A Midsummer Night's Dream Essay
In William Shakespeare 's A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the plot revolves around love and the drama that accompanies it. Hermia and Lysander, two Athenian lovers, are forbidden to be together by Egeus, the father of Hermia. To avoid the punishments of Egeus and Athenian law, the lovers flee to the woods. They face the difficulty of love when Puck, the mischievous servant of fairy king Oberon, mistakenly drips a love potion into the eyes of Lysander, who falls in love with the first creature he sees upon awakening- another Athenian woman named Helena. Simultaneously, Oberon, the fairy king, and Titania, the fairy queen struggle while bickering over a young indian servent. Their difficulties continue when Oberon sends Puck to drip the love potion …show more content…
This theme is certainly supported throughout the play. When Helena wakes Lysander, treated with the love potion, she says, “. . .Dead or asleep? I see no blood, no wound.— Lysander, if you live, good sir, awake.”(II,ii) When Lysander wakes up he falls instantly in love with Helena and says, “(waking) And run through fire I will for thy sweet sake. Transparent Helena! Nature shows art That through thy bosom makes me see thy heart. Where is Demetrius? Oh, how fit a word Is that vile name to perish on my sword!”(II,ii). This clearly shows that Lysander falls in deep love with Helena as soon as he looks at her. Similarly, Titania, under the love potion, falls in love with Bottom as soon as she wakes. She says to him, “(waking) What angel wakes me from my flowery bed?”(III,i) After listening to Bottom sing to her, Titania continues, “I pray thee, gentle mortal, sing again. Mine ear is much enamored of thy note. So is mine eye enthrallèd to thy shape. And thy fair virtue’s force perforce doth move me On the first view to say, to swear, I love thee.”(III,i). Titania claims wakes and claims to love Bottom upon first sight, supporting the theme that true love is realized at first sight. While it is clear in both situations there is love at first sight, it is artificial love. In both scenarios, the lover only loves because they are under the control of a love potion, their love is created by the potion and is not true love. True love cannot be acquired at a first look, but is attained through struggle and
Comparing Bless Me, Ultima And House On Mango Street
1255 Words | 6 PagesIn the play A Midsummer’s Night Dream by William Shakespeare, many of the characters relentlessly pursue their goals in the face of illogical decisions, and, while fictional items such as the “love-in-idleness” flower are used to explain the character’s sudden love for each other, the play does illustrate how love and ambition can lead to unforeseen consequences. For example, when Puck accidently anointed Lysander’s eyes with the “love-in-idleness” juice, he started a chain of events leading to Lysander and Demetrius fighting over Helena while Hermia is treated as though she is worthless. Moreover, at one point, Lysander and Demetrius even threatened to duel each other when Lysander awoke after being anointed with the flower 's juice and said, "Where is Demetrius? O, how fit a word is that vile name to perish on my sword" (61). This shows how the character’s love for certain other characters, and their ambition to pursue said love, can lead to the destruction of previous relationships and lead them to make dangerous decisions.
1. How Did The Potion Affect Lysander And Titania Differently?
443 Words | 2 PagesTitania and Lysander had different experiences with the love potion that further advances the plot. Firstly, Lysander was the first person to receive the potion. When he awoke Helena was standing over him, causing him to fall in love with her at the sight of her. This effect of the potion complicates things, as he had run away with Hermia to live their lives together.
Examples Of Crazy Love In A Midsummer Night's Dream
735 Words | 3 PagesParental love and a regular man and woman relationship. The parental love is between Titania and her “Changeling child” she’s taking care of. This causes a lovers spat between her and Oberon who wanted the child. Hermia, Helena, Lysander, and Demetrius have a convoluted love square that changes many times in the course of Shakespeare’s play. In Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream, crazy love is a major theme.
A Midsummer Night's Dream Act 2 Scene 1 Analysis
895 Words | 4 PagesIn William Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream the circumstances surrounding love have been put into question, this occurs when a magical nectar is put in the eyes of three major characters, and changes their feelings towards the people in their lives. Titania, Lysander and Demetrius all have had the nectar put into their eyes, though Demetrius avoids having this done to him in act 2 scene 2 which is the scene that the focus of this paper will be looking at. Throughout the play, we focus largely on the love life of Helena, which unfortunately does not seem to exist. She is in love with Demetrius, whom does not care for her in the same way, he does not cherish her at all before he is under the influence of magic. Once Lysander declares
Jealousy In A Midsummer Night's Dream By William Shakespeare
932 Words | 4 PagesIt is estimated that 35% of teens have an uncommitted relationship through adolescence. Teenagers during the time period in which A Midsummer Night’s Dream, by William Shakespeare, takes place are the ideal age for courtship and marriage. Within the play, a story of a father, Egeus, who denies the courtship of his daughter, Hermia, and her soulmate, Lysander, results in a runaway couple hoping to elope. Their dreams drown, when Hermia’s best friend, Helena, who tells it to Hermia’s fiance, Demetrius, as she hopes for a relationship with him. The love between the Athenian lovers from A Midsummer Night’s Dream focuses, at a core, on the same themes and clichés of forbidden romance, running away, jealousy/one-sided love, and the infamous fight for someone's love that teens experience when dating in modern days.
Lysander And Hermia's Relationship
948 Words | 4 PagesIn our scene, lines 42-179 of Act One, Scene One, the characters who try to force love upon others are seen antagonistically, while Hermia and Lysander, who strive for true, naturally occurring love, are seen as protagonists whose love should be defended. The overlying message of the play is that love should not and cannot be forced. Theseus, Egeus, and Demetrius use their power, both as nobles and men, to try and force Hermia into marrying Demetrius. Egeus, in an attempt to bully Hermia into marrying Demetrius says, ‘‘‘She is mine, and all my right of her I do estate unto Demetrius’’’ (1.1.97-98). He sees his power as Hermia’s father as a way to force her into a marriage that will benefit him.
Justice In A Midsummer Night's Dream
779 Words | 4 PagesToba Beta once said: "“Justice could be as blind as love.” Shakespeare 's play A Midsummer Night 's Dream captures the blind bias of both love and justice. Egeus, a respected nobleman in Athens, arranged for his daughter, Hermia, to marry nobleman Demetrius. Egeus tells his daughter that she must obey his wishes: if she does not, she can either choose to become a nun, or die. Hermia, much to her father 's dismay, is deeply in a mutual love with a different nobleman, Lysander.
Forest In A Midsummer Night's Dream
776 Words | 4 PagesDreams are wild, magical, and mysterious. The majority of Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream is spent in a heavily wooded forest full of fairies and irrational young lovers, creating a night only fallible as a dream. The story contains a royal wedding about to take place and the young lovers Hermia and Lysander provoked to eloping because Hermia’s father will only let her marry Demetrius. Hermia’s best friend Helena, who loves Demetrius, tells Demetrius Hermia and Lysander’s plot to escape to the forest nearby so that she may follow him. Local townsmen also decide to meet in the forest to rehearse for a play to be performed at the royal wedding.
Effects Of Love In A Midsummer Night's Dream
848 Words | 4 PagesHave you ever fallen in love with someone who has no interest in you and doesn’t love you back? Did that person suddenly start loving you out of nowhere? In A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare, Helena’s hunger for love brings out a desperate side in her and takes her through interesting adventures with love. One can infer that love is hurtful by how Helena reacts to love in a foolish manner and remains skeptical about it even near the end of the play.
What Are The Four Unlikely Relationships In A Midsummer Night's Dream
144 Words | 1 PagesAlthough each character is intricately different it is their desire for love that brings the four unlikely characters together in this impractical situation of love. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the author alludes to the tragic conception of love in the opening scene where Lysander foreshadows what is to come: “…The course of true love never did run smooth” (MND.1.1 135), Lysander’s proclamation sums up the entirety of the play as lover will always encounter troubles when on the road of merriment. This is evident in Act 3, Scene 2 where a breaking point is present as tension arises between the blooming yet strained friendship between Helena and Hermia. Throughout the fight sequence we see the girls comparing one another looks
Courtship And Marriage In A Midsummer Night's Dream
1633 Words | 7 PagesIt is the first goal of our essay to understand how marriage and courtship in Shakespeare´s plays are an important exciting theme because it was something real during XVI century. The objective of the essay is to examine how courtship and marriage affects the issues and formation of the play named A Midsummer Night´s Dream (The Malone Society, 1996) focusing on the social and emotional relationships between men and women. Consequently, the aims are: first, to show the importance of the female character in the play according to virginity, chastity and sexuality; second, to explain how love is treated in the play; and lastly, to illustrate how courtship and marriage are depicted through the characters. It is crucial to understand that all of
A Midsummer Night's Dream Philosophical Analysis
1635 Words | 7 PagesThe love of Queen Titania is not real and it is just caused by the potion. We also relate the scene where Robin turns Nick’s head to a Donkey. It is a fantasy, because Nick thinks that he is still himself, but others see his huge donkey head. We can relate the scene to where King Oberon ordered Robin to give the potion to Queen Titania to fell inlove with Nick Bottom to the philosophy paroxysm.
Illusion And Reality In A Midsummer Night's Dream
1780 Words | 8 PagesUnconditional love is a prevalent theme in A Midsummer Night 's Dream, and the blind nature of this love can be a great thing, especially since ignoring a romantic partner’s flaws can lead to a happier relationship. However, in A Midsummer Night 's Dream, Shakespeare takes his characters’ love to an irrational extent - so much so, that a prevalent theme of the play is the foolishness and folly of love. Context After being enchanted by Oberon’s love potion, Titania is awoken by Bottom, who she then falls madly in love with. She starts swearing her to love to him, to which Bottom responds: Analysis
Character Analysis Of Hermia In 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'
895 Words | 4 PagesWhat is Hermia Like? She is described as an independent individual who wants nothing but to follow her heart, but here’s the catch… That is not what her dad wants for her! She is better yet characterized as Feisty;She knows what she wants and does what it takes to get it, she was even prepared to give up on her family and way of life to marry Lysander. In this play she can be Defensive (Compelled to fight for her love and was willing to fight her friend) “
Love At First Love In Shakespeare's Twelfth Night
958 Words | 4 PagesDespite popular opinion, love at first sight does not exist. The idea of “love” is widely misinterpreted as a mere attraction between two individuals. However, many do not understand that love goes much further than this, and what follows is a common misconception between love and lust. Shakespeare in his 17th century play Twelfth Night delves deeper into this idea of love. He presents the character Duke Orsino who appear to be infatuated and love-sick for the Countess Olivia, a woman with which he knows little about.
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