“A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” by William Shakespeare is a play that offers an interesting insight into the conflicting emotions of the human psyche. Throughout the play Shakespeare uses his settings to provide us insight into human conflict; rational versus the irrational and more emotional characteristics we encounter. The logical, more rational side would be the palace, with its society and rules. The fun yet wild emotional side is represented by the woods, where human logic is overtaken by magical things that do not make sense and appear more dream like. The palace setting is important because it represents the essence of our society; rules made by man and kept in line with our society’s norms. Humans struggle to suppress their unrestrained and irrational tendencies, still today, discourages the "civilized' man from making rash and foolish actions. Therefore every action should have a sound and logical purpose, based on social norms. The main conflict in the play and propellant for the action is when, Egeus, the father of Hermia has chosen Demetrius as the man he wants her to marry. His decision is most likely based on economic, political, and social factors. Egeus believes he is making a reasonable decision based on Hermia's future in their society. Unfortunately Hermia is in love with a gentleman named Lysander and vice versa. Her father may have made his decision with good intension to try and keep with the traditional customs of his day and even perhaps taking into consideration such things as attractiveness. However, he fails to foresee that his daughter might actually love someone else. Lysander, like many young men, shows little regard for the rules of society and is willing to break tradition and flee At... ... middle of paper ... ...s, thus devoting his time being mischievous. He is the one Oberon trusts with his plan to inflict Titania with the love spell, and in return give him an extra chore as a bonus; which ends up being a disaster, yet entertaining part of the play. Shakespeare wonderfully contrasts the duality of human nature by using two settings with drastically opposite characteristics. Whether he entirely meant to do this in his play is doubtful, yet it remains an interesting well paralleled feature. The people of Athens, struggling to understand the preposterous mystical woods, at the same time exhibiting some of the same behaviors. Perhaps Shakespeare was trying to remind everyone that there is more to life than just logic and reason. Mankind living purely on our emotional quality alone may lead us to trouble, but that in fact is what creates the thrill of what we call life.
Hermia , Lysander , Helena and Demetrius represent young love in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream . They are potrayed as foolish and fickle , acting like children and requiring a parental figure to guide them . The parental figures are Hermia’s father , Egeus , and figuratively Theseus , the mortal ruler , and Oberon , the mystical ruler.
In act 1, Scene 1, we are introduced to the paternal love of Egeus and Hermia. Egeus, being Hermia’s father has all right over who she marries and so he chooses Demetrius as Hermia’s to-be husband however she doesn’t truly love Demetrius and has her heart set in Lysander. This led to troubled times for her as if she didn’t marry Demetrius she had two options: execution or becoming a nun.
When Lysander is speaking to Hermia in Act I, Scene I; he is both stating a truth about the mystery of love, as while as foreshadowing the upcoming trouble in the play. Egeus has made his demands that his daughter obey him and marry Demetrius. The tension between the father and the chosen lover of his daughter has set the conflict into motion. Demetrius has left with Theseus, Hippolyta and Egeus to discuss the wedding of the Duke of the Athens. The young lovers Lysander and Hermia are left on stage and he tells her in Lines 132-134: “For aught that I could ever read, Could ever hear by tale or history, The course of true love never did run smooth.” He speaks these words to comfort Hermia, but neither has any idea of the crazy night that will come in the
One strange element is why Egeus was so set on Hermia marrying Demetrius. Lysander came from as good a family as Demetrius. Both were well possessed with property and money so Egeus's power is made to seem senseless.
First, Shakespeare uses the motif of the seasons early on in the play to solidify the connection between love gone awry and chaos. The initial romantic conflict is established when Egeus brings his daughter, Hermia, to Theseus to try and force her into marrying Demetrius, the man of his choice. Hermia has no interest in Demetrius because she is madly in love with Lysander. Unfortunately for her, Theseus sides with Egeus and threatens to enforce Athenian law if she does not obey him. Obviously, this situation is awful for Hermia; she is being kept from her true love. Her options are dismal: she has the choice of disobeying Egeus, betraying Lysander, or living a lonely life as a nun. Either way, she loses. The situation seems completely hopeless. Shakespeare illustrates this hopelessness by connecting Hermia’s grim future with the winter. When Theseus describes Hermia’s potential future, he calls her a “withering” rose and a “barren sister,” destined to a life of “chanting faint hymns to the cold fruitless moon” (Shakespeare 1.1.75). Essentially, Hermia will be trapped in an endless winter. This unnatural seasonal change will become a reality if she becomes a nun and remains celibate. For a young woman who is passionately in love with a young man...
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.
She refuses this marriage proposal in a bold and courageous speech as she declares, “My soal consents not to give sovereignty.” Hermia here is presenting in this play the type of the strong woman who can stand out for her rights in deciding her destiny. Jane Brown, in her article Discordia Concors on the Order of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, agrees when she writes, ”As a nun her love of the divinity would be strictly spiritual.” Moreover, in this drama love was sometimes based on looks, attractiveness and external beauty. Hermia interpreted the sudden change in Lysander’s feelings towards her just because Helena is taller than her and she has fairer skin. In other words, she considers herself less appealing than Helena. This also contradicts her strong personality that some readers admired earlier in the play. In addition, this also contradicts her trust in Lysander himself and his love that gave her the bravery to face her father and Theseus that courageously. My point is not that Hermia stopped trusting Lysander any more, as she accepted to marry him at the end even after his betrayal to their promises when he expressed his love towards her friend Helena. In addition, she “continues to worry about Lysander’s safety even after he has abused and abandoned her.” As explained by
If the shadows in the play offend the audience, one naturally wonders how and why. It is obvious that Shakespeare wished to escape “the serpent’s tongue,” which leads one to believe he expected a negative reaction from the audience or at least felt it was possible. Therefore, he suggests for those who find offense to think of the play as merely a dream, which does seem to explain the title of the play. Yet, the audience has just watched the play in which the Athenian lovers explain the escapades of the night as a dream, which causes confusion in the interpretation of Robin’s final address to the audience. Understanding the nature of the “offense” is a key element in understanding Robin’s final words; however, one...
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.
This intervention carries on throughout the play and affects the choices made by the characters. At the beginning of the play, William Shakespeare makes Egeus irrational, in order to give us the contrast between him, and Lysander and Theseus. Egeus wants Hermia to marry Demetrius, who has given Hermia as his wife. Lysander and Hermia love each other, and despise Demetrius. Unfortunately, by law, Hermia has to marry Demetrius, but Theseus cannot be rational, so he gives Hermia the option to become a nun, which to Hermia is worse than death.
The fairies and the fairy realm have many responsibilities in this play. The most important of which is that they are the cause of much of the conflict and comedy within this story. They represent mischievousness and pleasantry which gives the play most of its emotion and feeling. They relate to humans because they make mistakes but differ in the fact that they do not understand the human world.
One of Shakespeare¹s better plays, ³A Midsummer¹s Night Dream² incorporates 4 plots in one. It intertwines these four plots without mixing the characters or the themes. They come out of the blue with all different themes that somehow lead to the forest every time. The forest is enchanted with a sense of lawlessness and and it all traces back to Adam and Eve.
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.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream is an enchanting comedy that presents many dominant views widespread in the society of Shakespeare’s time. Ideas of love and romance are central to the play, and notions of gender and male-dominance prevalent at the time surface throughout the text. Modern audiences may find such notions confronting, whereas Jacobeans might find other elements of the play such as the rampant disorder, uncomfortable.
In William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummers Night’s Dream,” the moon plays a very significant role throughout the entire play. It is a symbol that is linked to many things that take place over the course of they play, and seems to help bring about the comedic behavior that fills the majority of it. The moon also elicits the notion of dreaming which plays a very significant role in the play also. If anyone knows anything about our solar system, then the references to moons may be caught early on. Three of the characters names; Oberon, Titania, and Puck all happen to be the names of three of the planet Uranus’ moons (NASA). Although the naming of these three moons did come a long while after William Shakespeare wrote the famous play, it is still important to mention because it gives wind of how important of a factor the moon will be throughout the play itself.