Intricacies Of 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.

The play Midsummer Nights Dream consists of many types of love. William Shakespeare does this so that he can make the audience compare how the types of love fluctuate. The types of love vary from emotional love to political love. Other types of love in the play is Titania and Oberon who have been married for a very long time, both inflict pain and trickery on each other regularly. The romantic relationships in this play all act upon one straightforward quote said by Lysander —‘the course of true love does not run smooth’.

First of all, Helena and Demetrius are two lovers who have a very complicated love life. Helena is a young woman who falls in love with Demetrius and cares about nothing more than indulging in his presence. Helena follows Demitrius into the woods one day and conveys her love by stating that “the more you beat me, I will fawn on you” (II.i.205). Helena wants to be with the man she loves more than anything; she is ready to take any risk just to see his face and be next to him. However Demetrius despises Helena. He acts ill-natured towards her and makes it very clear that she means nothing to him. Demetrius tells Helena about his hatred towards her and states “for I am sick when I look on thee” (II.i.213). He wants Helena to know how much he loathes her and how he would never want anything to do with her. Notwithstanding their original relationship, Demetrius begins to fall in love Helena and starts seeing her in a new vision as the play progresses. Demetrius receives a spell which makes him fall deeply in love with Helena and praise her. However, even after the spell stops being effective, Demetrius develops a desire to be with Helena and even marry her. The relationship between Demetrius and Helena has many erratic times and misunderstandings until the couple finally begins to truly love each other.

Love and lovers, both can be described as many different things. William Shakespeare shows us this in his play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In this play we see all types of love, from passionate love to foolish love. Along with this we also see different types of lovers and pairs. Examples of these lovers come from pairs like, Hermia and Lysander, Demetrius and Helena, Titana and Bottom, and Oberon and Titana. It seems that in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare shows different types of love and lovers.

One of the many themes of the play is that of love. Many different types of love are depicted in the book. There is: Parental Love (Egeus and Hermia, Titania and Little Indian Boy), Friendly Love (Helena and Hermia, The Workmen), Unrequited Love (Helena and Demetrius), Official Love (Hermia and Demetrius), Argumentative Love (Oberon and Titania), Mad Sexual Love (Bottom and Titania),Passionate Love (Hermia

The relationship between Helena and Hermia displays friendship love: "Is all the counsel that we two have shared, The sisters' vows, the hours we have spent" (Act III, Scene II, Ln 188-189). This clearly shows the strong bond between Helena and Hermia. The fact that they confide in each other and have secrets between them shows trust, love and a strong friendship. The last phrase of the quote suggests a deep and long history between them, and this in turn implies the idea of friendship-love to be more long lasting, because the quote gives the idea the friends to be like sisters. Much like when Helena is listing out the comparisons of their closeness:

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

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 presents love through the relationship shared by Hermia and Lysander. This relationship, at the start of the play, is portrayed as the traditional true love;

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

Helena and Demetrius spend the night together which causes Helena to fall in love with him. Except Demetrius does not return her feeling of love and instead likes her best friend Hermia instead. When Demetrius is under the love potion he says “Lysander, keep thy Hermia. I will none. If e’er I loved her, all that love is gone. My heart to her but as guestwise sojourned And now Helen is it home returned, There to remain.”(Act 3 Scene 2). He pursues Helena and toys with her feelings (even though it wasn’t intentional) showing that love indeed can change and turn on

A prevailing couple that proves the statement correct is Demetrius and Helena. In Act I Scene I, Demetrius is in love with Hermia, regardless of having first made love to Helena. This then affects Helena by becoming infatuated with him. Towards the end of Act I Scene I the readers see how obsessed she is with Demetrius. She is willing to go to all lengths and even betray her friend to get the approval of Demetrius.

As at the end of the dream during the wedding after the hilarious play, Demetrius finally found love for Helena and let Hermia go so she could be with Lysander. In conclusion we all want to find love in our lives with family and friends. Now the way we do this can make us do crazy out of this world things or just completely irrational. It can make us happy because we are blessed, or we can be cursed and plagued because we love but are not loved.

Although Hermia harshly attacks Demetrius continuously, Demetrius still believes that he loves Hermia. Helena also is a victim of the illusion of love and is aware of it. By claiming, “and as he errs, doting on Hermia’s eyes, so I, admiring of his qualities,” she accuses Demetrius for making a mistake by presuming that he is in love with Hermia, but also acknowledges her mistake of loving Demetrius when he doesn’t actively love her back (23). Continuing to criticize the deceptions that love conjures, Helena declares that “love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind.” Although it may seem as if this statement was preaching that love is based on rationality, Helena is actually exploiting the fallacies in love’s logic.

In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare explores the subjectivity of love. The play shows the absurdity of love through its characters like an episode of “MTV The Real World”: they fall in love, break up, lose friendships, and someone will ultimately look like an ass. Shakespeare’s play examines the combination of both traditional and non-traditional gender roles affecting the character’s perception of their respective romantic relationships. Shakespeare then questions whether love is real through Lysander and Helena. Shakespeare’s play as a whole demonstrates how initial perceptions of love are subject to transformation. Both the characters and the play debunk that love is static, but rather an ever metamorphosing reality.