Love: Trifle or True? Throughout history, many things have changed. Humans have completely altered the standards of living, and inventions such as electricity have even created separate realms of reality. However, one thing that has stood the test of time is love. Even from the start of time, humans have been seeking it, falling in and out of it, and creating art, stories, and plays about it. One play in particular is “Midsummer Night’s Dream” by William Shakespeare. In this play, Shakespeare articulates how love is either changing, unrequited, or true. William Shakespeare portrays how sometimes love changes as the circumstances change, which indicates that it could not be true love. Throughout the play, several characters change their minds about who they love. For example, when Oberon gives Titania the love potion, she immediately falls in love with Bottom, whom Robin turned into an ass. However, when Oberon gives her the antidote, she “wakes” and her eyes “loathe his visage now” (Shakespeare 4.1.77). Shakespeare puts a comedic twist on the power of “love at first sight,” relating Titania’s bout with Bottom ending as quick as it begun. Often people believe they found their true love only to discover that person is not what’s best for them. Likewise, when Lysander falls victim to the same potion, he declares: “Not Hermia, but Helena I love. Who will not change a raven for a dove?” (2.2.120). Lysander’s fatuation suddenly switches from Hermia to Helena, with his reason being that she’s better looking. Shakespeare is hinting at the fact that people are always chasing the latest and the greatest, be it goods to accessories to love partners, so when someone seemingly better comes around, people often leave whom they previously loved without warning. Additionally, when Demetrius falls under the spell, he denounces his love for Hermia, for now he loves Helena. He claims, “If e’er I loved her, all that love is gone” (3.2.173). Demetrius completely changes his stance on who he loves, and assures Helena he is hers. Shakespeare creates a picture of how people who are quick to love sound in a new relationship, and depicts how fragile their relationship is. Thus, throughout the play and through numerous examples,
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.
When love is in attendance it brings care, faith, affection and intimacy. This is proved true in the spectacular play A Midsummer Night's Dream written by William Shakespeare. This play displays the facts about lust, hatred, jealousy and their roles in something powerfully desirable. It is entitled love. Love is present everywhere, in every form, in every condition and even when one least expects it.
Love is a very common theme that is seen in literature, and love is one of the most powerful things that can be felt for someone or something. Love can drive a person to do incredible or horrible things, and we see many forms of love that take place in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. This is demonstrated in the book by many characters including Hermia and Lysander who demonstrate true love. Titania and Bottom show magical love. In the play, love is also the cause of a few broken hearts. While there is no one common definition of love that suits all of the characters, the romantic relationship in the play all leans to one simple rule laid out by Lysander, “The course of true love never did run smooth.”
Love comes with many complications and faces many obstacles. Shakespeare clearly portrays illustrates these difficulties this them through various relationships in his play, ‘A Midsummer Night's Dream’. The characters face different obstacles which affect their relationships negatively. In the play, ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream,’ the main obstacles that cause negative effects on love are the use of magic, the law, and misunderstandings as well as and false assumptions.
People come up with contradictory answers when they try to describe love. Love lasts forever between two people whom fate matches together. Love changes like the tide; it spreads any direction on a whim as one gleans new information about the object of his or her affection. Some people say they control their own emotions; they allow themselves feel what they want to feel. Yet others say free will does not apply to emotions, love in particular, and that everyone lives without knowledge of what can appear just around the corner. In the Elizabethan era romantic comedy, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, William Shakespeare uses hilariously absurd situations to attempt to explain human behavior in the face of love, to prove that love turns people into complete fools when they fall for someone else.
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.
Shakespeare uses many different themes to present love; relationships, conflict, magic, dreams and fate. Overall, he presents it as something with the ability to make us act irrationally and foolishly. Within A Midsummer Night's Dream we see many examples of how being 'in love' can cause someone to change their perspective entirely. 'The path of true love never did run smooth' is a comment made from one of the main characters, Lysander, which sums up the play's idea that lovers always face difficult hurdles on the path to happiness and will usually turn them into madmen.
Love is one of the most difficult mysteries of life. The difficulty of love is shown throughout A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In the play, the characters have to deal with jealousy that comes along with being in love. Love’s difficulty in the play comes from love being out of balance. Love being out of balance is a romantic situation where a difference gets in the way of happiness in the relationship. William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream demonstrates these conflicts with a little bit of humor and buoyancy. The four young Athenians have many difficulties with love. Hermia loves Lysander and Lysander returns the feelings; Helena loves Demetrius but Demetrius loves Hermia. The two men love the same women, which leaves Hermia
Love is a term used daily in one’s life. Many categorize love in many forms. These forms differ from one-another such as the difference between love for food and love for one’s spouse. However, in the play; “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, love takes different forms than the ones experienced in reality. One can classify the different types of love used in this play into three different categories; true love, love produced by cupid’s flower, and the state of lust.
What is love? Love is a very powerful emotion! Love is something that can come at any time in your life. It can appear in any way, shape, or form. In the famous play “Midsummer Night's Dream,” by William Shakespeare, love is a major theme that affects many people and causes many challenges. In order for love to conquer these challenges one needs to stay true to their love, they may need the help of some magic, and must be persistent.
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.
In Twelfth Night, Feste asks the “most simple and at the same time most complex of questions,” “What is Love?” (The English Review). Some people believe that love is easy, effortless, and leads to fairytale endings. However, in Twelfth Night, Shakespeare shows the other side of love. Love is not a simple feeling, and it is a confusing emotion which leads to heartbreak, or pure happiness. These two polar opposites are derived from either true or false love. Shakespeare portrays the idea that love is not always easy, and differentiates between false and true love in Twelfth Night.
“It is the nature of people to love, then destroy, then love again that which they value the most.” –Unknown. Countless authors have tried to display love as human nature, but no author does this better than the famous playwright, William Shakespeare. In both Hamlet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare exhibits how love can control a person. To understand how love controls a person, one must understand that human nature is the sum of qualities and traits shared by all humans. All humans have exhibit love in one way or another, which explains how human nature relates to the controlling aspect of love. In Hamlet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, conflicts between loyalty to family and friends, lack of trustworthiness towards others,
“The course of true love never did run smooth,” comments Lysander of love’s complications in an exchange with Hermia (Shakespeare I.i.136). Although the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream certainly deals with the difficulty of romance, it is not considered a true love story like Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare, as he unfolds the story, intentionally distances the audience from the emotions of the characters so he can caricature the anguish and burdens endured by the lovers. Through his masterful use of figurative language, Shakespeare examines the theme of the capricious and irrational nature of love.