Be a Titania not a Helen

Human nature causes us to be blind to reality. We see the best in people we adore or in situations we want to take pleasure in. All harsh realities are not visible to the naked eye, as our heads refuse to accept them as truths. Love is the most common cause for this blindness bliss. However, in some circumstances, we choose to accustom ourselves to lower standards so that we are able to get pleasure out of the simplest events in life. Thus, people of varying intellects can comingle together, just as the royalty of Athens displays during the play of Pyramus and Thisbe in A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare. We must realize however, that there is an exception to the ‘enchantment’ these blurred conceptions have over our lives, which is that all participants must wish for this masked reality to become their true reality. Through the contrast of appearance versus reality, Shakespeare reveals that people are willing to accept unrealities, no matter the ugly truths being hidden, as long as they desire the unrealities before they fall under their trance.

Helen’s love for Demetrius is one example of love obscuring reality. Demetrius wholly reveals his true evilness when he says to Helen “I’ll run from thee and hide me in the brake, and leave thee to the mercy of wild beasts”, yet Helena is still madly in love with him (44). As Helena says herself, “love can transpose to form and dignity, love looks not with the eyes but with the mind…” (20). She is saying that her mind will not let her fall out of love with Demetrius no matter how appalling of a person he is. Thus, reality is not in her best interest as she will miserably be in love with a person she is appalled by. It is better to be blind to his flaws. Furthermo...

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...by and enchantment. In real life, most of us are Helens hoping that this trance will last forever, except we do not have the magic to prolong the love or the fake realities we create. Shakespeare reveals how absurd it is to live on these unrealities by throwing in Titania’s realization of her love for Bottom. Titania’s love reveals that we are not all doomed to this life of living on the edge of hope, that we can be truly elated with our real world. Aside from this criticism Shakespeare’s contrast between appearance and reality shows us how ignoring reality and accepting unrealities can sometimes prove to be the better pathway to take in life, as Theseus and the rest of the audience of Pyramus and Thisbe display for us. Shakespeare is telling us to live our lives more like Titania and less like Helen so that we can be completely content with reality.