The Theme of Love in A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare

The Theme of Love in A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare

In A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare presents us with multiple

types of love by using numerous couples in various different

situations. For example: Doting loves, the love induced by Oberon's

potion and in some aspects, Lysander and Hermia's love for each other;

there are true loves: Oberon and Titania, Lysander and Hermia (for the

first half at least, as Lysander's love switches to Helena

temporarily) and Theseus and Hippolyta. Also, there is Helena's love

for Demetrius, which could be described as a true love, even though at

first it is unrequited. Also, an important factor is the notion of

love and reason; in Athens, for example, marriage is rarely a matter

of love, which is brought into existence chiefly by Egeus when he

tried to force Hermia to marry Demetrius: "As she is mine, I may

dispose of her" and "And she is mine, and all my right of her/ I do

estate unto Demetrius". This all fair in the realms of man, but is

irrelevant in the forest, where Oberon rules love. The final aspect of

love introduced in A Midsummer Night's Dream is infatuation. A major

theme in Romeo and Juliet, it is summoned into A Midsummer Night's

Dream through Bottom's infatuation of Titania. Whereas Titania is in

an induced, doting love with Bottom: "Oh how I love thee, how I dote

on thee", Bottom is simply visually in "love" with Titania's beauty.

"Induced love". This is a love created by Oberon's love potion. It is

the main contributor in Titania's love for Bottom, Lysander's brief

love for Helena and Demetrius' love for Helena. It gives in all three

cases the same symptoms: t...

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...of the watery moon".

To summarise, Shakespeare uses love and the themes mentioned above, to

give the audience a presentation of love and marriage in Athens, which

is actually a general overview of the relationship between love and

marriage throughout the world at the time the play was written. It is

presented through numerous repeating themes, symbols and motifs and is

highly influential in the outcome and path of the plot. He uses the

couples in their situations to present us with a deep and extensive

theme in A Midsummer Night's Dream. Finally, in A Midsummer Night's

Dream, Shakespeare presents the audience with different types of love,

from infatuation to true love. Using a range of techniques, he links

the notion of love to that of reason, concluding that, to one degree

or another, the two are mutually exclusive.