How Does Shakespeare Show Love In A Midsummer Night's Dream

Hermia, originally the Apple of all Athens’ eye, put on an impossible pedestal by both Lysander and Demetrius, seems to trade social standings with the outcast Helena. It seems that Hermia doesn’t fully appreciate the quality of her state. She complains that her father will not allow her to merry her true love Lysander, and pawns her off to the inadequate Demetrius. Never can she accept the flattery of Demetrius’ unrequited love which her best friend would do anything to sincerely receive. Instead she revels in wonderment: “The more I [Hermia] hate, the more he [Demetrius] follows me” (I.i.198). Her unhappiness is far heightened when her two followers are given the love potion, turning them against her and beckoning to Helena. The cruel swap of fates lets the two female characters feel as though in the others’ shoes. It’s Hermia’s karma for being ungrateful at the attention bestowed upon her all these years that leads her to this harsh lesson.

Throughout the play A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare uses both fate and free will to present his philosophy towards the nature of love. The characters struggle through confusion and conflicts to be with the one they love. Although the course of their love did not go well, love ultimately triumphs over all at the end of the play. The chaos reaches a climax causing great disruption among the lovers. However, the turmoil is eventually resolved by Puck, who fixes his mistake. The confusion then ends and the lovers are with their true love. Throughout the play Shakespeare's philosophy was displayed in various scenes, and his concept still holds true in modern society.

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.”

Another example of Love present in the play is unrequited love. This love is presented through the characters Helena and Demetrius. Helena is deeply in love with Demetrius, but

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

When Helena and Demetrius were together, she was perfectly content and satisfied with herself. She knew of her magnificent beauty and high potential. Unfortunately, when Demetrius strayed from her, her self-confidence dropped several notches, and she no longer thinks of herself as desirable nor beautiful. Then, after Puck anoints Demetrius’ eyes with the love potion, he falls back in love with Helena. However, she thinks he is mocking her, and in her eyes, it is a very repulsive deed. Love’s misfortunes consequently vanquish all of Helena’s self-confidence and prompt her judgement to become

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.

In the beginning of Romeo and Juliet, it appears Romeo’s love for Rosaline must be definite and well-grounded, he strikes one as being amorous and determined, perhaps even stubborn. Then it is revealed that as well as being ornery, Romeo is also fickle, because his feelings change in the second he meets Juliet. This characteristic, indecisiveness, is also a trait of Demetrius’ in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The background for the play is that Demetrius was in love with Helena, in fact they were engaged, but after meeting Hermia, he became enchanted with her and began to detest Helena. Helena explains this in a monologue when she says, “For ere Demetrius looked on Hermia’s eyne, He hailed down oaths that he was only mine; And when this hail some heat from Hermia felt, So he dissolved, and show’rs of oaths did melt.”

Different Aspects of Love Presented in William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream Lysander + Hermia = True love? Sexual Attraction (Lust) ------------------------------------------------------- Titania + Oberon = Love or hate (Married )

In its main plot, A Midsummer Night's Dream is a humorous entanglement, created out of mistakes and many confused lovers. Altogether there are four couples who are of main concern in the play: Hypolita and Theseus, Hermia and Lysander, Helena and Demetrius, and finally, Oberon and Titania. While each of these couples are together at the conclusion of the play, they experience many bumps in the road to their “happily ever after”. Shakespeare presents these love stories as extremely fickle and extreme. In order to portray this, he used many symbols to develop the plot.

Is love a remedy to one’s sorrow or the unfortunate reason of their unhappiness? Love is a feeling that overtakes a person when they are around something or someone they admire. It is present everywhere, in every form, in every condition and even when one least expect its. Although love is said to bring happiness to a person’s life; in the play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, it led the characters into a world of confusion and misunderstanding. Love is chaotic, unpredictable, and leads to sorrow. It is a hard concept to compromise with and if there are any misunderstandings, it could lead to a complicated and difficult life. In the play, Hermia has her heart broken by Lysander; Helena is confused about the sudden love events of her life, and

“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.

The Theme of Love in A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare In A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare presents us with multiple types of love by using numerous couples in various different situations. For example: Doting loves, the love induced by Oberon's potion and in some aspects, Lysander and Hermia's love for each other; there are true loves: Oberon and Titania, Lysander and Hermia (for the first half at least, as Lysander's love switches to Helena temporarily) and Theseus and Hippolyta. Also, there is Helena's love for Demetrius, which could be described as a true love, even though at first it is unrequited.

Her reality of love is questioned because there is no significant reasoning to why she loves Demetrius. So, her love is viewed as pure lust. The more she tries to chase Demetrius, the more he will distance himself from her--their love is based on just honest disinterest. Also, she is a fixed character of gender reversal by pursuing love more aggressively than a woman in her era is suppose to because they are meant to be chased, not be the chasers: “We cannot fight for love as men may do:/ We should be wooed, and were not meant to woo”(2.1.241-242). When Helena talks about the difficultness of fighting for love between men and women, she explains that women are not “meant to” have the power or strength to continously to fight for love like men because that chase should be the men’s role. Helena’s perspective can be illustrated as her love not having the same worth as if Demetrious were to chase her. Also, it shows Helena as a paradox of the non-tradition of chasing men but needing the tradition to design the worth of love. Likewise, Helena is persistent in chasing Demetrious until he loves her back. Her perspective of love is viewed as being childish, blinded by love. She attempts to seduce him in multiple occasions but he continously dismisses her and Helena uses comical language to tell him that she will never give up on him: “I am your spaniel, and, Demetrius/ The more you beat me I will fawn on you”(2.1.203-204). Shakespeare explores the subjectivity of the character’s different views of reality when it comes to understanding