The Wrong Love Scene 4.1 of A Midsummer Night's Dream is full of things that are easily changed, such as love. Demetrius, upon awaking in the forest, has changed his mind about his love of Hermia, and chosen Helena—"My love to Hermia/ Melted as the snow, seems to me now/ As the remembrance of an idle gaud…" (4.1. 162-164) It illustrates how quickly his love is gone and replaced. Demetrius' fickle love is also demonstrated by the following lines: "The object and the pleasure of mine eye/ Is Only Helena. To her, my lord,/ Was I betrothed ere I saw Hermia." (4.1. 167-169) To paraphrase, he was engaged to Helena before he saw Hermia, upon which point his love changed. Yet an interesting point in Demetrius' speech is thus: "But like in sickness did I loathe this food;/ But as in health come to my natural taste." Demetrius makes the connection between food and love when speaking of both Hermia and Helena. We, as the outside reader, know that Helena and Demetrius are supposed to be together. When Demetrius refers to the love of Hermia as a sickness, he is describing the wrong love. In this play, the wrong love is symbolized by something horrible; Demetrius' wrong love is signified by a sickness, and earlier in the scene, we see the same thing with Queen Titania. "My Oberon, what visions have I seen!/ Methought I was enamoured of an ass/…/How came these things to pass?/ O, how mine eyes do loathe his visage now!" (4.1. 72-75) Titania's wrong love is Bottom, translated into an ass. It almost seems like Titania expresses incredulity at the very thought that she could have fallen in love with an ass, one of nature's ugliest creatures, and obviously the wrong love for her. Hippolyta expresses her woe at the wrong love differently. Being the captured Amazon queen, unwilling to wed, she mourns for her old home and its way of life: "I was with Hercules and Cadmus once/ When in a wood of Crete they bayed the bear/ With hounds of Sparta. Never did I hear/ Such gallant chiding; for besides the groves,/ The skies, the fountains, every region near/ Seemed all one mutual cry. I never heard/ So musical a discord, such sweet thunder." (4.1. 109-115) In my estimation, her mention of Hercules and Cadmus at the beginning shows a mourning of her old life; I also find it interesting how casual the drop of these famous names is.
The first scene of A Midsummer Night’s Dream introduces a tangled web of lovers. Hermia presents herself for judgement as she refuses to marry Lysander, the man of whom her father approves, as she is infatuated instead with Demetrius. Meanwhile her friend Helena is besotted by Demetrius, but he loves Hermia. The scene plays out like a soap opera with dramatic relationships galore, but Shakespeare establishes greater depth with the help of allusions. The most significant references in this scene appear when Hermia and Lysander speak privately for the first time. In their brief conversation, Hermia alludes to Cupid, Venus, and Dido. The first two are gods of love, and Dido is a queen who burned herself on a pyre after being abandoned by her lover. Shakespeare uses each of these mentions of mythology to make the point that the affair between Hermia and Lysander is no passing fancy. However, when Helena enters and converses with the star-crossed lovers she makes no mention of mythology as she discusses her unrequited love for Demetrius and resulting jealousy of Hermia. The absence of allusions in Helena’s speech accentuates the divide between herself and her friend. Barbara A. Mowat speaks eloquently on this concept in the Folger Library edition introduction. As Ms. M...
Demetrius received no love from Hermia who he wanted to pursue, therefore he does not have perfect happiness. At the time when Demetrius can still make rational choices of who he loves, he loves Hermia instead of Helena. In order to pursue Hermia, Demetrius requested Hermia’s father Egeus to marry to her, but she never take Demetrius as a consideration. With all of Demetrius’ efforts, Hermia totally ignores him. Compare to Lysander and Hermia’s inseparable relationship, Demetrius is unhappy by staying alone. The person he loves does not love him, and the person he does not love loves him. Demetrius is a person who knows what he wants. Throughout the play, he loves Hermia consistently until the fairy put a spell on his eyelid.
An important passion shown in this story is the passion of friendship from Helena. Lysander and demetrius were both deeply in love with Hermia, but suddenly they became slaves for Helena, under the spell of a love potion. This antagonises Helena and she blames it all on Hermia and her cruel joke. She says to Hermia, “The sisters’ vows, the hours that we have spent, when we have chid the hasty-footed time for parting us,-o is all forgot” (III.II.199-201)? Helena asks her if she has forgotten about their friendship, about the vows they took to be like sisters and never leave each other. This shows that although Hermia may have forgotten their friendship, Helena will always remember because friendship is really important to her. Friendship is a bond Helena feels really passionate about and takes very seriously. Another quote that shows Helena’s passion for friendship is “ Both warbling of one song, both in one key, as if our hands, our sides, voices and minds have been incorporated”(III. II. 207-208). This represents that Helena took their friendship sincerely and she believed in them and nothing could break their bond. Her last bit of her anger com...
Both the couples in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and The Princess Bride had happy endings. All the difficulties they had suffered just like dreams. Wesley's love was true and deep, “Do I love you? My god, if your love were a grain of sand, mine would be a universe of beaches.”(The Princess Bride) Lysander's heart to Hermia was sincere as well. Helena knew that Demetrius would not love her no matter how she begged him. Therefore she considered their marriage as a dream, and she would never want to wake up from that dream. People become foolish when they desire for love, love makes them
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, written by William Shakespeare, is a tale of when trickery interferes with love, causing lots of twist and turns in the romantic relationships of the characters Hermia, Lysander, Demetrius, and Helena. Within the first 100 lines, preliminary stressors are revealed. Hermia’s father, Egeus, has spoken his complaints to King Oberon about his trepidation regarding the love triangle Hermia has put herself into with Lysander, her lover, and Demetrius, Egeus’ choice. Even though Demetrius is aware of the love Lysander and Hermia have, this does not discourage him from continuing to pursue her. Furthermore, another Athenian woman, Helena, repeatedly professes her love to Demetrius just to be ridiculed
Love can bring happiness and love can bring sorrow. In William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night's Dream, love brought both. The play is about many lovers who have ups and downs in their relationships. Hernia is the daughter of egeus who wants to marry Lysander, but is being directed to marry Demetrius. Hermia and Lysander run away to the woods. Demetrius and Helena follow. In the woods, they all get mixed up with fairies and love potions. This leads to broken relationships where Shakespeare is able to express his views on love. In the play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, William Shakespeare communicates his views on love by showing that it is chaotic blinding through the main characters of the play.
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.
In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the main conflict is between love and social relations. The play revolves around the magical power of love which transforms many lives. As a result of this, it gets the reader’s emotionally involved through ways of reminding us of love’s foolishness and capabilities, as well as violence often followed alongside of lust. This play shows passion’s conflict with reason. For example, the father presented in the play Egeus, represents tradition and reason while Hermia represents passion for love and freedom. Egeus wants Hermia to marry Demetrius and accuses Lysander of “bewitching” Hermia with love charms and songs. This is one way love’s difficulties are presented in the play between father and daughter. Additionally, Helena recognizes love’s difficulties when Demetrius falls in love with her best friend Hermia. Helena argues that strong emotions such as love can make extremely unpleasant things beautiful. This is another way the play presents love’s difficulties between lovers and capricious emotions.
Love, lust and infatuation all beguile the senses of the characters in this dreamy and whimsical work of Shakespeare, and leads them to act in outlandish ways, which throughly amuses the reader. True love does prevail in the end for Hermia and Lysander, and the initial charm of infatuation ends up proving to have happy consequence for Helena and Demetrius as well. Even when at first the reader thinks that, in theory, the effects the potion will wear off and Lysander will once again reject Helena, Oberon places a blessings on all the couples that they should live happily ever after.
Throughout the events which unfold in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare delivers several messages on love. Through this play, one of the significant ideas he suggests is that love is blind, often defying logic and overriding other emotions and priorities. Helena loves Demetrius unconditionally and pursues him despite knowing that he loathes her; conflict arises between Helena and Hermia, childhood best friends, over Demetrius and Lysander; and because she is in love, Queen Titania is able to see beauty and virtue in the ass-headed Nick Bottom.
The nature of the infatuation Demetrius has for Hermia is fickle and selfish. Demetrius affections switch from Helena to Hermia, sparing no thought for Helena, who is deeply in love with him. Lysander calls Demetrius a ?spotted and inconsistent man?, indicating Demetrius? fickleness towards women, that he is flirtatious and flawed.
In his play A Midsummer Night's Dream, William Shakespeare explores the conflict of forbidden desire, as revealed through the experience of four young lovers dwelling in ancient Greece. Hermia and Lysander are two of these lovers, and their desire to marry one another is prohibited by Hermia's father Egeus, and enforced by the governor of Athenian law-King Theseus. Hermia is informed that she may only agree to one of three undesirable choices: marry Demetrius unwillingly, submit to an austere, celibate life as a nun, or face certain execution. Confronted with these dreadful options, Hermia agrees to flee from Athens towards the remote house of Lysanders' widowed aunt, in the wood of Greece. While wandering in this nearby wood, Hermia and Lysander lose their way in the silent, moonlit night, and drift into sleep. Here-away from the prohibitions of rational Greek civilization-Shakespeare plunges his audience into the psychological realm of his characters, by developing the dream-filled, darkened wilderness of Greece as a medium offering access to the unconscious realm of his characters. In the ensuing forest scenes, Shakespeare blends fiction with fantasy, and ultimately allows his characters to confront the boundaries of consciousness and unconsciousness, thus resolving the conflict of socially repressed desire.
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.
The relationship between Demetrius and Hermia is problematic, in that Demetrius is seeking the affections of Hermia, while she is in love with Lysander. However, Hermia’s father approves of Demetrius and tries to force her to marry him, but Hermia refuses because of her love for Lysander (A Midsummer Night’s Dream 1.1.22-82). Lysander points out the flaw in the situation through this comment, “You have her father 's love, Demetrius –/Let me have Hermia 's. Do you marry him,” (A Midsummer Night’s Dream 1.1.93-94). The second flawed relationship is between Lysander and Helena, as a result of an enchantment put on Lysander that made him fall in love with Helena. Helena does not want the affections of Lysander, but rather the love of Demetrius, and believes that Lysander is taunting her. In addition, this relationship creates tensions because Hermia is in love with Lysander (A Midsummer Night’s Dream 2.2.109-140). Both relationships are not desirable due to a lack of mutual admiration and the creation of non-peaceful and unsatisfying
Demetrius, Helena, Lysander, and Hermia are the for young teens of the story. At the beginning of the play it is Lysander and Helena who are madly in love, and are planning to to escape from Athens to elope. Helena is in love with Demetrius, and Demetrius cared for Helena and liked her a lot but was not in love with her. As soon as Demetrius sees Hermia he immediately stops having any feelings for Helena whatsoever and is deeply in love with Hermia. Demetrius thought that he had fallen in love at first sight, but Helena was determined to show him differently. Demetrius: ³ Tempt not too much the hatred of my spirit,/ For I am sick when I do look on thee.² Helena: ³And I am sick when I look not on you.² (Act II, sc. i, lines 218-220) This piece of dialogue shows how much Demetrius is now in love with Hermia from just seeing her, and how disgusted he feels when he looks upon Helena who he used to care about. Helena is simply just expressing how much she is love with Demetrius and how bad she feels that he is treating her in such a manner of hatred.