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Relationships in a midsummer night's dream
Shakespeare and madness
Literary Analysis of a Midsummer Night Dream
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In William Shakespeare 's A Midsummer Night 's Dream, following the climax of the play, Theseus, the Duke of Athens, makes an interesting observation about the nature of the one thing that has driven the conflict of the story: love. "Lovers and madmen have such seething brains/ Such shaping fantasies that apprehend/ More than cool reason ever comprehends" (V.I.4-6). Theseus ' statement, making lovers akin to madmen, casts the action in a somewhat different light than one might ordinarily see it. If lovers do, in fact, think and behave as madmen do, as Theseus seems to be suggesting, this speaks not only to the nature of the conflict and confusion between the four lovers, but to the nature of the relationships between nearly every character in the play, artificially induced though some of them may have been. This somewhat altered view of the matter calls to …show more content…
And if he is indeed prey to the madness that consumes his citizens, he can at least attest to being self-aware; the speech in which the metaphor is contained shows how truly unbelievable all of this is. He plainly says, "I never may believe/ These antique fables nor these fairy toys" (V.I.2-3), implying that he recognizes the madness for what it is and refuses to indulge in it. Even Hippolyta 's response suggests some sort of mental shift: "all their minds transfigured so together,/ More witnesseth than fancy 's images" (V.I.24-25). She argues some greater significance to their collective mental shift which obliterated the enmity among the four, but she cannot know that the change was inflicted by magical means, is unnatural, and that the seeming harmony between the lovers speaks to a greater madness than their conflict ever
A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a Shakespearian comedy where Shakespeare shows many forms of passion. There are many passions shown many times in this play that would change the whole story if they were taken out. It is a trait that can reveal a person’s strong inner emotions such as in this story, friendship, love and jealousy. Helena shows a deep passion for friendship with Hermia when she thinks she has been betrayed, Titania passionately loves Bottom, and Oberon genuinely shows jealousy towards the Indian boy Titania tended to.
Every action made in A Midsummer Night’s Dream revolves around the idea of love. It is a concept which few people can understand because of the extremity a person can go through to go after their love. “Lovers and madmen have such seething brains, such shaping fantasies that apprehend more than cool reason ever comprehends.” Lovers see the world in a way which everyday people cannot comprehend. The idea of love leads to them making irrational choices which may seem
Fairies, mortals, magic, love, and hate all intertwine to make A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare a very enchanting tale, that takes the reader on a truly dream-like adventure. The action takes place in Athens, Greece in ancient times, but has the atmosphere of a land of fantasy and illusion which could be anywhere. The mischievousness and the emotions exhibited by characters in the play, along with their attempts to double-cross destiny, not only make the tale entertaining, but also help solidify one of the play’s major themes; that true love and it’s cleverly disguised counterparts can drive beings to do seemingly irrational things.
“The course of true love never did run smooth” ~William Shakespeare. In the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Theseus and Hippolyta plan their wedding, which includes a play by the craftsman. While the other characters are trying to figure out their love for one another, the fairies interfere. Throughout the play the characters alternate lovers often. Although they bicker at one another, everyone finds their way to their true soul mate. The characters in William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream are successful, after many trials and tribulations, in acquiring their desired relationships.
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 William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer’s Night Dream” two worlds are contrasted throughout the play. The Athenian state is governed by order, law, and reason; the forest or Fairy world lies within the realm of the imagination where anything is possible. While both worlds run parallel in the play, their inhabitants are influenced by one another. Their rulers, Theseus and Oberon, play critical roles in the events of the story. Theseus acts compassionately with a sense of duty, order and respect; his initial rulings for Hermia provide the exposition for the comedy (May 75). Oberon acts compassionately as well, but acts on a whim and resorts to trickery if it suits his desires; his actions direct the complication in the plot (May 75). Their personalities are characterized by how they attempt to help the young lovers, how and why they make decisions and how they interact with their loved ones and subjects. The rulers’ similarities govern the reasons behind their actions; their differences contribute to the success of the story.
Human nature causes us to be blind to reality. We see the best in people we adore or in situations we want to take pleasure in. All harsh realities are not visible to the naked eye, as our heads refuse to accept them as truths. Love is the most common cause for this blindness bliss. However, in some circumstances, we choose to accustom ourselves to lower standards so that we are able to get pleasure out of the simplest events in life. Thus, people of varying intellects can comingle together, just as the royalty of Athens displays during the play of Pyramus and Thisbe in A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare. We must realize however, that there is an exception to the ‘enchantment’ these blurred conceptions have over our lives, which is that all participants must wish for this masked reality to become their true reality. Through the contrast of appearance versus reality, Shakespeare reveals that people are willing to accept unrealities, no matter the ugly truths being hidden, as long as they desire the unrealities before they fall under their trance.
The Theme of Love in A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare In the play ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ many aspects of love are explored. In this essay I will be exploring how Shakespeare conveys the theme of love including illusion, confusion, escape, harmony and lust. Historically, it has been suggested that ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ was written for a wedding, signifying the importance of love in this play, however there is no real evidence to prove this myth. Rather, the Lord Chamberlain’s men performed ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ on the London stage.
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is a play based on a romantic love story. In this play, there are several types of love displayed between several of the main characters in the play. One of the most famous quotes from the play was by Lysander and it was “The course of true love never did run smooth” (Act 1, Scene 1). This meant that with any type of love, a person will experience its ups and downs, they will agree to disagree, but more importantly, love is unpredictable. Parenteral love, forced love, and true love are 3 types of love displayed/expressed in the play “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
And make her full of hateful fantasies? Act II, Sc. 2. 259-267) -. Oberon stresses the use of emotion to understand what he is saying. On the other hand, Theseus accentuates the use of logic, best portrayed in this line,?I never believe these antique fables, nor these fairy toys.?
Love can be quite chaotic at times. As much as poets and songwriters promote the idea of idyllic romantic love, the experience in reality is often fraught with emotional turmoil. When people are in love, they tend to make poor decisions, from disobeying authority figures to making rash, poorly thought-out choices. In the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare uses various motifs to illustrate how love, irrationality, and disobedience are thematically linked to disorder.
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.
William Shakespeare’s writings are famous for containing timeless, universal themes. A particular theme that is explored frequently in his writings is the relationship between men and women. A Midsummer Night’s Dream contains a multitude of couplings, which are often attributed to the fairies in the play. Each of these pairings has positive and negative aspects, however, some relationships are more ideal than others. From A Midsummer Night’s Dream the optimal pairings are Lysander and Hermia, Demetrius and Helena, and Oberon and Titania; while the less desirable pairings are Theseus and Hippolyta, Hermia and Demetrius, Lysander and Helena, and Titania and Bottom. Throughout A Midsummer
Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night revolves around a love triangle that continually makes twists and turns like a rollercoaster, throwing emotions here and there. The characters love each another, but the common love is absent throughout the play. Then, another character enters the scene and not only confuses everyone, bringing with him chaos that presents many different themes throughout the play. Along, with the emotional turmoil, each character has their own issues and difficulties that they must take care of, but that also affect other characters at same time. Richard Henze refers to the play as a “vindication of romance, a depreciation of romance…a ‘subtle portrayal of the psychology of love,’ a play about ‘unrequital in love’…a moral comedy about the surfeiting of the appetite…” (Henze 4) On the other hand, L. G. Salingar questions all of the remarks about Twelfth Night, asking if the remarks about the play are actually true. Shakespeare touches on the theme of love, but emphases the pain and suffering it causes a person, showing a dark and dismal side to a usually happy thought.
Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is often read as a dramatization of the incompatibility of “reason and love” (III.i. 127), yet many critics pay little attention to how Shakespeare manages to draw his audience into meditating on these notions independently (Burke 116). The play is as much about the conflict between passion and reason concerning love, as it is a warning against attempting to understand love rationally. Similarly, trying to understand the play by reason alone results in an impoverished reading of the play as a whole – it is much better suited to the kind of emotive, arbitrary understanding that is characteristic of dreams. Puck apologises directly to us, the audience, in case the play “offend[s]” us, but the primary offence we can take from it is to our rational capacity to understand the narrative, which takes place in a world of inverses and contrasts. The fantastical woods is contrasted to the order of the Athenian law, and Elizabethan values of the time are polarised throughout the narrative, such as Helena’s feeling ugly even though she is tall and fair. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is thus not solely a comedic meditation on the nature of the origin or meaning of love, it also cautions against trying to rationalise the message of the play. Puck, who by his very nature cannot exist in rational society, propels the action of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He is a manifestation of mischief and the unpredictability of nature, which governs not only the fantastical woods outside of Athens, but also the Athenians themselves when it comes to love. Yet, it is Puck, and thus nature, which rectifies the imbalance of the lovers in the beginning of the play. Rationalising, o...