“Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, and therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.” This quotation of Helena’s is one of the most significant quotes in the entire play as it defines love. Love is a slippery substance according to her and most of the actors in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Does this mean Shakespeare is trying to tell us that love isn't smooth? Indisputable, he wants to send us a message. Furthermore, referring from Lysander's quotation, "The course of true love never did run smooth", this quote is lucidly true as proven by Shakespeare's, A Midsummer Night's Dream.
To start off, running away from your town just to be in love is not a creamy thing to do at all if you refer to A Midsummer Night's Dream. Just
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Helena wants to be with Demetrius so badly she goes as far as giving up her freedom as she exclaims, "Use me but as your spaniel- spurn me, strike me, neglect me, lose me. " just to attempt to get Demetrius. Helena would rather be treated like a DOG than be without Demetrius! It is obviously true that love is smooth like a cactus if you would sacrifice your freedom for true love. This is significant to Lysander's quotation because Helena is so bothered by the fact that Demetrius doesn't love her that she will give up her freedom for his love. If she wants his love that much then there is no way on Earth love is smooth when you're talking about Helena. Also, Helena cries endlessly about Demetrius as she exclaims to Hermia, “Demetrius loves your fair. O happy fair!....... Were the world mine, Demetrius being bated, the rest I'd give to be translated.” Helena is saying she would give up everything in her life to be with Demetrius. What does that do to your self esteem? I think it is pretty obvious going through that much drama about loving someone who doesn't love you is not smooth at all. Helena even followed Demetrius into the woods just to hopefully be in love with him. It is definitely not smooth leaving behind you life and being sling-shouted into the woods when the …show more content…
At the beginning The of the play, the couple begins fighting over a little child. “And now they never meet in grove or green, by fountain clear or spangled starlight sheen. But do they square, that all their elves for fear creep into acorn cups and hide them there.” This shows how much the couple were fighting, and the fairies were so scared they were hiding. If you ask anybody, that does not sound smooth at all. Moving on, the only way Oberon could get them to stop fighting was through a magic potion. Just imagine having to cast a spell just to calm down your wife! That does not sound smooth at all. If it is that hard to keep a marriage together, why put on the effort? It obviously has to be an emotional roller coaster being in love if you are constantly arguing. That wild bring so much stress into your life as the Journal of Health and Behavior states that, "Single people tend to have better mental health than those who remain in a tumultuous relationship." This means that when you’re in a bad relationship like Oberon and Titania's, your mental health is worth. This obviously proves love is not always smooth. Also, if you fight about a little Indian boy, how does your marriage last through bigger arguments? Oberon must be stressed out constantly making love potions to calm down his wife. When he encounters
One of his plays, ‘A midsummer’s night dream’, includes the themes of love and magic,where love is represented as a force that makes people act in irrational ways to entertain the audience in a comical and dramatic way. He used different techniques throughout the play to create a tumultuous and intriguing factor. The storyline of the play follows various couples such as Hermia and Lysander and Oberon and Titania. These couples show examples of irrational behaviours with love and magic throughout the play.
"The course of true love never did run smooth" is one of the play's most famous quotes. However, when you look at the
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.”
There are lots of different types of love in the world. Tender love, obsessed love, ardent love, oppositely sided love, just normal love, and so on and so forth. One of them, blind love, is defined as loving somebody so much so that you cannot see their faults and also defined as love that can overcome many barriers. In Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the four young lovers show that love is blind.
Love is a theme which reoccurs through many of Shakespeare’s Plays. In ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, the theme ‘Love’ is presented from the very beginning in Act 1 Scene 1, through Shakespeare’s use of poetic language, structure and vivid imagery.
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.
The quotation, pre-reading questions, and vocabulary in the anticipation guide for A Midsummer Night’s Dream paint a certain picture in my mind as to what this play is going to be about. Looking at the vocabulary, most of the words relate to love, authority and formal ceremonies, which may depict that this play is a love story. The quote stated says “The course of love never did run smooth”, this is also evidence that the play might relate to love, but it also states that there might be a conflict between the two romantically influenced characters. One of the pre-reading questions states “A person can be vain and loveable at the same time.” This may point to the main character(s) feelings about another character. They don’t necessarily like
Helena is madly in love with Demetrius and would give her life for just one kind word from him.
At one time, Demetrius loved Helena, and then he fell in love with someone else. Initially, Demetrius had given his love to Helena: “He hailed down oaths that he was only mine, / And when this hail some heat from Hermia felt, / So he dissolved, and showers of oaths did melt” (MND 1.1.243-245). Helena loved Demetrius, and he promised to be with her forever. However once he met her friend, Hermia, Demetrius left Helena to chase after her friend. Helena’s jealousy of Demetrius’ love drives her to think about what he really wants. Helena believes that Hermia’s beauty is why Demetrius desires her. She tells Hermia, “Demetrius loves your fair”, and she goes further to say, “Were the world mine, Demetrius being bated, / The rest I’d give to be to you translated” (MND 1.1.182, 190-191). Her jealousy of Demetrius’ love has turned into jealousy of Hermia’s beauty. Helena obsesses over having Demetrius back to the point that she continuously follows him around. Demetrius is tired of Helena chasing him: “Do I entice you? Do I speak you fair?” (MND 2.1.199). Demetrius does not understand why she tries so hard to be with him when he does not even compliment her. Demetrius threatens Helena to leave him alone: “I’ll run from thee, and hide me in the brakes, / And leave thee to the mercy of wild beasts” (MND 2.1.227-228). At this point, he is beyond exhausted with Helena, and he will do anything to get away from her.
Thus the order Oberon gives to Puck is in contrast to Cupid’s concept of being blinded by love, Fetch me that flower; the herb I show’d thee once: The juice of it on sleeping eyelids laid will make or man or woman madly dote Upon the next live creature that it sees. (2. 2.169-172). Puck, being the mischievous of fairies, had not correctly done what he was ordered to do by Oberon. In which, lead the chaos of making Lysander and Demetrius blinded by love towards Helena, whom was initially madly in love with Lysander without any love potion confused and betrayed. The setting and the concept of a dream like play due to the prevalence of the fairy world, which also creates an aspect of illusions. Which also is prevalent in the concept of blind love, and how it can be an illusion to those that are entrapped due to the love potion. Another important victim of the love potion was Titania, the Queen of Fairies by Oberon:
Have you ever heard a quote that really stood out to you. And then you went and told you friends that quote and they liked it. And they told people who told other people and then everyone liked. Eventually, you know with all the social media programs these days, its going to end up on facebook or instagram and even more people are going to find out about it. Thats one way a quote can become famous but another way is if it is in a popular movie or book. In this case it is from one of Shakespeare's finest and most known, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream the quote “the course of true love never did run smoothly” applies to the different people in the book: the first couple is Hermia and Lysander, Second Demetrius and Helena, and finally Pyramus and Thisbe.
Another conflict that shows the contrast between rationality and irrationality is the relationship dynamics of Titania and Oberon, the queen and king of the fairies. They are both extremely stubborn and selfish, which causes a disturbance in the typical weather patterns of their realm. In spite of their responsibility to ensure the well-being of the forest, they argue over foolish things-especially over the Indian boy that Titania has been raising. Oberon decides he cannot be happy unless he has the boy for himself, and resorts to desperate measures to get his way. In this case, irrationality wins against rationality. Rather than working through his marriage problems with Titania, Oberon sends Puck to put a potion on Titania’s eye, which makes her fall in love with the first thing she sees. This conspiracy allows Oberon to snatch away the child while Titania is distracted. Although the marriage worked out in the end, it is based on the deception of a desperate husband who wanted his way.
The hilarious play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, by William Shakespeare, tells the twisted love story of four Athenians who are caught between love and lust. The main characters: Hermia, Helena, Lysander, and Demetrius are in a ‘love square’. Hermia and Lysander are true love enthusiasts, and love each other greatly. Demetrius is in love with Hermia, and Helena, Hermia’s best friend, is deeply and madly in love with Demetrius. Hermia and Lysander try to elope in the woods because Egeus, Hermia’s father, disapproves of Lysander. Helena, hearing about their plans, tells Demetrius, and all four of them end up in the woods where Lysander’s quotation, “The course of true love never did run smooth”(28), becomes extremely evident due to several
Love is widely known to be an intense fondness or deep affection for a person or thing. This may be a very positive feeling, but like there is always a negative side to things. William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is able to use the characters to present some insight into this side. With the variety of characters throughout the play displaying different scenarios of love, they continuously show that one’s love and desire for anything may come with conflict and people who have opposing opinions as presented through Hermia, Oberon, and Lysander.
Theseus rules by trying to make everyone happy while abiding by the old Athenian law. Theseus says, “Look you arm yourself to fit the fancies your father’s will.” (1.1.117-118) In this scene, Theseus is telling Hermia to marry Demetrius or to get ready to die. Egeus says that she is his property by the Athenian law. This causes Hermia to run away with her love, Lysander. At the end of the play, Theseus says, “Egeus, I will overbear your will.” (4.1.182) He is telling Hermia’s father that the law will be void for this marriage. This tells that Theseus will override it for the happiness of the four lovers. Oberon rules in a way where he is happy even if it sacrifices someone else's happiness. He will do mischievous things and blackmail others, including Titania, for his own satisfaction or gain. Oberon says, “Give me that boy, and I will go with thee.” (2.1.143) Here, he is telling Titania that if she doesn’t give him the boy, he will not dance with he at Theseus’s and Hippolyta’s wedding. They are supposed to dance at the wedding to tell them that they bless their marriage. Oberon is blackmailing her so that if she doesn’t give him the boy, they won’t dance, thus giving the couples the impression that they don’t bless them. Also, right after he squeezes the love flowers juice on Titania’s eyelid, Oberon says, “Wake when some vile