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Love difficulties in a midsummer night's dream
Who are romantically involved with each other in a midsummer night dream
How Shakespeare presents love in the play as a whole
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Recommended: Love difficulties in a midsummer night's dream
In Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the characters Hermia and Lysander are faced with a difficult situation when they decide to enter into marriage and consequently are forbidden to by Hermia’s father, who instead wishes her to be married to another young man, Demetrius. Hermia and Lysander forced to plead her case to both her father and the duke of Athens, Theseus. But Theseus’ only words to Hermia are those that tell her she should be obedient to her father. Her pleas are essentially ignored. While it is unfortunate that her thoughts should not be given a second thought, the audience is usually quick to judge Hermia’s father as an old, tradition-bound man intent on ruining his daughter’s happiness. In fact, it should be important to
The unfortunate circumstances of the two lovers is one facet of the driving force of the play. It reveals an enormous amount about the nature of love, especially in someone’s younger years. Even though we as an audience can relate to and root for the two, and are satisfied at the end of the play with their happy union, it is important to call into question the actual intelligence of entering into a marriage, purely in the interests of starry-eyed, headstrong, idealistic love given the context of their situation. It seems improbable that they really know what they’re getting themselves into.
Certainly if anyone were to decide to marry their first love, they should do so with caution if they want the relationship to last. A relationship takes commitment and determination, especially when the two are so young. First love, especially, takes a special kind of determination to allow it to succeed. There is no question that entering into a relationship, and especially one as serious as Hermia an...
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...the future, we as readers can only hope for the best.
Works Cited
Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece: Wilson, N. G. "Demography." Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece. New York: Routledge, 2006. 214. Print.
Midsummer Night’s Dream: Shakespeare, William, Gail Kern Paster, and Skiles Howard. "Act 1, Scene 1." A Midsummer Night's Dream: Texts and Contexts. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 1999. Print.
Romeo and Juliet: Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet. Ware: Wordsworth Classics, 1992. Print.
NCHS: Copen, Casey E., Ph.D, Kimberly Daniels, Ph.D, Jonathan Vespa, Ph.D, and William D. Mosher, Ph.D. First Marriages in the United States: Data From the 2006–2010 National Survey of Family Growth. Rep. no. 49. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics, 2012. Print.
Infoplease: "Median Age at First Marriage: 1890 to 2010." Infoplease. Infoplease, 2009. Web. 5 Apr. 2014.
185-196. Dillon, Mathew, and Garland, Lynda. Ancient Greece: Social and Historical Documents from Archaic Times to the Death of Socrates. Routledge International Thompson Publishing Company, 1994, pp. 179-215 Lefkowitz, Mary.
Hermia went against her father and the duke when they both told her she had to marry Demetrius or be sent to a convent or executed, instead she ran away into the woods to elope with Lysander. Lysander stayed with Hermia and ran into the woods, risking being lost and possibly death, for a chance to marry Hermia. In Shakespeare’s 29th sonnet he explains how at times he wishes he had more; more beauty, more possessions, and more power, until he thinks of this girl, after that he feels confident and content with the love and the life he possesses, and he wouldn 't trade places with anyone, including a king. this he also shows is true love, undoubting, positive and forever supporting. The risk of a fallacious love for a chance of true love, is often considered worth it, however as humans we are surrounded by love but more often than not, its platonic instead of
Bumpass LL, Sweet JA, Cherlin A. 1991. The role of cohabitation in declining rates of marriage. Demography 53:913 27
Shakespeare, William. "A Midsummer Night's Dream." Open Source Shakespeare. George Mason University, n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2014.
Love is a powerful emotion, capable of turning reasonable people into fools. Out of love, ridiculous emotions arise, like jealousy and desperation. Love can shield us from the truth, narrowing a perspective to solely what the lover wants to see. Though beautiful and inspiring when requited, a love unreturned can be devastating and maddening. In his play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, William Shakespeare comically explores the flaws and suffering of lovers. Four young Athenians: Demetrius, Lysander, Hermia, and Helena, are confronted by love’s challenge, one that becomes increasingly difficult with the interference of the fairy world. Through specific word choice and word order, a struggle between lovers is revealed throughout the play. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare uses descriptive diction to emphasize the impact love has on reality and one’s own rationality, and how society’s desperate pursuit to find love can turn even strong individuals into fools.
As in virtually every love story, Lysander and Hermia’s love story has a twist to it: Hermia's father demands Hermia to marry Demetrious. This is a very classical situation. In the past, parents had the rights to arrange their daughter’s marriage to whoever they please. Usually they would exercise their rights which is the very case in Hermia’s life. This creates a big problem and cause a tremendous pressure for Hermia and Lysander, as they love each other. In addition, the Athenian rule that governs father's right to choose groom for his daughter promotes the duke to warn Hermia to make a decision in very short period of four days that either she wants to be a nun for life or marry Demetrious.
Shakespeare, William. “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”. The Pelican Shakespeare. New York: Penguin Books Inc. 2000.
...ities. Love is a long hard road and cannot be reached by taking a straight, clear-cut path. Even though throughout the scene Hermia and Lysander are in constant conflict, a resolution is eventually reached. Hermia and Lysander remain in love, proving that true love can prevail.
Jayson, Sharon. “Census reports more unmarried couples living together.” USA Today. 28 Jul. 2008. Web. 14 Sept. 2011. .
First of all, America has the highest divorce rate among western nations. Divorce rate increased after every major war, and decreased during the Post-World War II economic boom. The divorce rate has more than doubled since 1940, when there were two divorces for every 1,000 persons. Now for the same number of people, there are over five divorces. Studies indicate that there is more divorce among persons with low incomes and limited education and those who marry at a very young age. Teenage marriages are much more likely to end in divorce than are all other marriages. And women who marry when they are over age 30 are the least likely to become divorced. There has been a decline in divorce in the number of couples who have children under 18. Almost 45 p...
Schanzer, Ernest. "_A Midsummer-Night's Dream." 26-31 in Kenneth Muir, ed. Shakespeare: The Comedies: A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1965.
When we first meet Hermia in the play called A Midsummer Night's Dream, written by William Shakespeare, she is a girl in love against her father's wishes. From the very start of the play we can see how much enamored she is with Lysander. We can also see that Hermia is a woman with her own desires, and does not liked to be forced to do things that she does not want. She does not want to marry the man that her father betrothed to her, even though it could mean her demise. Her choices of living in a nunnery and live the life of chastity was not an option for Hermia. She loved Lysander and all she wanted was to be with him.
Shakespeare, William. A Midsummer Night's Dream. The Norton Shakespeare: Greenblatt, Stephen, editor. New York: W W Norton & Company, 1997.
Shakespeare, William. A Midsummer Night's Dream. Comp. Folger Shakespeare Library. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2009. Print.
To give a little background on the play, the pursuit of marriage is the driving force behind the play. “I now pronounce you, man and wife.” This traditional saying, commonly used to announce a newlywed couple during a wedding ceremony, marks the happily ever after that many dream of today. In today’s society, marriage is an expression of love between two individuals. Marriage has not, however, always been an act of love.