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William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream Essay

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William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream A Midsummer Night’s Dream could have easily been a light-hearted, whimsical comedy. Complete with a magic forest and a kingdom of fairies, it is an iconic setting for amorous escapades and scenes of lovers. But Shakespeare’s writing is never so shallow; through this romantic comedy, Shakespeare postulates an extremely cynical view of love. A Midsummer Night’s Dream becomes a commentary on the mystery of love, and lovers in general emerge shamed. Especially in the episodes among the four young Athenians, the lover is painted as a fickle creature, always changing his or her mind, and love as a passing phenomenon. Love is not an unfathomable, kind emotion, but it is ironically cruel, …show more content…

Were love the unchanging wonder that the characters seem to believe it, the dramatic transformation in Lysander would not be possible. Yet such changes in love comprise the bulk of the plot. Another characteristic that is not generally applied to love, but which is inseparably connected to it in this play, is cruelty. Love is an agent of degradation. Helena abases herself in a pathetic attempt to renew Demetrius’s love for her, saying, “I am your spaniel; and, Demetrius, / The more you beat me, I will fawn on you. / Neglect me, lose me; only give me leave, / Unworthy as I am, to follow you” (2.1.204-207). It is love that brings her so low; it does the same to Hermia when she has lost Lysander’s love. Hermia is understandably bewildered by the sudden loss of her lover, and she says, Am not I Hermia? Are you not Lysander? I am as fair now as I was erewhile. Since night you lov’d me; yet since night you left me. Why, then you left me—O, the gods forbid!— In earnest, shall I say? (3.2.273-277). Hermia’s distress parallels that of Helena, and her words carry a desperation that has previously been seen in Helena. The scorned lover is weakened, and lovers are constantly scorned. The ways of love are brutal. The character of love has been thoroughly called into question by this play; by the end, Shakespeare also questions its very reality. Does love really exist? In A Midsummer

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