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Aspects of love in a midsummer night's dream
Characterization.of.play.a.midsummer.night's.dream
Love and desire in a midsummer night's dream
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A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a comedy Shakespeare written by William Shakespeare talking about the love story of the two main female character Hermia and Helena The two both have their difference and similarities when comes to a different situation. But what is always the same is their love for their favorite person.
The first major difference between Hermia and Helena is about their personalities. When comes to love and choices, Hermia is always brave, confident and clear. When the Duke of Athens Theseus gives Hermia two option if she won’t marry the man that her dad wants her to, “Either to die the death or to abjure For ever the society of men.” (I, I,65) she can either choose to die, or never marry another guy in her life, but she is brave
Helena is insecure whereas Hermia is a fighter. Hermia demonstrates that she is a fighter when she does not back down for her and Lysander's love. "So is Lysander," says Hermia (1:1:57), is how she reacts to Theseus' comment about how she must marry Demetrius because her father owns her and that Demetrius is also a wonderful gentleman. Helena, on the other hand, is very insecure as demonstrated in act 2, scene 2, line 749-754, where she says "Happy is Hermia, wheresoe'er she lies; For hath blessed and attractive eyes. How came her eyes so bright? Not with salt tears: If so, my eyes are oftener wash'd than hers. No, no, I am as ugly as a bear; For beasts that meet me run away with fear." Comparing herself to Hermia and saying how she's ugly as a bear, shows how she thinks of herself and the reason for being rejected by Demetrius. Thus, Hermia's and Helena's personalities show audience members their reasons for their actions and
From the beginning, Hermia defiantly denies her father’s attempts at an arranged marriage, in favor of her whirlwind romance with and marriage to Lysander. In her defense, she uses words of chastity and moral purity to claim her fidelity and love towards Lysander and inability to wed Demetrius “I know not by what power I am made bold / nor how it may concern my modesty” (pp). The concern, or befitting, of Hermia’s modesty, by not wedding Demetrius, is protecting the very essence of her womanhood from someone whom she feels isn’t worth of the ultimate consummation of love – marriage (and the subsequent sex). This is continued in her next dialogue, where Hermia states that she would rather die “quote” (pp) or become a nun than give up her virgin “privilege” “quote” (pp). Hermia’s claims of “privilege” and “sovereignty” validate her chastity and moral purity as something that should only be shared with Lysander, not Demetrius. However, the sovereignty of Hermia’s claims also fits in with Demetrius’ arguments regarding his rights to Hermia’s hand in marriage: “quote” (pp). Demetrius’ use of “sovereignty” and “right” turns the supposed “love” of Hermia and Demetrius’ arranged marriage into a legal contract, where Hermia is property and social placeholder instead of a loving companion.
Similar to other works by Shakespeare, such as The Taming of the Shrew, A Midsummer Night’s Dream embellishes the pressures that arise between genders dealing with complicated family and romantic situations. The plot includes a duke who is going to marry a woman he conquered in battle, the king and queen of the fairies embroiled in a fight so fierce that it unbalances the natural world, and a daughter fighting with her father for her right to marry the man she chooses. The girl’s father selects Demetrius to marry his daughter, but she is in love with another man, Lysander, who loves her in return, and her friend Helena is in love Demetrius, but he wants nothing to do with her. Considering the fact that males were dominant during that era, whereas, men chased women, and women remained submissive, Shakespeare dallies with those traditional roles and there are several possible reasons why. Perhaps he made women a stronger force in his plays because he wanted to give his audience a break fr...
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.
In "A Midsummer Night's Dream," William Shakespeare explains the difficulties of the nature of love. Both false love and true love prevail in the end, leading the reader to come to the conclusion that all types of love can triumph. Hermia and Lysander represent the existence of a "true love", while Helena and Demertrius represent the opposite extreme. Shakespeare presents the idea that love is unpredictable and can cause great confusion. Love is something that cannot be explained, it can only be experienced. Shakespeare challenges us to develop our own idea of what love truly is.
(1.1.53)This shows Hermia’s feisty character, as she does not take no for an answer, and is not afraid to argue with men, even though is it not expected of her. As her and Theseus’ argument continues, she goes on to say that she knows her consequences of not abiding with his rules but she will still “plead [her] thoughts” (1.1.61). This implies that Hermia is well aware of what is expected from her, but does not care because she is willing to disobey society’s expectations of women in order to be with Lysander. Shakespeare portrays Hermia as a rebellious woman, contradictory to the average Athenian woman to emphasize the great lengths women will take for love. In fact, it is this rebellious side of Hermia that urges her to run away with Lysander outside of Athens. In their plan to escape, however, Hermia’s dependency on men can still be seen, even though she is disobeying her father and Theseus. Instead, she allows herself to be under control of Lysander, whose directions she follows without any doubt. This proves that although she is brave for going against her father, she never is able to be independent, as her dependency just moves from one man to
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, penned by the acclaimed author William Shakespeare, demonstrates erratic relationships in the form of a romantic comedy. The play takes place in ancient Athens where Theseus, duke of Athens, and his fiancé, Hippolyta, prepare for their grand wedding. During the preparations, Theseus must settle a dispute between a man named Eugeus and his daughter, Hermia. Hermia desires to marry a charming young man by the name of Lysander, however, her father forces her to wed Demetrius. Throughout the story, Hermia and many other women, battle with their love affairs. Through these chaotic love affairs, the predominant female characters show their strengths as well as their weaknesses through various events in the play. Two
William Shakespeare, an illustrious and eminent playwright from the Elizabethan Age (16th Century) and part owner of the Globe theatre wrote A Midsummer Night’s Dream in which he portrays the theme of love in many different ways. These include the paternal love seen in the troubled times for Egeus and his rebellious daughter Hermia, true Love displayed with the valiant acts of Lysander and Hermia and the destructive love present in the agonizing acts of Titania towards her desperate lover Oberon. Through the highs and lows of love, the first love we clasp is the paternal love from our family.
Helena was the younger sister of Hermia. It often bothered her that her sister got all the attention, and she even want it. Helena was madly in love with Demetrius, However Demetrius was arranged to marry Hermia. Helena truly believe she was not good enough, and could not understand why Demetrius did now want
Love plays a very significant role in this Shakespearian comedy, as it is the driving force of the play: Hermia and Lysander’s forbidden love and their choice to flee Athens is what sets the plot into motion. Love is also what drives many of the characters, and through readers’ perspectives, their actions may seem strange, even comical to us: from Helena pursuing Demetrius and risking her reputation, to fairy queen Titania falling in love with Bottom. However, all these things are done out of love. In conclusion, A Midsummer Night’s Dream displays the blindness of love and how it greatly contradicts with reason.
The hilarious play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, by William Shakespeare, tells the twisted love story of four Athenians who are caught between love and lust. The main characters: Hermia, Helena, Lysander, and Demetrius are in a ‘love square’. Hermia and Lysander are true love enthusiasts, and love each other greatly. Demetrius is in love with Hermia, and Helena, Hermia’s best friend, is deeply and madly in love with Demetrius. Hermia and Lysander try to elope in the woods because Egeus, Hermia’s father, disapproves of Lysander.
The Loss of Magic Throughout A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare, there are multiple analyses that one can follow in order to reach a conclusion about the overall meaning of the play. These conclusions are reached through analyzing the play’s setting, characterization, and tone. However, when one watches the production A Midsummer Night’s Dream directed by Michael Hoffman, a completely different approach is taken on these aspects, leading to a vastly different analysis of the work. Though there are many similarities between the original written play A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare and the on-screen production of the aforementioned play which was directed by Michael Hoffman, there are differences in setting and
Some key differences is their how desperate they are for someone to love them,their personalities when they’re jealous,and their overall personalities to any individual.Hermia doesn’t feel the necessity for someone to love her the way Helena does. During some point in the story,the two of them felt jealous towards one another because of their crushes feeling towards the other person. Helena wasn't angry towards her friend or making insults to her, which was the complete opposite of Hermia who bashed out insults and started to feel angry towards Helena. Another difference between the two is they have some personality differences in their behavior to other people.Helena is bit more timid and shy,while Hermia is not shy,and bold. The differences between these set them apart and make them as 2 different individuals that play a key role in the drama in the play. They have similarities,but they are meant to be polar opposites to create an air of drama and themes about love to the
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.
Hermia and Helena's relationship has changed greatly after the intervention of Puck with the love potion. Once best friends, they have become each others enemies, and all for the love of Lysander and Demetrius.