Love is a powerful feeling capable of creating many emotions; jealousy, anger, happiness and sadness. For these reasons, love is not ever-lasting and can result in the creation of catastrophes, bliss or an ending in strong relationships. In William Shakespeare’s, A Midsummer’s Night Dream, the love that many couples have for each other is temporary and will not last. To support this claim, the affection between Lysander and Hermia and Demetrius and Helena will be analyzed and compared to a healthy, sustainable love.
The love shared between the couples is very desperate; it does not seek to endure hardships and prefers the easiest way out of problems. For example, Lysander and Hermia sought to immediately run away once they realized that Egeus does not approve of them. This would have resulted them in abandoning all other important relationships in Athens. Also, Demetrius frequently tried to forcefully create a relationship with Hermia, the extent of this is shown when he says, “The one I'll slay, the other slayeth me” (2.1.190) in regards to Lysander. He also frequently stalks Hermia and thinks only of his own emotions, as when Hermia is looking for Lysander, very upset, he says, “So should the murdered look, and so should I, / Pierced through the heart with your stern cruelty / Yet you, the murderer, look as bright. . .” The characters mentioned do not understand that they must prove their love in an honest way to the world. They only think of themselves and the easiest
Love is the strongest attribute two people can share together. A Midsummer Night's Dream uses love to show how powerful it can be. The four characters, Lysander, Demetrius, Hermia, and Helena, are the victims of Puck and Oberon's game with love. Puck and Oberon are two fairies who peruse to fix a problem in the story, but they fail and make the problem worse. Throughout the story there are different forms of love characters show towards each other. The forms of love the characters show are Eros love, Philia love, Storge love, Agape love, Ludus love, Pragma love, and Philautia love. The forms of love come from J.A. Lee's book "Colours of Love". In A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespear shows the world the how much love really effects people's actions.
True love’s path is paved with every step. Through the assistance of fanciful elements as well as characters Puck and Oberon, the true message of love in William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is revealed. The four lovers know the direction in which their hearts are inclined to turn, but when the love potion is administered, the bounds of their rectangle are thrashed without knowledge or consent. The rapid shifts in affection between the play’s “four lovers” is representative of the idea that love isn’t a conscious choice, but a cruel game in which we are the figurines, being controlled by whomever the player may be, relating the characters’ karmic fates.
Within Shakespeare’s play, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, the reader is exposed to the idea that love is an over-arching shadow that casts itself over the entirety of the play, despite it being the most fundamental theme within the plot it is the main cause of nearly every major event that happens within the play. This is seen within Theseus’ monologue where he discusses the ideas of: love being able to drive you to do insane acts, love altering one’s perception of reality, and the lengths one is willing to go to in the name of love.
When love is in attendance it brings care, faith, affection and intimacy. This is proved true in the spectacular play A Midsummer Night's Dream written by William Shakespeare. This play displays the facts about lust, hatred, jealousy and their roles in something powerfully desirable. It is entitled love. Love is present everywhere, in every form, in every condition and even when one least expects it.
Lysander and Hermia also portray true love. Refusing to marry her suitor, Demetrius, she willingly gives up everything and runs away from Athens with her lover, Lysander, “There my Lysander and I shall meet, and thence from Athens turn away our eyes.” In the play within the play, Pyramus and Thisbe also present us with true love. Their situation
Hermia’s love for Lysander can be seen as genuine as she states ‘I would my father looked but with my eyes’ which means she wishes her father could see Lysander the way she does. This suggests that she is not under his spell as she truly sees him with her own eyes, and loves him. The audience also sees that she is very passionate about Lysander, as she chooses to ‘yield my virgin patent up’ and live the life of a nun or die rather than ‘wed Demetrius’. We also see the love between Lysander and Hermia is genuine later in Act 1 Scene 1 when ‘Exeunt all but Lysander and Hermia’, as it appears that Lysander is finishing Hermia’s sentences, indicating they are very familiar with each other, and he is comforting her lovingly. Lysander also states ‘true love never did run smooth’ which suggests they truly believe what they feel is true love. Another technique used by Shakespeare to emphasise their love is vivid imagery. Hermia’s speech declaring that she would meet Lysander in ‘the wood’ is filled with imagery suggesting love and passion, such as ‘by Cupid’s strongest bow’ and her reference to the Greek Goddess Venus: ‘By the simplicity of Venus’ doves’, emphasises her passion for Lysander.
In the play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, written by William Shakespeare, a literary technique known as “doubling” is used to convey entertainment, mystery and reality as the story line for Lysander and Demetrius, Helena and Hermia, Oberon and Theseus, and Titania and Hippolyta. ”Doubling” shows indistinguishable personalities of each character but completely contrapositive background stories and actions. Lysander and Demetrius are completely identical except for their personality, actions, and the fact that Egeus and Theseus do not approve of Lysander as Hermia’s spouse. Helena and Hermia are very alike except for the minor differences in their appearances. The third doubling relationship is shown in between the rulers of the different worlds who are Oberon and Theseus as well as Titania and Hippolyta. Throughout the play, three pairs of people who are all tantamount to each other in appearance but completely different in actions continue to have comedic and humorous scenes while hidden clues along the way disclose information to unveil a delightful and realistic story.
To this day, people still debate the meaning of “true love” and how it affects people. One story the provides a translucent demonstration of true love is the iconic tale of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, written by William Shakespeare. Within the play, there are four couples having romantic adventures throughout, yet only one pair displays true love. Compared to the arranged love of Theseus and Hippolyta as well as the two lover couples having one member falsely infatuated at a singular point, Titania and Oberon demonstrate true love. The love between the fairy royalty is shown by communication, making compromises, and accepting faults to reconcile mistakes.
Different Aspects of Love Presented in William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream Lysander + Hermia = True love? Sexual Attraction (Lust) ------------------------------------------------------- Titania + Oberon = Love or hate (Married )
William Shakespeare expresses love through magically, unique choice of words that flows together swimmingly. “Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, and therefore is wing’d cupid painted blind” (Act I, scene 1, line 234). In Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, love is defined as a weapon to undisguised the unknown of one's true love to another. Shakespeare uses Bottom and Titania to portray this form of love. However, he also studies a different type of love, the love between Egeus and Hermia, father and daughter. This essay will analyse how Shakespeare explores the theme of love in the Midsummer Night’s Dream and compare the difference between the two contrasted forms of love.
Several examples of forced love are shown all throughout the play, especially because enchantment plays a major role in the play's plot. However, some characters are given the opportunity to reject the love that is being forced upon them, while others are not. Hermia is one example of a character who is given the opportunity to reject the love that is being forced upon her. Her father, Egeus, is commanding her to marry Demetrius even though she is clearly in love with Lysander. She ignores her father’s command and runs off with Lysander instead, thus rejecting the love being forced upon her. Lysander and Hermia are the only two characters in the play who are truly in love. Yet, their love is forbidden by both Hermia’s father and by Duke Theseus. Hermia’s father speaks of Lysander’s love as witchcraft, saying Lysander is “the man that bewitched the bosom of my child” and “with feigning voice verses of feigning love/stol’n the impression of her fantasy” (1394, lines 31-2). Another example of forced love
“Lovers and madmen have such seething brains, such shaping fantasies, that apprehend more than cool reason ever comprehends” (Act 5, scene 1). This quote taken from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Nights Dream, summarizes the nature of the play, love. Shakespeare’s analysis of love and reason is depicted through multiple couples. This specific quote spoken by Theseus to his future wife Hippolyta was meant to describe the relationship between those that are in love and those that are crazy.
“The course of true love never did run smooth,” comments Lysander of love’s complications in an exchange with Hermia (Shakespeare I.i.136). Although the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream certainly deals with the difficulty of romance, it is not considered a true love story like Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare, as he unfolds the story, intentionally distances the audience from the emotions of the characters so he can caricature the anguish and burdens endured by the lovers. Through his masterful use of figurative language, Shakespeare examines the theme of the capricious and irrational nature of love.
The Theme of Love in A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare In A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare presents us with multiple types of love by using numerous couples in various different situations. For example: Doting loves, the love induced by Oberon's potion and in some aspects, Lysander and Hermia's love for each other; there are true loves: Oberon and Titania, Lysander and Hermia (for the first half at least, as Lysander's love switches to Helena temporarily) and Theseus and Hippolyta. Also, there is Helena's love for Demetrius, which could be described as a true love, even though at first it is unrequited.
The Theme of Love in A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare In the play ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ many aspects of love are explored. In this essay I will be exploring how Shakespeare conveys the theme of love including illusion, confusion, escape, harmony and lust. Historically, it has been suggested that ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ was written for a wedding, signifying the importance of love in this play, however there is no real evidence to prove this myth.