Shakespeare's Presentation of Contrast Relationships

Throughout A Midsummer Night’s Dream, while the story involving Lysander, Demetrius, Hermia, Helena, Oberon and Titania is developing, the rustic gentlemen (Bottom and his friends) are shown rehearsing for a play that they will perform in honor of the upcoming wedding of Theseus (the Duke of Athens) and Hippolyta. The play, “Pyramus and Thisby,” is based on a story that was told by the ancient Roman writer Ovid and retold by Chaucer. The “Pyramus and Thisby” play is not performed until the fifth and final act of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. By then, as Barton points out, the major problems of Lysander, Demetrius and the rest have all been neatly resolved. As such, the “Pyramus and Thisby” play-within-a-play “seems, in effect, to take place beyond the normal, plot-defined boundaries of comedy” (Barton 110).

In the A Midsummer Night’s Dream, William Shakespeare wrote about different aspects of love. Love is viewed as an arranged marriage in this story because Theseus and Hippolyta and Oberon and Titania had the girls parents decision on whom they must marry, however, their reactions to the marriage were much different. A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare explores the mature and stable love between Theseus and Hippolyta in contrast with the relationship of Oberon and Titania, that has a negative impact on the world around them. The story contradicts a healthy relationship to an unhealthy relationship by having one couple be so strong whereas the other relationship is so

Theseus and Hippolyta are the mature, stable couple and represent that love can be built over time. These two were never childhood sweethearts instead they are from a life of power and control. Hippolyta herself was Queen of the Amazons. She is used to being in charge and getting what she wants. She is a warrior. However when Theseus states “Hippolyta, I wooed thee with my sword. And won thy love doing thee injuries; But I will wed thee in another key, with pomp, with triumph, and with reveling” (Shakespeare 1394). We learn that Hippolyta was a reward, she was to be his woman with no say in the matter. Theseus actions are stating that love can be can be bought. Theseus is in control of Hippolyta. Inside the world of the play, disparity

Another crucial aspect of love and the disorder that often follows in its wake is the idea of irrationality. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare uses the motif of dreams to show how irrationality and love are connected. By Act 5, Scene 1, all of the play’s romantic conflicts have finally been resolved. As Theseus and Hippolyta reflect on the tumultuous relationships of Hermia, Lysander, Demetrius, and Helena, it becomes clear that they each have a different opinion on the subject. Although the young Athenians claimed to have awoken from a strange dream to find their conflicts resolved, Theseus and Hippolyta are not so sure whether to believe their story. Theseus, the more cynical of the two, believes that the four lovers were simply driven to insanity by love, and that the fairy world was probably just a figment of their imaginations. Hippolyta, on the other hand, believes that there is more than meets the eye to this story, and that it could be the truth. Both give interesting reasons for their viewpoints.

The biggest obstacle in this play occurs when the power of love is challenged by authority. The play starts with Theseus, duke of Athens, being eager to marry Hippolyta, who he wooed with his sword in combat. Although Theseus promises Hippolyta that he will wed her “with pomp, with triumph, with reveling,” true love between them is questionable. By starting the play with Theseus and Hippolyta, Shakespeare hints the audience of the authority involved in their marriage and leaves the audience wonder if they actually love each other. The focus is then shifted to the four lovers: Hermia, Lysander, Demetrius and Helena - by establishing the story of Hermia being forced by her father, Egeus, to marry Demetrius, when the person she actually wants to marry is Lysander. However, Egeus

Theseus can be described as faithful but with elements of fickle, character within A Midsummer Nights dream. It has been said by Shirley Nelson Garner, a critic that “Theseus remains a ‘lover-and-leaver of women’, who having abducted Hippolyta, naturally sympathises with Egues’ desire to force Hermia into marriage with Demetrius”. It is clear to the audience that Theseus wishes to love and respect Hippolyta, “I wooed thee with my sword, and won thy love doing thee injuries, but will wed thee in another key”. He switches from being a man in battle who defeated Hippolyta, to loving her and on the verge of marrying her. However, feminists may argue that this shows his fickle side, as ‘Theseus is the ruler of Athens and therefore a domineering male who thinks that he can legitimise his violence with a display of love and companionship’.

Without Theseus and Hippolyta, there would be no sense of order. Through them and their love, they lessen the chaos and madness to bring the two couples together and bring back a sense of order in the story at the end. Which goes back to saying that without this couple, there would not be any order in the story. As well, that they're relationship symbolizes stability, through they're stability, it helps solve the things around

In an attempt to discover a way to rationally understand love, the characters in A Midsummer Night’s Dream are often unsuccessful. This shows the audience the difficulty within love’s obstacle and demonstrates that even if love seems to be favorably working within two lovers, it can often be difficult in reason. A craftsman by the name of Bottom says to Titania, “And yet, to say the truth, reason and love keep little company together nowadays” (III, i, 38). Affected by a potion that was made from the juice of a flower, struck with one of Cupid’s arrows, Titania wakes up and immediately falls in love with Bottom, who took the form of an ass. Unaware of his transformation due to Puck’s mischievousness, Bottom is found foolish and arrogant of Titania’s instantaneous love for him. The audience can see Shakespeare’s mockery of love and reason when creating a puzzling romance between two different lovers, especially between an exquisite and graceful fairy queen and a repulsive and grotesque ass. Through this demonstration, Shakespeare seems to suggest, then, that the work of a love potion is a way to show that sexual appeal is valued more over common sense. Moreover, this creates the perception that, through the demonstration of the lives of the characters, we can be effortlessly blinded by the irrelevant traits of a person that will make people potentially “fall in love” rather than their character or persona. To further strengthen this point, a

William Shakespeare’s play, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” continuously features the theme of love that serves as a perspective through which three major aspects of the work become apparent. First, Shakespeare develops his characters in this play by showing their participation in and reaction to love. From the beginning, Theseus and Hippolyta’s description of love sets the bar for the whole play. The purity of their love is the reference point against which all other romantic relationships in the play are based. In the process, Theseus’ character traits emerge. He appears a caring and loving individual who is keen on details. Similarly, Puck’s character trait emerges later on. He is mischievous. This trait emerges from his participation in Oberon’s

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

In a Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare story about romantic desire. Theseus and Hippolyta, are about to be married; both of them are wonderful figures from classical mythology. (Greek Mythology) Theseus is a great warrior, a kinsman of Hercules; Hippolyta is an Amazon warrior-woman, defeated in battle by Theseus. (Theseus and Hippolyta) He was longing for the wedding day, and this is what opens the play and closing the play with their exit marriage bed. (Theseus and Hippolyta).

Just as Hermia's father Egeus forbids the love of Hermia and Lysander, the play depicting the love of Pyramus and Thisbe shows Pyramus exclaiming unto the night out of sorrow, "O wall, O sweet and lovely wall, / That stand'st between her father's ground and mine" (183-185) because Thisbe's father forbids the love of the couple. And in the form of Hermia and Lysander's covert meeting in the woods for love (I. i. 167), Pyramus and Thisbe meet at the wall (V. i. 204-207). However, the subplots do contrast as Demetrius, Lysander, Hermia, and Helena's lives end in holy matrimony and Pyramus and Thisbe's lives end in death out of

The play “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” written by William Shakespeare is one of the most amazing plays written in his era and even today it is still a classic (Bevington, 2009). There are several types of love portrayed in the play “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Those kinds of love are romantic love, parental love, and friendship. When the first scene opens, Theseus and Hippolyta are four days away from their wedding, and the loving couple is showing love and affection towards each other from the beginning of the play. Even though there are several types of love portrayed in this play, the couple is an excellent example of true love conquering all.

When I saw you the first time, I swear I had not loved anyone before then. When you and Rosaline come in compare, it's you who's always better once again. Waiting high in that balcony for me as I climbed this high, steep wall towards you, from what I see, I know you will agree that our love like no other is so true. Our families hate each other to death, their hate will kill us but they don't know,

Hippolyta's lines in this play are of moderately inconsequential amount and worth when contrasted with Theseus's. For instance, in the first Act, Hippolyta just solaces Theseus by saying that 'Four days will quickly steep themselves in night; Four nights will quickly dream away the time' (I.i.7-8) and they will have the wedding service soon. Furthermore, Theseus appears to be the one settling on the choices with respect to everything, extending from their marriage to Hermia's marriage. This is critical as it demonstrates that Hippolyta is submissive to Theseus as she has little say in these state occasions in spite of being seated by Theseus as Queen of the Amazons. Moreover, Hippolyta's quiet could indicate how she is miserable about being