Literary Love Essay

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.

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

At the time, Lysander and Hermia were completely smitten with each other. But her father Egeus disapproved of their relation and wishes for Hermia to marry Demetrius. He comes to Theseus with these concerns and uses his Athenian rights to chose the man his daughter wed. Disrespecting his daughter’s feelings and clearly biased against Lysander, Egeus went so far as to dishonor him before the duke and force Hermia into a position where she must follow his wishes, die or become a nun. Hermia refuses every option, but their love is clearly disrupted with this great obstacle. In contrast to Egeus’ claims of Lysander’s trickery, Hermia and Lysander are clearly devoted to each other. Hermia clings onto their love and Lysander comforts her in a manner that gives him the reputation of a romantic. Before concluding, “So quick bright things come to confusion”, he says that “The course of true love never did run smooth” (Shakespeare, P15). Love brings happiness, it nourishes the soul and completes one’s heart, but it can fall short just as easily and bring about even greater hate. Another example of this involves the Oberon and Titania, the King and Queen of fairies respectively. They start off as a separate layer in this play and though their fondness for each other isn’t described as thoroughly, their conflict stands

The journey that Richard and Mildred Loving took is important for history and for the future of civil rights in the United States. I recently watched the documentary The Loving Story and enjoyed the footage, pictures, and interviews of everyone involved in the Loving v. Virginia case. The documentary addressed the issue of interracial marriage in Virginia in 1967.

Much has been said about love, but if you search the horizon, you will discover that most of the things written about love are either pithy or cynical.

There are copious amounts of evidence within this story to support the theme of forbidden love, the theme of love gone wrong, and the theme of unconditional love. The theme of unconditional love is nearly screaming from each line of the play. The audience is made aware of the love between Lysander and Hermia very early on. Hermia’s father wishes her to marry Demetrius and he mentions that she belongs to him and therefor if she doesn’t do as he asks he can have her killed. Despite this Hermia pleads,

A Midsummer Night’s Dream could have easily been a light-hearted, whimsical comedy. Complete with a magic forest and a kingdom of fairies, it is an iconic setting for amorous escapades and scenes of lovers. But Shakespeare’s writing is never so shallow; through this romantic comedy, Shakespeare postulates an extremely cynical view of love. A Midsummer Night’s Dream becomes a commentary on the mystery of love, and lovers in general emerge shamed. Especially in the episodes among the four young Athenians, the lover is painted as a fickle creature, always changing his or her mind, and love as a passing phenomenon. Love is not an unfathomable, kind emotion, but it is ironically cruel,

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

“O, take the sense, sweet, of my innocence! Love takes the meaning in love's conference.” Lysander's quote, “The course of true love never did run smooth,” is proven throughout the play as three couples face challenges and hardships as time goes on, that no love is easy and that anyone would do anything they can to keep the love they have. In “A Midsummer Night's Dream,” there are many examples of rough love, as seen with Hermia and Lysander when Lysander stops loving Hermia, when Helena love Demetrius but he does not love her back and with Titania and Oberon, as they argue over the changeling boy.

Does Lysander love me anymore? In an attempt to escape Hermia’s duties as a daughter and a woman, Lysander composes the idea of running away into the forest where his aunt lives while being unaware of the effects it may have on his relationship with Hermia as well as their trust for one another. Living so close to the forest allows not only Hermia and Lysander to escape from their problems but as well as the Athenian people looking to commit a crime or freely express themselves. In the Discussion of Egeus marriage arrangement, Lysander gives Hermia immense confidence for a marriage in the forest assuring her “I could marry you there, gentle Hermia, where the strict laws of Athens can’t touch us.”(I.i.ll 160-1) referring to the strict laws of Athens shows the tremendous lack of freedom towards the citizens of Athens especially women forced into marriage. Agreeing with this plan causes a ray of happiness towards Hermia allowing her to share the secret with her lifelong friend Helena soon revealing her plans to Demetrius, her true love, overflowing him with determination to find Hermia before marrying Lysander. As the four lovers scavage through the forest on the hunt for their cravings disaster strikes as a fairy servant is sent to withdraw the love for Hermia from Demetrius into Helena causing a catastrophic change of fate among Lysander and Hermia. As Lysander walks up with the essence of the flower of love on his eyelids to the presence of Helena in front of him, shapes true love into an illusion. The confrontation of disbelief from Hermia assures she feels “Can you hurt me any more than by saying you hate me? Hate me? Why? What’s happened to you, my love? Am I not Hermia? Aren’t you Lysander?...you still loved me when we fell asleep, but when you woke up you left

Lysander demonstrates another example of the struggle of a relationship. In Scene 6: Another Part of the Forest a Few Minutes Later,, Hermia is now sans lover due to the fact that Lysander loves Helena at the moment. Lysander claims, “Coward! (to Hermia) Take your hands off me, or I will shake thee from me like a serpent… Thy love? Out loathed medicine! O hated potion, away.” In this scene, Lysander suddenly loves Helena instead of Hermia and Demetrius later in the scene fights with Lysander over Helena. This represents the complication of love because Hermia was the person who was loved by both men and now is totally disregarded in an instant. Clearly, Lysander and Hermia has many complexities throughout their relationship

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.

Love is difficult to define, difficult to measure, and difficult to understand. Love is what great writers write about, great singers sing about, and great philosophers ponder. Love is a powerful emotion, for which there is no wrong definition, for it suits each and every person differently. Whether love is between family, friends, or lovers, it is an overwhelming emotion that can be experienced in many different ways.

I met her two years ago and we did not have much to say at that time. Little did I know that she would later steal my heart and become an intimate part of my life. As the saying goes "there is someone for anyone at any time in this life" and I was about to find out that this saying was so true. I have had a wall built around me and my defense was as a stronghold to protect myself from all the relationships that have come and gone over the years. I thought that I was meant to be alone in this old life and happiness was forever gone from me. This wonderful woman I am speaking of is Mary Doe, and the joy she has given me has revived my hope and faith that I may have finally found love and peace within. She has made me feel like I am a child

Love is an abundant emotion that has different degrees. There is familial love, friendly love, unconditional love, and of course romantic love. Romantic love will be the superstar of this article. Romantic love may be around every corner whether between an old couple or a young teenage romance. However, love is not the easiest thing to attain. It is such a simple concept, though a difficult thing to actually have a person’s hands on.