The Fickle Nature of Love
Love is often a whirlwind of unexpected feelings and emotions, taking people on unpredictable journeys of intense highs and lows - and William Shakespeare knows it. Shakespeare manages to capture this element of unpredictability and unexpectedness within all the relationships displayed in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Throughout all of the love relationships that are shown to the audience in the play, the theme “love is unpredictable” manages to be entwined in the midst of it all, be it among the young and rash lovers or in the mature relationships depicted.
In the play, Lysander says that “The course of true love never did run smooth.” (I:i:136) Lysander and Hermia’s relationship whisks them away into the forest, where
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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. While in that state, she had been madly in love with someone that she would have never even glanced at before. This illustrates how love can be blinding, causing one to turn a blind eye to everything else when in love. Love isn’t always unpredictable in a pleasant way - it can also often lead people down paths that aren’t necessarily desired, such as was shown with Titania and
In Shakespeare’s play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, love appears to be the common theme of several storylines being played out simultaneously. Although these stories intersect on occasion, their storylines are relatively independent of one another; however, they all revolve around the marriage of Theseus, the Duke of Athens, and Hippolyta, the Queen of the Amazons. If love is a common theme among these stories, then it is apparent that love makes people act irrationally.
Anointing Lysander’s eyes , he leaves, thinking he did his bidding. Helena finds Lysander sleeping, and, without seeing Hermia, she awakes him.... ... middle of paper ...
For Example, Oberon states, “Having once this juice I’ll watch Titania when she is asleep and drop the liquor of it in her eyes. The next thing then she, waking, looks upon...she shall pursue it with the soul of love and ere I take this charm from off her sight… I’ll make her ender up her page to me.” (II, i, 77-87) analysis and restatement! I know that love in the book, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and in the real world (in general) is hard. We argue, fight and hate but in the end we learn to forgive and love. For example, Oberon states, “sound music. Come, my queen, take hands with me, and rock the ground whereon these sleepers be…(Titania says) “come, my lord, and in our flight tell me how it came this night that I sleeping here was found with these mortals on the ground.” (IV, i, 83-99) analysis and
Oberon wanted to get revenge from Titania for not giving him the Indian boy, so Oberon decided to put a potion on Titania, while she was sleeping, which made her fall in love with the first person she sees, “Wake when some vile thing is near” (2.2). After waking up, Titania didn’t care about the Indian boy anymore. This destroyed her knowledge of what is reality and what is a dream. Oberon wanted her to fall in love with an animal, so that she can beg him to remove the potion. He planned to not remove the potion until she gives him the Indian boy,”Titania wakes and straightway loves an ass” (3.2)
Is love controlled by human beings who love one another or is love controlled by a higher power? There are many people who believe that a higher power has control over love. An example of a higher power would be a cupid, a flying angel-type creature who is supposed to shoot arrows at people to make them fall in love. There are other people who reject the idea that a higher power controls love and that the people who experience love can control it. In the novel, "A Midsummer Night's Dream", by William Shakespeare, several examples of love's association with a higher power are presented. With the use of examples from the above novel, this essay will discuss the evidence that love is associated with a higher power. Examples like: Thesius arranging a marriage between himself and Hippolyta, Egeus choosing who Hermia should marry and the fairies who have the ability to control love in the Enchanted Forest.
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.
Lysander calls Demetrius a?spotted and inconsistent man?, indicating Demetrius? fickleness towards women, that he is flirtatious and flawed. Demetrius is willing to go to any extent to have Hermia marry him, even allowing Hermia to be subject to a life of a nun or death, if she does not marry him. Demetrius. infatuation with Hermia brings out the tyrannical and possessive part of his character, as can be seen when he says?and, Lysander, yield thy crazed title to my certain right?
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.
Shakespeare creates a situation in which two pairs of young lovers, Lysander and Hermia, are forced to elope from the oppressive authority of their Elders, here we see Lysander asking Hermia to flee to the woods, “there gentle Hermia may I marry thee; and to that place the sharp Athenian law cannot pursue us” Freedom is not permitted in Athens, therefore the two lovers plan to escape into the woods. Hermia has two options given from her oppressive father, ‘either to die the death, or to abjure for ever in society of men’. She disobeys his commands. Shakespeare uses images to reflect Athens, and to magnify and to solidify Lysander and Hermia’s love for each other, which is strong and cannot be broken, without the use of magic. ‘Withering on a virgin thorn, grows, lives, and dies in single blessedness’.
In the first part of the play Egeus has asked the Duke of Athens, Theseus, to rule in favor of his parental rights to have his daughter Hermia marry the suitor he has chosen, Demetrius, or for her to be punished. Lysander, who is desperately in love with Hermia, pleads with Egeus and Theseus for the maiden’s hand, but Theseus’, who obviously believes that women do not have a choice in the matter of their own marriage, sides with Egeus, and tells Hermia she must either consent to marrying Demetrius, be killed, or enter a nunnery. In order to escape from the tragic dilemma facing Hermia, Lysander devises a plan for him and his love to meet the next evening and run-off to Lysander’s aunt’s home and be wed, and Hermia agrees to the plan. It is at this point in the story that the plot becomes intriguing, as the reader becomes somewhat emotionally “attached’’ to the young lovers and sympathetic of their plight. However, when the couple enters the forest, en route to Lysander’s aunt’s, it is other mischievous characters that take the story into a whole new realm of humorous entertainment...
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.
...ities. Love is a long hard road and cannot be reached by taking a straight, clear-cut path. Even though throughout the scene Hermia and Lysander are in constant conflict, a resolution is eventually reached. Hermia and Lysander remain in love, proving that true love can prevail.
“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.”
...d lust. All they see is blurred people around them, the spell they are under makes them so heavily in love they are not willing to focus on their surroundings. Nothing will get in the way of their determination for love. The blurred beast-looking object resembles Bottom through Titania’s eyes. As an elegant creature (fairy), Titania would not infatuate herself with such a creature as Bottom and his ass head. Instead, the fact that she is drowned out of reality with the love potion cancels out Titania’s desire for physical attraction. The characters become too infatuated with the idea of lust towards a specific person and are unable to come to reality. Throughout Act III, the characters become lost in their reality and their personal emotions. The Lovers’ vision becomes blurry and the reality is not relevant, they only seek lust from the next blur they lay eyes on.
Titania and her husband Oberon have the strongest love out of all of the fairies. But due to the fact that they kidnapped a child and both want something different from it their love was close to failing. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a very popular story that has been redone in many ways.