Passion in A Midsummer Night's Dream Essay

Hermia, originally the Apple of all Athens’ eye, put on an impossible pedestal by both Lysander and Demetrius, seems to trade social standings with the outcast Helena. It seems that Hermia doesn’t fully appreciate the quality of her state. She complains that her father will not allow her to merry her true love Lysander, and pawns her off to the inadequate Demetrius. Never can she accept the flattery of Demetrius’ unrequited love which her best friend would do anything to sincerely receive. Instead she revels in wonderment: “The more I [Hermia] hate, the more he [Demetrius] follows me” (I.i.198). Her unhappiness is far heightened when her two followers are given the love potion, turning them against her and beckoning to Helena. The cruel swap of fates lets the two female characters feel as though in the others’ shoes. It’s Hermia’s karma for being ungrateful at the attention bestowed upon her all these years that leads her to this harsh lesson.

Throughout the play A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare uses both fate and free will to present his philosophy towards the nature of love. The characters struggle through confusion and conflicts to be with the one they love. Although the course of their love did not go well, love ultimately triumphs over all at the end of the play. The chaos reaches a climax causing great disruption among the lovers. However, the turmoil is eventually resolved by Puck, who fixes his mistake. The confusion then ends and the lovers are with their true love. Throughout the play Shakespeare's philosophy was displayed in various scenes, and his concept still holds true in modern society.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Shakespeare detailed the story between warring characters. From couple conflicts to love quadrilaterals and the interference of outsiders, the story played out as a comedy, with Helena on the receiving end of a running joke. Introduced in Act One as the jealous friend of Hermia, as she was in love with Demetrius, who decided to marry Hermia despite Hermia’s love for Lysander. Hermia appears rather guilty as she confirms her distaste to Demetrius to her friend. However, her father disapproves of her relationship with Lysander. Despite her co-dependent aspirations, Helena exemplifies progressive ideals that counter the societal norms of Midsummer’s era.

Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. She is the emotionally overwhelmed, love disdain Athenian woman whom most can relate. Shakespeare points out unrequited love clearly in this comedy of confusion found in relationships. William Shakespeare’s tortured character fascinates me as she expresses questions and feelings most have felt in unique ways. For instance,

Fairies, mortals, magic, love, and hate all intertwine to make A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare a very enchanting tale, that takes the reader on a truly dream-like adventure. The action takes place in Athens, Greece in ancient times, but has the atmosphere of a land of fantasy and illusion which could be anywhere. The mischievousness and the emotions exhibited by characters in the play, along with their attempts to double-cross destiny, not only make the tale entertaining, but also help solidify one of the play’s major themes; that true love and it’s cleverly disguised counterparts can drive beings to do seemingly irrational things.

The story of A Midsummer Night's Dream was mainly about love and its abnormal dealings. In the play, Shakespeare tried to show that love is unpredictable, unreasonable, and at times is blind. The theme of love was constantly used during the play and basically everything that was said and done was related to the concept of love and its unpredictable ness. Shakespeare made all of the characters interact their lives to be based on each other’s. At first, everything was very confusing, and the characters were faced with many different problems. In the end, however, they were still able to persevere and win their true love, the love they were searching for in the first place.

In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, as in many of Shakespeare's plays the main theme is love. Shakespeare presents many different aspects of love in the play. He shows how love can affect your vision of reality and make you behave in irrational ways. He presents many ways in which your behavior is affected by the different types and aspects of love. The main types of love he presents are; true love, unrequited love, sisterly love, jealous love, forced love, and parental love. Shakespeare tries to show what kinds of trouble, problems and confusion, love can get you into.

Puck is the only character that is directly involved in all of the action that takes place throughout the play. Although the action doesn’t affect Puck personally, without him, the events of the play wouldn’t take place. According to critic Ana Isabel Bordas del Prado, Puck is completely crucial to the play, “although he appears to be a kind

William Shakespeare starts with a seemingly unresolvable conflict in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The main characters are lovers who are either unrequited in their love or hassled by the love of another. These lovers are inevitably paired. How does Shakespeare make this happen? He creates many subplots that, before long, are all snarled up into a chaotic knot. So, what actions does Shakespeare take to resolve these new quandaries? He ends up trusting a single key entity with his comedy. It’s only then that he introduces a special character into his world: a mischievous fairy whom is known by the name of Puck. Puck is the catalyst for all these subplots and, indeed, for the entirety of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Try to take Puck

Helena, portrayed as a poor dopey-eyed woman, in love with a man who does not desire her, symbolizes a trampled woman in need of a self-esteem boost. Helena is not so different than most women depicted in this time period. During the 15th and 16th centuries women were considered inferior to men, property of men, not much more than breeding stock expected to deliver heirs. Helena is depicted as a fool, a needy whiny woman who nobody loves. Helena, who is so consumed with her love of Demetrius, chases him into the wood begging him for attention, “I am your spaniel” ( ). Helena is begging Demetrius to love her again, telling him that the more he tells her no, the more he demands she go away, the stronger her emotions become. Helena cannot allow him to leave, even after he threatens her reputation and safety, she still desires to marry Demetrius. Helena is completely submissive in this scene, proclaiming that her desires mean

Traditional Puck belongs rather to solitary fairies than to the trooping ones. Shakespeare’s version ties him very closely to the fairy court – he serves Oberon, the fairy king. The Puck from Shakespeare’s play seems to be the combination of the archetypes of a wild solitary being, a domestic figure, and trooping fairies belonging to the high courts of fairy aristocracy.

Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a play that utilises comedy to convey complex ideas that are seen throughout the play, concepts like the jealousy Helena has towards Hermia, Egeus’s strong hostility towards Hermia and Lysander’s relationship and unrequited love. He uses comical tools like unconscious irony and hyperbole to turn rather difficult topics into humorous representations of them. Events like how Puck thinks Titania had fallen in love with him, not knowing he was bearing the head of an ass, are portrayed in a humorous way so the viewer understands the meaning, but sees it as a light- hearted narrative. Shakespeare carefully uses comedy that does not overpower the meaning of the play, but puts a completely different perspective on some of the themes.

In studying Puck's contribution to the drama, you should consider the general account of his mischief at the start of Act 2, his and Oberon's dealings with the young lovers and Bottom in the woods, and his part in the blessing of the three couples at the end of Act 5. In all of these Puck is at pains to explain to the audience what he is doing, and to take the spectator into his confidence. He can be seen as a superior counterpart to Philostrate, a master of revels in the fairy world. Puck:

There are three distinct levels of action during the play. Firstly, we as the audience see the characters play out the main narratives. Secondly, Shakespeare introduces a play-within-a-play during which the audience observes the mechanicals acting out their tragedy, and thirdly, as part of an epilogue, we are addressed directly by Puck. These differing levels of viewing the play encourages the audience to reflect upon, and compare, the interplay between the levels of address; when the three levels are compared to each other a deeper reading of the play becomes possible, even though the structure is irrational with regards to rational narrative structures. The dramatic conflict is resolved after the fourth act, begging the question of why Shakespeare opted for a play-within-a-play for his final act. The effect of “Nature” (V.i. 278) is contrasted between the main

Mandy Conway Mrs. Guynes English 12 16 March 2000 A Critical Analysis of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" William Shakespeare, born in 1594, is one of the greatest writers in literature. He dies in 1616 after completing many sonnets and plays. One of which is "A Midsummer Night's Dream." They say that this play is the most purely romantic of Shakespeare's comedies. The themes of the play are dreams and reality, love and magic. This extraordinary play is a play-with-in-a-play, which master writers only write successfully. Shakespeare proves here to be a master writer. Critics find it a task to explain the intricateness of the play, audiences find it very pleasing to read and watch. "A Midsummer Night's Dream" is a