William Shakespeare 's A Midsummer Night 's Dream, Julius Caesar, And Hamlet

The play, A Midsummer Night's Dream, by William Shakespeare, demonstrates the difficulties of human love. Throughout the course of this play, all the lovers were confused, whether it be from the love potion provided by Oberon, the fairy king, or whether it be through natural terms, (those not affected by the potion). In this essay, we will be looking at how Lysander had agreed with this implication of human love being difficult, the scene where all the lovers are confused, and lastly, the time when Helena was furiously jealous of Hermia.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a masterful piece of literature that both directly and indirectly comments on the reality of control and power in Western cultures. Shakespeare’s ability to depict human nature gives us insight into how English society functioned in his lifetime, but more importantly allows us to analyze our own perspective of ourselves and the world around us. One way Shakespeare articulates his ideas is through well constructed metaphors and similies, resulting in more powerful writing. One very significant metaphor is spoken by Theseus early on in Act 1, scene 1. Egeus has brought his daughter, Hermia, to the royal court to for Theseus’s opinion on Hermia’s marriage. Egeus has arranged for Hermia to marry Demetrius, a very worthy suitor, but Hermia is truly in love with another man, Lysander. This dilemna is explained to Theseus and he states, “To you your father should be as a god;/ One that composed your beauties, yea, and one/ To whom you are but as a form in wax/ By him imprinted and within his power/ To leave the figure or disfigure it” (I.i.51-55). In summary, Theseus is defending Egeus by saying Hermia was created by Egeus and his will determines her fate. Behind this metaphor is a simple idea that proves how a desire to control can have many unintended consequences as well as negative effects. In order to understand this concept more effectively, it is crucial to analyze how influence is structured socially. The quote demonstrates

Love is many things, and is also used as a reference to sight and vision such as blindness. It is much more than aesthetics and wields the power of sight, and can also cause chaos and destruction. Similarly, Shakespeare utilizes two types of blindness by love; the first being physical due to a love potion a fairy king, Oberon orders upon the humans in Shakespeare’s, A Midsummers Night’s Dream. The second, being metaphorical due to Antony’s immense amount of love towards Cleopatra, in which hinders his political motivation in Shakespeare’s, Antony and Cleopatra.

William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream has been categorized as a comedy play because of all the characters being passionately in love to the point of being foolish. It’s a play all about love, and the characters that are in love are only young adults, so they are still naive when it comes to love. Their naivety and foolishness regarding love is what allows them to be taken advantage of by mischievous fairies when they all run away into the woods. By critiquing the love affairs and numerous misunderstandings that occur within the mystical woods, I argue that Shakespeare 's A Midsummer Night 's Dream portrays the characters’ young love as a foolish fantasy with drastic consequences.

In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the audience is never truly privy to any of the characters’ dreams; however, Shakespeare portrays reality as a sort of dream. The forest symbolizes a realm where anything can happen, with no regard for time or logic, much like in a dream. Therefore, when the lovers come out of the forest, without explanation for their actions, they believe it to be a dream, even though it had real-life consequences. By having the characters talk about their dreams and believe their realities to be dreams, the play explores the idea that dreams demonstrate reality, in that they show fears and desires, but it also explores the idea that reality can be affected by dreams. While Hoffman’s movie adaptation recognizes this in some aspects, it does not explore it in entirely the same manner.

Love is such an abstract and intangible thing, yet it is something that everyone longs for. In Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the difficulty of love is explored through the obstacles that characters have to face while pursuing their loved ones. Those characters that are in love in the play were conflicted with troubles; however, the obstacles of love do not seem to stop them from being infatuated with each other. The concept of true love is examined throughout this play. By creating obstacles using authority and a higher power, Shakespeare examines the power of love. Through Hermia and Lysander’s loving words, it is reasonable to conclude that love conquers all if you believe in it.

The relationships in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream are patriarchal. Even though the lovers try to go against the societal norm by running away to the forest, their inherited characteristics keep them trapped in the patriarchal way. The four lovers, Hermia, Lysander, Helena, and Demetrious, present a love that shows how the women remain loyal to their men through testing trials. Titania and Bottom have an unconventional relationship that is caused by love juice which provides the fulfillment of woman to man. Shakespeare uses the relationship between Titania and Bottom to emphasize the man’s status over a woman in a patriarchal society. To do this, he illustrates how a woman should dote upon her man by fulfilling his fantasies and

A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare uses different types of characters to portray different kinds of love. Lysander and Helena, the young lovers, and Oberon and Titania, the Fairy King and Queen, have different definitions of love in their relationship. Lysander and Helena have a pure, matter-of-fact connection. They are in love by default, simply because that is ingrained into their characters. Oberon and Titania, however, have a relationship built more on the basis of control. They play games with each other, trying to get the upper hand in the relationship. In the end, one being in control is more attractive to Oberon than the actual connection between the people in the relationship. This is what draws him to Helena, who possesses a naive and superficial love for Demetrius. Helena is more obsessed with Demetrius than truly in love with him, as there does not seem to be much basis for her infatuation. In the process of loving Demetrius, she deprecates her own character. Oberon appreciates the devotion Helena has for Demetrius and wishes Titania had her qualities, so he pities her, and assists with her conquest of Demetrius. However, his process takes Demetrius’s will away, much like how Oberon sought to humiliate Titania. Although the happy ending is with Helena and Demetrius together, their relationship is more similar to that of Bottom and Titania than Hermia and Lysander, which is what the audience is supposed to infer by their placement in the story.

"Love looks not with the eyes but with the mind", spoken by Helena in Act 1 Scene 1 line 234, explains that it matters not what the eyes see but what the mind thinks it sees. In the play, A Midsummer Night 's Dream, written by William Shakespeare, there are several instances where the act of seeing is being portrayed. The definition of vision is the ability to see, something you imagine or something you dream. This proves that even though one has the ability to see; the mind tends to interfere and sometimes presents a different picture. Various scenes in the play interpret this act on more than one occasion. For instance, the use of imagination plays a vital role as it depicts the powers and limitations of human vision presented in this story. The artful use of seeing which allows one to notice or become aware of someone or something, sight which helps someone or something be seen and, eyes which allow one to appreciate something seen helps the audience understand just how significant the act of seeing is in the daily love affairs of each character.

Millennials of today are growing up in a technologically adept time where replication of the latest trends is considered the key to success. Shakespeare, the playwright of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, is infamous for his angst and lament, as well as his numerous depictions of love and romance. In his play, one of the most apparent perspectives of love is that genuine love is a force so powerful, that it can not be imitated, replicated or enforced. One of the most profound examples of forced love in the play is exhibited through the relationship between Hermia and Demetrius, two Athenians who are being forced to be married by Hermia’s father, Egeus. In their relationship, only one of the parties is consenting to this arranged marriage:

Love does not run smoothly for the lovers in the romantic comedy, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” written between the years 1590–1596 by the prominent, English playwright; William Shakespeare. The play revolves around four lovers that each faces incessant complications for love. Demetrius, Hermia, and Lysander are trapped in a triangle of love in which Demetrius and Lysander both love Hermia, but Hermia’s heart only belongs to Lysander. Helena is not involved in the love triangle, but loves Demetrius, which—traditional to any love predicament—does not love her back. To Demetrius’ avail, Hermia’s father [Egeus] tries to coerce Hermia to marry his choice [Demetrius] or yield to the law of Athens and face the sanction of death or (suggested by

Hamlet is considered to be Shakespeare’s greatest work, and the soliloquy to be or not to be is equally as famous. Hamlet is one of the greatest dramatic characters of all time and the role of Hamlet is one that many actors strive to play. Shakespeare wrote the character Hamlet in a very specific manner and it is because of this that few have found success in performing this role. Moreover the soliloquy to be or not to be has been one that has defined the level of success of an actors role of Hamlet. Famous actors like Lawrence Olivier, John Gielgud, Jude Law, Mel Gibson, Kenneth Branagh, David Tennant, etc. have stepped into the shoes of hamlet and into the world of Shakespeare. However, only Tennant, Gibson, and Branagh have

Shakespeare has many memorable female characters from Lady MacBeth from Macbeth to Beatrice from Much Ado About Nothing. Both females are mentioned numerous times when discussions on Shakespeare’s plays comes about. One female character, though, is overlooked time and time again. Although not seen as a strong character, it is due to both historical context and male dominance that forced Hippolyta into the role she played in A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare.

The works of William Shakespeare are full of intention: every word, character interaction, and bit of characterization was carefully and deliberately chosen by the bard to enrich the story he told. Each scene is the sum total of these careful and deliberate inclusions. While the scene is comprised of only about 200 lines, the first scene of the second act of A Midsummer Night’s Dream introduces many of the major players in the overall plot, and showcases some highly interesting characters and character interactions that persist throughout the play. In particular, the character of Puck and the relationship between King Oberon and Titania are highlighted and greatly developed in this section of the play.

The Renaissance was a time in which mankind was rediscovering itself. For ages, men were simply trying to exist, survive more than anything else. The Renaissance was a period in which men no longer had to just get by everyday, but could begin exploring morality. No other Renaissance author characterizes this more than William Shakespeare in the early 1600s. His plays highlight the internal moral struggle that every man goes through, the concept of what is right and what is wrong in a world that is full of gray areas. More specifically he deals with the concept of honor and morality in several of his plays. Julius Caesar, Hamlet, and Henry V, to a lesser extent, deal with how men handle these and can reconcile otherwise heinous acts. Now, being well aware that Shakespeare does not account for all the Renaissance writers, however his are the most prevalent still today and it can be argued that Shakespeare did not work alone. For the sake of organization, it is far easier to tackle these literary works in chronological order and analyze the individual pieces first and then view them all as one whole.