Control In A Midsummer Night's Dream

Sometimes, when a person becomes controlling, he can lead others down a path to destruction and failure. Control is a huge theme in A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare. Inside the play, certain characters try to make other characters do what he or she wants, and it often ends poorly. One example of this is Nick Bottom, a weaver who is a part of the players performing the play “Pyramus and Thisbe”. He often tries to be controlling by stepping into play other’s parts, and, the results don’t turn out the way he and the others quite expected. Overall, Shakespeare makes the case that it is not possible to control another person’s actions, because it results in ruining scenarios, and causes chaos.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream describes

Adding on to the first example, the players all met at the forest to rehearse, and Bottom tried to control Quince by asking him to write him a prologue. So when Quince decided to write this, he narrated at the play, not Bottom, which led the audience to believe that they are undereducated. “Write me a prologue, and let the prologue seem to say we will do no harm...This will put them out of fear”(3.1.17-22). Bottom’s act of control, his idea, caused the play within a play to develope chaos, and caused the audience to think that the players aren’t as smart as they claimed to be. A second example is after Oberon realized Puck’s mistake, and he didn’t reverse the potion’s effect on Lysander; he just anointed Demetrius also! This caused him to “suddenly” love Helena. She then became angry, and came to believe that both Lysander and Demetrius were toying with her in a cruel way. “Ospite...I see you all are bent/To set against me for your merriment./If you were civil and knew courtesy,/You would not do me thus much injury” (3.2.148-151). Every time that Oberon attempts to control someone, it ended up causing chaos. This even caused Demetrius and Lysander to fight over Helena. Not to mention how Hermia felt when Lysander suddenly stopped loving her for Helena. She was miserable that Lysander had done this. Since most of the control in A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a result of

Both Oberon and Bottom seemed to control other people’s actions in the play. In act 4 of the play, Bottom appeared to be ordering and bossing around the fairies. “...Cobweb...get you/your weapons in your hand and kill me a red-hipped/humble bee on the top of a thistle, and, good/monsieur, bring me the honey bag. Do not fret”(4.1.10-13). Bottom believed that he was ordering around the fairies, but the one who was really in control is Titania, because she ordered the fairies to serve him! In act 3 of the play, Oberon seemed to be ordering Puck to anoint Demetrius. “What hast thou done? Thou hast mistaken quite/And laid the love juice on some true-love’s sight”(3.2.90-92). Oberon thought that he had ordered Puck to anoint Demetrius, but when Puck anointed Lysander, Oberon controlled someone, just not the right man. While it appears that control is balanced, it's true form is chaos. When Oberon ordered Puck to anoint Demetrius, he anointed Lysander, therefore causing chaos among the lovers! Puck was the one making his own choices based on his knowledge. Secondly, when Titania ordered the fairies to serve Bottom, she was under the love potion. Since she madly pursued Bottom, she didn’t truly know what she was doing, which caused chaos!. Though it may seem like Bottom and Oberon were controlling, they are both at the