A Midsummer Night’s Dream, written by none other than William Shakespeare, is a fictional masterpiece, and unlike any other story of it’s kind, it takes a more realistic (yet, not so realistic) approach on it’s main theme; love. The play starts by focusing on four lovers, who are all said to be in love with “The wrong person”, then the story takes a turn, and all four lovers end up experiencing a night of love, confusion and adventure that they will most definitely never forget. Judging from most of this play, I am going to be seeing what observations I can make about Shakespeare’s ideas on the nature of love.
It is obvious that all of the characters in A Midsummer Night’s Dream have different views and opinions on love. Right at the start
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These two worlds only seem to interact at certain points in the play, and incidents almost always occur in the woods. These incidents include, when the love juice gets squeezed into the lover’s eyes, and when Titania, the Queen of Fairies, falls in love with Bottom in the form of an ass. The way that the fairy world functions is much like how the real world functions in the play. There is a King, Oberon, and a Queen, Titania. Oberon believes that he can manipulate love to his own advantage, and when he found out that Titania did not wish to share a child from her train with him, he wasn’t very happy. He then recruits his “Jester”, Puck to use a so-called Love Juice on his wife, Titania, so that whatever she lays her eyes on first, she will fall madly in love with. Just Titania’s luck, the first thing she saw when she woke up was Bottom, who had unfortunately been given the head of a donkey/ass. As predicted, Titania fell head over heels in love with Bottom, and of course, he has little to no problems with this. This is clearly a reference to love being blind, and that we, as humans cannot choose who we fall in love with: “Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, and therefore is winged Cupid painted blind”. This means that, like I mentioned, true love does not necessarily have to be based on looks or …show more content…
There are several references to dreams (and sleep) in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. For instance, when the four lovers spend the night in the woods, they seem to hardly ever be awake, and this really makes us question; What is real, and what is not? Most of the exciting and important events seem to almost always happen when the characters are asleep. The love juice gets squeezed onto the lovers eyes, when they are asleep. Most of the action that we get from the “fairy world”, we get, when they are asleep. And obviously when they wake up, they all fall madly in love with the wrong person. Even though Shakespeare makes it obvious that it’s the love juice that has messed with the lover’s senses, could it maybe be that dreams also have something to do with it? “Are you sure that we are awake? It seems to me that yet we sleep, we
The love-in-idleness flower nectar plays a big part in demonstrating the unpredictability of love, since “[t]he juice of it on sleeping eyelids laid / Will make or man or woman madly dote” (II:i:155-156) This potion depicts the whole love-at-first-sight trope, and shows how volatile people are when it comes to love, especially when it’s merely superficial. Titania’s condition was caused by Oberon, who might have been slightly jealous of Theseus. Love caused Oberon to do things that Titania would probably have never predicted he would do, and Titania falling in love with a creature like Bottom could never have been planned. She clearly did not believe that such a thing could have happened, as she says, “Methought I was enamored of an ass” (IV:i:60) - and yet that is exactly what happened.
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
Many characters in Shakespeare had dreams. Romeo dreamed of true love, Tybalt dreamed of social power and the Montagues’ demise, and Friar Lawrence dreamed of a peaceful and united Verona. All of those dreams lead to tragedy for the characters. With this, Shakespeare implied that, perhaps, dreams aren’t all as good as fairy tales make them seem to
William Shakespeare has a habit of creating complicated plots, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream is no exception. Three distinct worlds are presented within the play, and the story’s theme is most prevalent when they collide or mirror one another. Shakespeare’s allusions very intentionally cast light on these themes as he uses them to develop characters, settings, and comedy. The point of that development is the effective delivery of the theme that love renders us equals.
The main theme of love in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream is explored by four young lovers, who, for the sake of their passions, quit the civilized and rational city of Athens, and its laws, and venture into the forest, there to follow the desires of their hearts - or libidos as the case may be. In this wild and unknown wilderness, with the heat and emotion commonly brought on by a midsummer night, they give chase, start duels, profess their love and hatred and otherwise become completely confused and entangled in the realities and perceptions of their own emotions. What better opportunity for Shakespeare to introduce a world of fairies then this? Shakespeare's fairies live in this wild forest were they love, fight, play and helpfully sort the poor young lovers out before sending them off, back to their own civilized world. Like many of the other elements in this play Shakespeare gives his fairies a healthy mix of illusion and reality. The Fairies use illusion in their exploits and Shakespeare uses them in the Dream in such a way that one might ask: are they even real or are they themselves an illusion?
“Love is blind,” says the old cliche. At the very least, that cliche is 400 years old, since it appears in William Shakespeare’s play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream when Helena says, “Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind. And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind” (Shakespeare 1.1.234-235). These lines are also an allusion, which conveniently restate that old cliche of “love is blind.” It is just one of many allusions to Greek mythology in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. One could spend days explaining all the allusions in the play, but three of the most well-known are below. Many of the allusions in the play help the audience learn more about the characters or the plot by making
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 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.
Oprah Winfrey once said, “The best thing about dreams is that fleeting moment, when you are between asleep and awake, when you don't know the difference between reality and fantasy, when for just that one moment you feel with your entire soul that the dream is reality, and it really happened.” But, what actually is a dream and what do dreams really have to do with one’s everyday life? In essence, a dream is a series of mental images and emotions occurring during slumber. Dreams can also deal with one’s personal aspirations, goals, ambitions, and even one’s emotions, such as love and hardship. However, dreams can also give rise to uneasy and terrible emotions; these dreams are essentially known as nightmares. In today’s society, the concept of dreaming and dreams, in general, has been featured in a variety of different mediums, such as literature, film and even music. While the mediums of film and music are both prime examples of this concept, the medium of literature, on the other hand, contains a much more diverse set of examples pertaining to dreams and dreaming. One key example is William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. While the portrayal of dreams, in general, plays a prominent role in Shakespeare’s play, the exploration of many aspects of nature, allows readers to believe that dreams are merely connected to somewhat unconventional occurrences.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a play of conflicted love. Thus semi-comedy displays the notion of, the spiritual and natural world working together. The play begins with a noble family discussing a planned marriage. Hermia is arranged to marry a man she does not love. In rebellion she and her lover (Lysander) flees to the woods so they can avoid Athenian law. Before leaving Hermia tells her sister about her plans to run away. In desire to gain revenge and find love herself Helena (Hermia’s sister) chases Hermia and her intended mate into the woods. The forest is where the spirits live, the fairy king, Oberon, is desperate to gain the affection of the fairy queen. He saw cupid shoot his love arrow, which landed on a flower. He is determined that,
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.
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.
“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.”
Although A Midsummer Night’s Dream may have been a comedy, it still included great lines of passionate love. Love can’t be forced; it is a give and take between two people working together to make a relationship work. Every parent wants their children to not make the same mistakes that they did, henceforth they try to guide them in the right direction. Everyone’s looking for love, but most people look for love in the wrong places. Throughout the play of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, there were several views on love.
The title of the play A Midsummer Night's Dream can have many interpretations. I will give you my thoughts on the relationship of the title to the different situations that take place in the play. These interpretations give insight and overall meaning to the thematic nature of Shakespeare's work. Although I am only going to describe three interpretations of the title, there are many other meanings to the title. The first interpretation of the title of the play that came to my mind was the magical dream-like night in the woods, when Robin Goodfellow and Oberon, the king of the fairies, used several kinds of love potions, and messed everything up.