Midsummer Night's Dream

A flower was struck by the arrow of cupid. Consequently, a love flower was born; the nectar of this flower when applied to someone’s eyes will make them fall in love with the next living thing they see. Oberon orders Robin to apply the nectar to Demetrius’ eyes because he notices how mean he is to Helena. Unfortunately, Robin anoints the eyes of Lysander instead. When Lysander awakes, the first person he sees is Helena. Lysander claims to Helena,”Content with Hermia? No, I do repent The tedious minutes I with her have spent”(1.1.118,119). The love flower makes Lysander fall in love with Helena. The flower is a major challenge for the couple because Lysander is suddenly madly in love with Helena. Lysander and Hermia left Athens to escape the law together. Unfortunately, Lysander despises Hermia. When Hermia awakes, she does not see Lysander and begins to worry. Hermia sobs to Demetrius, “If thou hast slain Lysander in his sleep, Being o’er shoes in blood, plunge in the deep And kill me too”(1.1.49-51). Lysander is chasing Helena whom he loves because of the flower. Helena thinks Lysander is playing a practical joke. Meanwhile, Hermia believes that Demetrius kills Lysander. The quote demonstrates how much Hermia loves Lysander because it shows she would rather die than be without Lysander. The flower creates a huge complexity in Lysander and Hermia’s relationship by splitting them up and making Lysander love another

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

At the beginning of the play, Lysander’s love for Hermia is apparent. He has courted her by enticing her at her window and by giving her presents. The only person standing in Lysnader’s way of marrying Hermia is Egeus, who wants Hermia to marry Demetrius because he has made a deal with him. Theseus, the leader of Athens also agrees with Egeus and tells Helena that the only person she can marry is Demetrius. To get around this problem, Lysander devises a plan with Hermia to elope and go to his relative’s house. At this point in the plot, Lysander is shown to be the same character as Demetrius. Lysander says “I am my lord, as well derived as

Helena, whom fancies Demetrius, decides to inform him of the happenings between Hermia and Lysander. Demetrius, infuriated by this news, decides to follow Hermia and Lysander out in to the forest. Helena is following along; against Demetrius’ repent of the action. Ultimately, along the love story between Hermia and Lysander we discover the second variation of love in the play: forbidden love. These two characters, desperate for one another, decide since their love is forbidden in their own home, they will travel to someone else’s and finally become one. This is their silent protest to what the Duke and Egeus have declared of their love.

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

Although he tries with all his might to win the love of Hermia, his greatest efforts are not good enough to satisfy her needs nor strokes her interest. The same can be said for, however, when referring to Helena pathetic attempts to win the heart of the one she wants; that one is none other than Demetrius. When Helena in informed of Hermia and Lysander’s plan to escape to the wilderness and to marry each other against Egeus’ will, she goes as far as spoiling their plans to Demetrius in hopes of proving her dedication and love to him. This is a perfect example of untrue love.

The love between Lysander and Hermia is that of a forbidden love. Unlike Oberon and Titania, they are at the beginning of their relationship. They believe they are deeply in love with each other will fight together against anyone who is opposed of their love. “The course of true love never did run smooth”( 1.1.134). They are forbidden by Hermia's father to be together and in addition to that, Hermia is forced to choose between marrying the man her father chose for her who is Demetrius, nunnery and execution.The love between Lysander and Hermia is unlike the love between Demetrius and Helena which is unrequited. Helena is in love with Demetris who neglects her, but loves Hermia and therefore is forced to chase him which is against her nature because it is the man that is supposed to do the chasing. Their relationship appears to be that of a cat and mouse. Quite ironic that Helena is a mouse, but instead of running away from the cat, she runs towards the cat despite the cat threatening her virginity and treats her cruelly. “ And/even for that do I love you the more./I am your spaniel. And, Demetrius,/The more you beat me, I will fawn on you./Use me but as your spaniel—spurn me, strike me,/Neglect me, lose me. Only give me leave,”( 2.1.202-206). Helena is so consumed with gaining Demerius’ love that she offers herself as a dog for him

In the beginning of the story Hermia’s father is talking to Theseus about what is to happen to his daughter due to the fact that she doesn’t want to marry the man who’s proposed to her. At a point Egeus says, “Stand forth, Lysander. And, my gracious Duke, This man hath bewitch’d the bosom of my child…. as she is mine, I may dispose of her, Which shall be either to this gentleman (Demetrius) or to her death, according to our law Immediately provided in that case”(1.1 26-27….43-46). Egeus seems convinced that Lysander has cast a spell on his daughter’s heart and he doesn’t approve of it. I feel that he forbids their love from happening when he claims that she is his and because of that and the law, he can either force her to marry Demetrius or have her killed. Along with the forbidden love of Hermia and Lysander, Shakespeare also uses the unrequited love between Helena and Demetrius to build up to his point of love.

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

Hermia’s best friend, Helena, meets Hermia before Hermia runs away to the forest to meet Lysander. Helena is in love with Demetrius, but he no longer feels the same way for her anymore and instead wants Hermia. Being lovesick, Helena is willing to do anything to have Demetrius love her again, even if it means going behind her friends back. Helena decides to let Hermia and Lysander go but tell Demetrius, hoping he will fall back in love with her. Hermia hoped that by confiding in her friend that it would cheer her up saying that Demetrius would not worry about Hermia when she was gone, but Helena so desperate decided to take matters into her own hands (Kerr).

Love and reason will never fit together. Nor will love ever be a controllable compulsion. Maybe we are fools for going into the perilous, eccentric universe of love; yet what fun would life be without it? William Shakespeare 's play A Midsummer Night 's Dream investigates the unconventional, unreasonable and unpredictable nature of love during his time. Shakespeare conveys this through the main plot of the play, which is composed of the relationships between three couples. The three couples show examples of three different types of love; Hermia and Lysander’s true love, the unrequited love of Helena for Demetrius and the red hot relations of Oberon and Titania which all give an insight into the nature of love during Shakespeare’s time.

In the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare, the five character relationships, which are based on the relationships of property ownership and lust, are strained continuously by other characters in the play. The relationship between Hippolyta and Theseus is difficult, as they didn’t naturally fall in love. The connection that Oberon and Titania share is tested as Oberon is jealous of the Indian boy that Titania has. The bond that Hermia shares with her father is thin as tensions, over who her husband will be, reach a breaking point. The hidden romantic relationship between Hermia and Lysander is destined to be destroyed by Egeus. And lastly, the lust that Helena feels for Demetrius, who loves Hermia, is what drives Demetrius

Hermia’s father, Egeus says “she is mine, and all my right of her” (Act One, Scene 1, Line 95-100), he assumes “ownership” of his daughter Hermia and he thinks he can force her to marry Demetrius, even though she does not love him. Egeus is very controlling and because of his daughter not following what he says he told the Lord, Theseus who gives Hermia three choices, death, to marry Demetrius or to live the rest of her life as a nun. Egeus does not trust or like Lysander and thinks he is shallow man. Egeus is positive that Lysander has tricked Hermia into loving him as he states “This man hath bewitched the bosom of my child” (Act 1, Scene 1, Line 25-30). Lysander and Hermia to resolve the problem run away from Hermia’s father so they can be married, But Demetrius after being told by Helena chases after

Consequently, Lysander and Hermia elope to the woods and are soon joined by Demetrius, who pursue them, and Helena, who pursues Demetrius. Battling for each other’s love, the fairies

Hermia is in love with Lysander but her father(Egeus) is telling her she has to marry Demetrius because he’s the one for her and Egeus knows what’s best for his daughter. However, she refuses to marry Demetrius because she hates him. So Egeus went to the Olympus to talk with Theseus about the problem with Hermia. Hermia told Theseus “I may know the worst that may befall me in this case, if I refuse to wed Demetrius” and then he said, “Either to die the death or to abjure forever the society of men”(Shakespeare 1.1.6).Hermia had 3 options to resolve her problem, get married with Demetrius, put to death, or live without a man her whole life...Even though there was this big problem with Hermia and her Father, at the end Hermia married the man she loves because that’s what they finally decided. Everything went pretty well, and they found a solution for what they were struggling