Orlando's Motivation

In the play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Shakespeare, three completely different situations that have to do with different topics become intertwined in the magical forest locates in the suburbs of Ancient Athens. Throughout the play, there are many representations of the character’s emotions and feelings, such as jealousy, betrayal, and most importantly, love. The main reason everyone get into their troubles is due to one reason; love. Hermia and Lysander made a decision to elope because of their love for each other; Demetrius chases after her because he loves her; Helena chases Demetrius due to love, etc. In this comedy of Shakespeare’s, love is displayed as something fantastical and bizarre.

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;

William Shakespeare is the world’s pre-eminent dramatist whose plays range from tragedies to tragic comedies, etc. His general style of writing is often comparable to several of his contemporaries, like Romeo and Juliet is based on Arthur Brooke’s narrative poem, “The tragical history of Romeo and Juliet”. But Shakespeare’s works express a different range of human experience where his characters command the sympathy of audiences and also are complex as well as human in nature. Shakespeare makes the protagonist’s character development central to the plot.

Another aspect of the play that can easily relate to modern audiences is, William Shakespeare’s use of mistaken identities and true-life experiences especially mourning for the loss of family and love obsessions, are among the main focuses of the play. Many people in the audience of today would most likely be able to relate to Olivia’s intense mourning of her brother, since people’s feelings and actions at the time of loss don’t change just the periods of times that they occur do. Love is commonly used in many forms of works of entertainment because it is an unsolved mystery that everyone usual enjoys watching or reading. The infatuation that the Duke has for Olivia is comical throughout the play and forces the Duke to say

“It is the nature of people to love, then destroy, then love again that which they value the most.” –Unknown. Countless authors have tried to display love as human nature, but no author does this better than the famous playwright, William Shakespeare. In both Hamlet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare exhibits how love can control a person. To understand how love controls a person, one must understand that human nature is the sum of qualities and traits shared by all humans. All humans have exhibit love in one way or another, which explains how human nature relates to the controlling aspect of love. In Hamlet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, conflicts between loyalty to family and friends, lack of trustworthiness towards others,

Moreover, Romeo through his infatuation with Rosaline learned valuable lessons that help him come to appreciate and understand the feelings he experiences with Juliet. Romeo felt rejection, sorrow, and misery from his infatuation with Rosaline which is seen when he is talking to Benvolio, “In sadness, cousin, I do love a woman” this particular quote shows the sadness or sorrow he feels from the feelings for Rosaline (1.1.201). Also when he says “She hath forsworn to love”, the words Romeo speaks allow it to be inferred that his feelings for her have been rejected (1.1.220). “At the opening of the play [Romeo] is maundering about like an erotic woman novelist, sighing and groaning because Rosaline will not listen to his tenders of affection” revealing that Romeo’s love was rejected and was upset because of this, allowing him to learn these feelings and what it is like to be rejected by the one he had feelings for (Northwood 19). Due to having felt these emotions from his infatuation, when he finds his love for Juliet and receives love and acceptance from her. Since he went so long, feeling sorrow and rejection when he finally finds Juliet, he can fully appreciate the love and acceptance he is given which intensifies his love for her and does the opposite of weakening the credibility of his love. Through his infatuation with Rosaline, he was able to grow as a person and become able to fully commit to his love for Juliet.

One such moment occurs when Rosalind decides to “play the knave with [Orlando]” (3.2.270). By doing so, Rosalind makes clear that her intentions are driven by ulterior motives. However, her motives are not to hurt or to make a fool of Orlando, but merely to put his love to the test. For instance, when Orlando insists that he is the man who “is so love-shaked,” Rosalind challenges him by saying “There is none of my uncle’s marks upon you” (3.2.331-333). She then describes these marks in great detail to Orlando: “A lean cheek, which you have not; a blue eye and/ sunken, which you have not; an unquestionable spirit, which/ you have not; a beard neglected, which you have not” (3.2.337-339). By cataloging the characteristics which a love-struck man is supposed to show, Rosalind evokes an idea of the male gender as something out of a romance novel. This description is humorously juxtaposed by Rosalind’s description of the qualities necessary to cure a man of love: “effeminate, changeable, longing and liking, proud, fantasti-/ cal, apish, shallow, inconstant, full of tears, full of smiles; for/ every passion something, and for no passion truly anything” (3.2.367-368). This description of Rosalind’s Ganymede character ironically fits the stereotypical ideas of women during this time

William Penn once said, “Passion (is) the mob of man, that commits a riot upon his reason.” Since the beginning of time people have been confronted with choices. All people are given the power to choose, but decisions get hard when one must choose between passion and responsibility. The conflict between one’s passion and one’s responsibilities is a recurring theme in literature. The characters, Macbeth in Macbeth, Hamlet in Hamlet, and King Lear in King Lear experience an internal conflict between their passion and responsibilities. Tragedies, such as Shakespeare’s tragedies, Macbeth, Hamlet, and King Lear, often utilize this theme as a component of the tragic hero’s flaw.

William Shakespeare is one of the most recognized playwrights in the history of man. People have analyzed every sentence of his works and have taken note of the various styles used in his writing. Ironically enough, little is known about Shakespeare's personal life. It is assumed, however, that like other literary writers, Shakespeare relates occurrences in his life into his writing. The average person experiences varied and numerous events that affect them personally, and shape them into who they are. Whether one expresses loyalty or betrayal to another can impact one's life greatly and can cause numerous outcomes in a person's life. In

In life, an individual’s course of action is directed by their nature of motivation. Sometimes, this nature lies so deeply beneath the surface, that people themselves aren’t even aware that it exists. In Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, all of the actions that characters execute throughout the play are naturally motivated by a certain situation or feeling. Some of the characters are motivated to commit brave and heroic acts, while others may simply be encouraged to do the right thing. People can often become pusillanimous when they think too carefully, however, the nature of their motivation is what decides if they will complete the feat or not. In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the nature of motivations that direct an individual’s course of action are mostly clearly represented by love, ambition, and revenge.

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.”

First is on how Orlando argues with his brother on how he was treated by him. This is shown by the lines of Orlando: “I will not, till I please: you shall hear me. My father charged you in his will to give me good education: you have trained me like a peasant, obscuring and hiding from me all gentleman-like qualities. The spirit of my father grows strong in me, and I will no longer endure it: therefore allow me such exercises as may become a gentleman, or give me the poor allottery my father left me by testament; with that I will go buy my fortunes.” Orlando, being deprived of his rights as a gentleman started to make a choice to demand his rights or to get his inheritance to seek his fortunes. He decided to leave his older brother’s shadow because he has been kept out of people’s view for so long. That is one of the concepts of man describe in existentialism: man is not bounded by antecedent human nature rather has freedom to choose his own nature. But having a freedom of choice, man could not avoid the inevitable consequences. Man has no immunity to it. It was supported by the events after Orlando utter those lines. After

The word love can mean many things. Love can be an object, emotion, and a life. However, love could lead to a loss of power, prosperity, and status. In the literary work “Romeo and Juliet” written by William Shakespeare, the readers are introduced to a tragic love story. In this play, readers are also shown the different perspectives of love and the many downfalls it could lead to. The central theme of this work is the recklessness of love. The theme is significant because it is shown throughout the whole story and it’s a strong force that takes place of all the other emotions and values. In this play, Shakespeare uses characters to present different aspects of love. In addition, Nurse, Mercutio, and Romeo completely show what actual love is and what it is like to lose it due to their experiences.

Then goes on to say to Celia “Let me love him for that, and do you love him because I do” (line 36). Rosalind already admits that she love Orlando, and Orlando soon after admits it in act 3, scene 3 stating” Hang there, my verse, in witness of my love” (line 1) when speaking about Rosalind. They believe that they love each other after seeing each other once, knowing little about each other: their love is shallow, Just as Touchstone and Audrey.

Shakespeare's plays continue to be performed, not just in English-speaking countries, but throughout the world. Shakespeare's characters fall in love, and out of it, take a dislike to each other, betray each other, misunderstand each other, argue, fight and kill each other, are angry, sad, happy, jealous, envious, distrustful, untrustworthy, deceptive, magnanimous, forgiving. Shakespeare portrays these emotions throughout the plays, as in Macbeth it shows off treachery, love, anger and fulfillment. As throughout the plays that Shakespeare has written, he has created them as they can be reinvented in today’s society.