine i may dispose of her’ This causes them to act spontaneously and irrationally and as a consequence, they run away from Athens to get married. This entertains the audience by adding more conflict and complication to the story. After they elope to the forest, magic becomes the force that turns love to a dramatic and conflict filled experience that is also entertaining. Lysander acts in irrational ways when he is put under the spell of ‘Love in Idleness’ where he states how madly he loves on Helena, and how much he hates Hermia. ‘Hang off, thou cat, thou burr! Vile thing, let loose, / or I will shake thee from me like a serpent.’ Derogatory language and repetition is used to emphasise his hate toward Hermia and orders her to leave him alone. For example, in Act 3, Scene 2, Lysander has fallen in love with Helena and tells Hermia how he hates her. ‘Out, loathed medicine! O hated potion, hence!’ Conflict between characters create comedy in the play which entertains the audience because of the dramatic irony. Lysander’s insults in the statement are repetition as it is the same meaning but in different words. This language technique emphasises that Lysander wants Hermia to leave him alone.

True love is shown in various places in the play. One of the earliest couples that demonstrate this is Theseus and Hippolyta. They stay true and loyal to each other, showing their desires and passion for each other. The way Theseus has portray his love to Hippolyta is by his eagerness to be wedded to her, “Another moon – but O methinks, how slow this old moon wanes!” By the end of the play, they are happily married.

Love is a theme which reoccurs through many of Shakespeare’s Plays. In ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, the theme ‘Love’ is presented from the very beginning in Act 1 Scene 1, through Shakespeare’s use of poetic language, structure and vivid imagery.

In the story, both in the play and in the movie, Egeus and Theseus were discussing on Hermia and how she needs to marry Demetrius. Since Hermia does not love Demetrius, she wants to marry Lysander. When Egeus and Theseus offer Hermia to either die, become a nun all her life, or marry Demetrius, Hermia is not afraid. Her love for Lysander is that great, that she is willing even to die for

In the opening scene, Hermia refuses to follow her father’s orders to marry Demetrius and instead, demands to stay with Lysander. To act on the situation, Egeus appeals to the duke, Theseus, to force his daughter to marry Demetrius. Turning to Hermia, Theseus then tells her:

Egeus was trying to control Hermia and make her marry Demetrius which loves her but Hermia’s heart wants Lysander. In act 1 scene 1 it states, “If she won’t agree to marry Demetrius right now, I ask you to let me exercise the right that all fathers have in Athens ….. As the law says: I can either make her marry Demetrius or have her killed.” Egeus would do anything to make his daughter to marry Demetrius.

Egeus appears to seem exceptionally instructing and strict. His character speaks to that the father has the privilege of the way and the supervisor. The reason being is despite the fact that Hermia is frantically infatuated with Lysander he rejects them to wed. Egeus inclines toward Demetrius to wed her since he trusts that he is most appropriate for her. As I would like to think I trust the reason Egeus won't need his little girl to wed Lysander is on the grounds that he won't know him exceptionally well. He likely knows Demetrius better as a character and, since he knows him exceptionally well. possibly in Egeus' brain, he is by all accounts most appropriate for her. Likewise, every father needs the best for their little girl and needs them to be cheerful. He may trust that Demetrius will convey bliss to her more than Lysander on the grounds that since he knows him well than Lysander in his eyes he's the ideal man for her. Despite the fact that each father needs their little girl to be happy, they ought to hear her out too as opposed to settling on their own

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

In the beginning of the story Hermia’s father is talking to Theseus about what is to happen to his daughter due to the fact that she doesn’t want to marry the man who’s proposed to her. At a point Egeus says, “Stand forth, Lysander. And, my gracious Duke, This man hath bewitch’d the bosom of my child…. as she is mine, I may dispose of her, Which shall be either to this gentleman (Demetrius) or to her death, according to our law Immediately provided in that case”(1.1 26-27….43-46). Egeus seems convinced that Lysander has cast a spell on his daughter’s heart and he doesn’t approve of it. I feel that he forbids their love from happening when he claims that she is his and because of that and the law, he can either force her to marry Demetrius or have her killed. Along with the forbidden love of Hermia and Lysander, Shakespeare also uses the unrequited love between Helena and Demetrius to build up to his point of love.

Shakespeare uses the theme of love to fuel the plot but creates a vastly tangled web of people affected positively and negatively by it. The play demonstrates forced love through a series of substantial occurrences playing with emotions shown through control, manipulation, and jealousy. Athenian law is very clear on one point. A father has the right to choose a husband for his children, and Egeus claims that right of his rebellious daughter, Hermia. Egeus insists that she marries Demetrius yet Hermia is in love, but with another man, Lysander.

Hermia believes in true love and wishes to marry Lysander. However, the lovers face many difficulties, which makes Hermia very upset and distraught. She is frustrated “to choose love by another’s eyes” (1, 1, 140). Though Hermia is powerless as a woman, she is opposed to the Athenian law and would rather die than marry a man of her father’s choosing.

Lysander: I am ,my lord, as noble and rich as he is. I love Hermia more than he does. My prospects are as good as Demetrius’, if not better. Which is more than all those other things I’m braggin about. Beautiful Hermia loves me. Why should I not be able to marry her? Demetrius, I will say it to his face, courted Nedar’s daughter, Helena, and made her fall in love with him. Sweet lady Helena loves adoringly. She adores this horrible and unfaithful man.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream supports the idea that pursuing love can take over the person’s action. In the play there were four characters in a love triangle, where the actions that seemed irrational were presented out of them. The character who best represents the idea that love can blind people to their actions is Helena. She seemed very desperate for him in the play by chasing him around. Helena showed that, love is blind when she told a secret to Demetrius, when she chased him around and  by the way she speaks to him.