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Power In A Midsummer Night's Dream

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Power is a part of everyday life. The amount of power someone has defines who a person is, and plays a natural role in day to day life. Just as power defines people, it also defines relationships. In relationships involving love, power is not mutual and rather shifts in favor of one person over the other. In William Shakespeare’s comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare critiques the idea of characters losing their power by falling in love because they allow their lover to have power over them and their actions. When characters lose their power as they fall in love, they are also allowing their mind to be corrupted by their lover. In the third act of the play, Lysander mistakenly takes the love potion meant for Demetrius and wakes up to see Helena. Hermia and Helena are confused as they find that Lysander is now pledging his love to Helena instead of Hermia, who he was formerly in love with. Hermia accuses Helena of stealing her lover and threatens her by saying, “how low am I? I am not yet so low/ But that my nails can reach unto thine eyes” (3.2.306-307). Hermia and Helena are …show more content…

Earlier in the play, Demetrius and Lysander were both in love with Hermia, but Lysander sought a more pleasant solution rather than fighting for Hermia. While Puck was acting out what Lysander would say, Demetrius still believed that it was Lysander. Lysander’s newfound love for Helena is making him act out, making him act more violent than he would on a regular basis. Throughout the play, Lysander shows no signs of violent tendencies, up until someone stands in the way of him and Helena. As a result of this, Lysander is losing his power to Helena. His love for Helena causes him to have no control over his behavior which then results in fighting Demetrius. Overall, characters are losing power in their relationships due to their love for another person making them resort to irrational

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