An Assessment of the similarities between Romeo and Juliet and Midnight Summer's Dream

678 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Midsummer night dream compare and contrast

Shakespeare was an amazing, exhilarating author. After all, not many authors can pull off what he did. Not even close. He was able to write stories with such great emotional content and literature value but he had a secret. If you carefully read the many plays of Shakespeare, you begin to see something. Something peculiar and amazing. Shakespeare often uses the same basic story line over and over. Take Romeo and Juliet and Midsummer Night’s Dream for example. There are distinct similarities between Romeo and Juliet and Midsummer Night’s Dream in the first three acts, these are: (1) Act one of both plays, every character is certain of their love for another person, (2) in the second act, someone is trying to make someone forget their love for a certain person, (3) but in the third act of both plays, problems explode everywhere.
In the beginning of the first act of both the plays Romeo and Juliet and Midsummer Night’s Dream the characters are sure of their love for a certain person. In Romeo and Juliet This is shown by Romeo. All throughout act Romeo is melancholy because of the girl who he is absolutely sure he loves. Her name is Rosaline. Romeo expresses he love for her in act 1, scene 1, line 200, “ In sadness, cousin, I do love a woman.” This shows it, Romeo is sure of his love. But in Midsummer Night’s Dream, its not just one person who is sure of their love, but four. Hermia and Lysander love each other, but another loves Hermia, his name is Demetrius and there is someone who loves him, her name is Helena. Their love triangle, though it is complex is shown in Act 1, Scene 1 of Midsummer Night’s Dream.When Hermia's father, Egeus says (page 22, lines 27 and 29),” This man (Demetrius) hath my consent to marry her (Hermia) . . ....

... middle of paper ...

...g, promising his love to Helena. He truly thought he loved her. But the problems only escalated from there.
Shakespeare likes to use the same basic story line or parallel story line in his writing. This was shown in both of these plays. He seems to just write one and then use it to write the next play, but each play is still so different and intriguing. After all, they play with one's emotions. Clearly there are remarkable similarities between Romeo and Juliet and Midsummer Night’s Dream.These are:(1) Act one of both plays, every character is certain of their love for another person, (2) in the second act, someone is trying to make someone forget their love for a certain person, (3) but in the third act of both plays, problems explode everywhere.

Works Cited

Shakespeare Made Easy: A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Prentice Hall Literature Volume Two Common Core Edition

Show More
Related

  • Similarities Between Romeo And Juliet And A Midsummer Night's Dream

    760 Words  | 2 Pages

    Romeo and Juliet, (R&J), and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, (AMSND), are two different genres with but have the same basic plot: Two young lovers can’t wed and the girl is to marry another man who is preferred by her father, so the couple meets at night and plans to run away. Both couples have gone against the wishes of their authority figures but it doesn’t end well for Tybalt, Paris, Romeo, or Juliet. R&J is set in Elizabethan times, and the Chain of Being would have been disrupted by their actions.AMSND has fantastical elements that interfere with fate and these elements such as fairies and cupid, would have been understood to be higher on the chain than man by its attendees of the time. Is it the force of celestial bodies that makes R&J a tragedy and AMSND a comedy?

    Read More

  • Comparing The Trajedy of Romeo and Juliet and Misummer Night's Dream

    671 Words  | 2 Pages

    Have you ever read two books that are similar in many ways? Wasn’t it super easy to compare all the similarities between the two especially if it is about love. Many stories have the same outline of occurrences in the story and that's why they can be compared so easily. Know if the topic is love it makes it even easier because a lot of people like to see the same things in love stories, a happy ending. That’s why these two stories have so much in common. Some of the similarities between the first three acts of The Tragedy Romeo and Juliet and Midsummer Nights Dream are: in the first act that they both have a discussion of marriage, in the second act that they both main couples declare their love for each other, and finally in the third act both girls end up crying because there love has left them.

    Read More

  • Two Peas in a Pod: Romeo and Juliet and Midsummer Night's Dream

    691 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hermia is to be married to Demetrius, and in Romeo and Juliet, Juliet is to be married to Paris. Just like in Romeo and Juliet, Hermia doesn’t love Demetrius. Instead she loves the dashing Lysander. The girl’s father holds a confidence with Theseus, the great ruler of Athens. “Stand forth Lysander; and my gracious duke, this man hath bewitched the bosom of my child.” Egeus says to Theseus in Act 1, Scene 1, and line 28. He is flabbergasted at the fact that Hermia could love Lysander and not Demetrius. In “Romeo and Juliet” There is much of the same confusion over love. Juliet is asked to love Paris. She will willingly subjugate herself to the Capulet’s rule, and so agrees to like Paris. Juliet says about her arranged marriage, “I’ll look to like if looking liking move, but no more deep will I endart mine eye than thy consent gives strength to make it fly.” Unlike in Midsummer Night’s Dream, the first act of Romeo and Juliet doesn’t portray angered parents. This is because that rise in the plot will come much later in the play...

    Read More

  • "Romeo and Juliet" and "West Side Story": A Thematic Comparison

    1190 Words  | 3 Pages

    Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story share many similar themes. Romeo and Juliet both chronicle a story of overcoming prejudice and hatred, forbidden love, and defying stereotypes that nobody thought could be broken. The two stories are similar in a multitude of ways, even though their settings are centuries apart- Romeo and Juliet set in the 1500’s, and West Side Story set in the 1950’s. Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story both teach a lesson of how prejudice can teach you how to hate, and how one of your rivals may be the one who helps you remember how to love.

    Read More

  • Making Sense of Love in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”

    942 Words  | 2 Pages

    Helena is frustrated with herself for she is trying to figure out how love is. Love can be different to each individual. They all have their own conclusion of what love is to them. As for Helena, she thinks love is erratic and irrational for it can make someone having bad qualities, and characteristics seem perfect and without fault. Helena knows Hermia from school; “O when she is angry, she is keen and shrewd” (3.2.323) very “vile” in temper; however, Demetrius does not see that. He loves Hermia, and his love for her “…transpose to form and dignity” (1.1.235). He does not care his beloved Hermia has a bad behavior; he loves her as she is. He demonstrates by his choice: “Nor hath Love’s mind of any judgment taste / Wings, and no eyes, figure unheedy haste” (1.1.242-243) he has no rational judgment and is being hasty on his decision towards Hermia. Demetrius does not correspond to Helena’s love and...

    Read More

  • Comparing A Midsummer Night's Dream and Romeo and Juliet

    1166 Words  | 3 Pages

    Although many Shakespearean plays are very similar to one another, two stand out from the rest as sharing a great deal in common. Specific, solid parallels can be drawn between Shakespeare's plays "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and "Romeo and Juliet." The themes and characters are remarkably similar in many aspects. Firstly, both plays highlight the stereotypical young lovers - Hermia and Lysander in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and Romeo and Juliet in "Romeo and Juliet." Secondly, both plays are very ambiguously categorized. By this I mean that each could have been a tragedy just as easily as a drama (with a few minor modifications). By definition, a tragic play is a play in which the main character has a fatal flaw that leads to his or her eventual downfall. A comedy, on the other hand, is a play that contains at least one humorous character as well as a successful, happy ending where the best possible resolution is achieved. When comparing these two plays, one realizes Shakespeare's repetition of character types as well as the versatility of his themes.

    Read More

  • Obsession in Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

    678 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...ay for years, believing it was a play about love, but the way Shakespeare wrote the play it is far from a love story. As Romeo moved from Rosaline to Juliet, for the simple fact that he believed Juliet is more beautiful than Rosaline, gives the perfect example that the play is based on desperation. Juliet says to Romeo, showing her desperation, “Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow / that I shall say good night till it be morrow” (II ii 188-189). When Romeo and Juliet say they cannot spend another night away from each other, it sets a perfect example of obsession in the play. Even Romeo knows he is anxious to force love when he says, “Th’ exchange of thy love’s faithful vow for mine” (II ii 127).

    Read More

  • What Is The Representation Of Love In A Midsummer Night's Dream

    849 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Relationships In A Midsummer Night's Dream

    1370 Words  | 3 Pages

    Demetrius and Helena have a relationship that is unhealthy. Helena at the beginning of the play is a lovesick girl lusting after a man who could care less about her. She is so in love with him that no matter what he says or says what he will do to her, she welcomes any attention that

    Read More

  • Historical Accuracy of Shakespeare's Works

    868 Words  | 2 Pages

    A heart felt tragedy and a whimsical comedy looking past the fictional of fairies and extreme use of over melodramatic language, both works are held by a factual anchor. Both Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream take place during the Renaissance era, written by William Shakespeare. His writings have also been known to reflect the culture of the time era. Both Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream are historically accurate to a large extent because of the settings, the allusions to history, and the realistic characters that Shakespeare incorporates into his plays.

    Read More

  • Challenges Of Love In A Midsummer Night's Dream

    1432 Words  | 3 Pages

    Shakespeare’s play was wrote during a time period where he was putting his shallow plots in the past that helped cause him to find his mature style. He based his play off the consideration of imagination versus reality with the concept that emotions

    Read More

  • Comparing Romeo And Juliet 'And' A Midsummer Night's Dream

    623 Words  | 2 Pages

    Two of Shakespeare’s most famous works include Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Romeo and Juliet is about two lovers from feuding families that end with their tragic deaths. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a comical story about a complicated journey where two couples run into a forest and get manipulated by mythical creatures. Both feature a fight scene where the main characters fight. Both plays also feature death scenes where two lovers die, though one is portrayed as a performance and is fiction. Though the two may share overlapping scenes, Shakespeare uses the literary tools diction, situation, and sentence structure to set the plays’ genres, comedy and tragedy, apart.

    Read More

  • Love in A Midsummer Night’s Dream

    1057 Words  | 3 Pages

    Love plays a very significant role in this Shakespearian comedy, as it is the driving force of the play: Hermia and Lysander’s forbidden love and their choice to flee Athens is what sets the plot into motion. Love is also what drives many of the characters, and through readers’ perspectives, their actions may seem strange, even comical to us: from Helena pursuing Demetrius and risking her reputation, to fairy queen Titania falling in love with Bottom. However, all these things are done out of love. In conclusion, A Midsummer Night’s Dream displays the blindness of love and how it greatly contradicts with reason.

    Read More

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

    742 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Similarities Between Romeo And Juliet

    460 Words  | 1 Pages

    When falling in love with someone, people often don’t get a chance to carefully think things through, which often causing them to do something embarrassing or even dangerous. By reading Romeo & Juliet, it can be proven that this often happens. Romeo & Juliet, a play by William Shakespeare about two star- crossed lovers proves that this often happens. The families of these two characters have a long history of feuds with no explanation behind it, and because of this, Romeo and Juliet are forced to discover other ways to be with each other. While Shakespeare does suggest that love is a beautiful thing, he also implies that it may cause people to do irrational and dangerous things that a person normally wouldn't consider doing.

    Read More

More about An Assessment of the similarities between Romeo and Juliet and Midnight Summer's Dream

Open Document