Love In A Midsummer Night's Dream Research Paper

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.

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.

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;

Although love is typically a positive emotion or concept, it is most often truly a more negative notion, due to its consequences. Love is known to bring people together in the beginning, but also tends to customarily pull or even break people apart by causing chaos and rivalry. The loss of love could even cause insecurities to surface. In Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, one of the lovers, Helena, is scorched by love’s misfortunes when it comes between her and her ex-lover, Demetrius.The misfortunes of love force Helena into becoming an insecure woman who allows her emotions to cloud her judgement.

Hermia and Lysander are one of the many couples that are madly in love. Even more in love since they aren’t supposed to be, as Hermia’s father wants her to marry a different man, Demetrius, else being forced into nunnery, or even killing her. When the couple

Love, a concept so difficult to define and understand, is perhaps the most complicated human emotion. In Act 1, Scene 1 of A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare, Helena’s soliloquy reveals her negative outlook on love as irrational and blinding. Scorned by the lack of affection from Demetrius, she rants about the treachery of love and the illusions that it creates. She claims that “things base and vile, holding no quantity, love can transpose to form and dignity" (23). Helena fathoms that people who are the most awful creatures can seem beautiful and extraordinary to someone who is in love.

In the play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, written by William Shakespeare, a literary technique known as “doubling” is used to convey entertainment, mystery and reality as the story line for Lysander and Demetrius, Helena and Hermia, Oberon and Theseus, and Titania and Hippolyta. ”Doubling” shows indistinguishable personalities of each character but completely contrapositive background stories and actions. Lysander and Demetrius are completely identical except for their personality, actions, and the fact that Egeus and Theseus do not approve of Lysander as Hermia’s spouse. Helena and Hermia are very alike except for the minor differences in their appearances. The third doubling relationship is shown in between the rulers of the different worlds who are Oberon and Theseus as well as Titania and Hippolyta. Throughout the play, three pairs of people who are all tantamount to each other in appearance but completely different in actions continue to have comedic and humorous scenes while hidden clues along the way disclose information to unveil a delightful and realistic story.

The two are the second couple presented in the play, and their love is entirely sincere, but Hermia’s father desires her to marry Demetrius. Though she wants to obey her father’s wishes, she struggles to do this because of her bold and genuine love she has for Lysander. Through this initial conflict, Lysander and Hermia know that their love will conquer because it is true, and they will survive the circumstances no matter the consequences (A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Act I, SC I, 150). Lysander, of course, insists on fighting for their love, “Ay me, for aught that I could ever

Since the beginning of time, the ideas of love and the carnal need of lust has plagued the human race. In William Shakespeare’s works, he too, often makes the distinction between love and lust, but what message is he trying to portray? Is he on team love or team lust? In William Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream and in his poem “Venus and Adonis”, Shakespeare clearly argues that true love is a temporary, irrational, deceitful facade that cannot be trusted, and lust is the “real love” and the true concept that is driving the world.

Egeus then enters with his daughter, Hermia, and demetrius and Lysander. Hermia must choose between Demetrius, who loves her and is who her father wishes her to marry, or Lysander, who Hermia is in love with. She must choose by the time

Several examples of forced love are shown all throughout the play, especially because enchantment plays a major role in the play's plot. However, some characters are given the opportunity to reject the love that is being forced upon them, while others are not. Hermia is one example of a character who is given the opportunity to reject the love that is being forced upon her. Her father, Egeus, is commanding her to marry Demetrius even though she is clearly in love with Lysander. She ignores her father’s command and runs off with Lysander instead, thus rejecting the love being forced upon her. Lysander and Hermia are the only two characters in the play who are truly in love. Yet, their love is forbidden by both Hermia’s father and by Duke Theseus. Hermia’s father speaks of Lysander’s love as witchcraft, saying Lysander is “the man that bewitched the bosom of my child” and “with feigning voice verses of feigning love/stol’n the impression of her fantasy” (1394, lines 31-2). Another example of forced love

Egeus did not agree with Hermia and demanded that she marry Demetrious who loved her otherwise he would put her to death as per law of Athens. Hermia was not interested in Demetrious and loved Lysander who loved her. The strain of being put to death by her own father put a lot of stress on Hermia, therefore she planned to move to a new city with Lysander. This part of the play has developed the theme of the story regarding love as many of other characters then come out and confess their love for other characters, which leads to any broken hearts, dilemmas, 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.

Critics might say that Lysander is more loving than Demetrius who is more manipulative and rude (to Helena). This remains true in the beginning of the story, but as the story continues we see that Lysander also can be rude. “Content with Hermia! No: I do repent the tedious minutes I with her have spent. Not Hermia but Helena I love: Who will not change a raven for a dove?,”(II.ii.113-116). Demetrius also said similar things. “Tempt not too much the hatred of my spirit; For I am sick when I do look on thee,”(II.i.215-216). They both can be rude or loving at certain times proving they are indistinguishable. Lysander and Demetrius both act in the same

The love between Hermia and Lysander is sophisticated because Egeus wants Hermia to marry Demetrius as he has the power to choose who she marries according to the Athenian law. Their love also gets more complex when Theseus says she has four days to decide to either become a widow, die, or marry Demetrius. Secondly, Helena loves