Fate and Love in A Midsummer Night's Dream

473 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Conflict and power relationships

Fate and Love in A Midsummer Night's Dream

There are many instances in A Midsummer Night's Dream where love is coerced from or foisted upon unwilling persons. This romantic bondage comes from both man-made edicts and the other-worldly enchantment of love potions. Tinkering with the natural progression of love has consequences. These human and fairy-led machinations, which are brought to light under the pale, watery moon, are an affront to nature. Shakespeare knows that all must be restored to its place under fate's thumb when the party of dreamers awaken.

Both the play's humans and fairies try to shape love into forms that are advantageous not to the lovers, but to the leaders. Egeus insists that Hermia submit to Demetrius or die; Hippolyta must ...

Show More
Related

  • A Midsummer Night's Dream-The Fickle Nature Of Love

    1087 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.”

    Read More

  • King Lear and Death of a Salesman

    2158 Words  | 5 Pages

    ... her sister shows how ruthless she is, but also shows how desperate she is to feel loved by another man; this could reflect the neglect that she has gotten from her father or her husband – this again links to the character of Ammu who feels worthless in the eyes of her father. When Edmund is slained by Edgar in Act 5, Scene 3, Goneril goes into a state of despair and disbelief “thou art not vanquished.” This mirrors the reaction of Lear when he finds Cordelia dead so could be used by Shakespeare to show the similarities between Lear and Goneril who both crave power and love, but have ultimately been left with nothing. Her character is one that most people would not symphasise with; James W. Bell refers to her as a “devious little conspirator,” but there are many layers to her character that Shakespeare has added to show how no person is completely “good” or “evil.”

    Read More

  • Comparing the Personalities of the Writers, Dante and Chaucer

    597 Words  | 2 Pages

    Even though Dante and Chaucer never met, Dante having died 19 years before Chaucer was born, Dante inadvertently became Chaucer’s life long mentor. Dante’s severe spirit turned out to be far more harsh than Chaucer’s nature, however Dante’s protégé, Boccaccio, became one of Chaucer’s greatest inspirations. Looking back at both Dante and Chaucer’s works, experts now see striking similarities in their writing. Whether Chaucer ever meant to use Dante’s materials or not, he is now closely compared with his contrary counter part. The original purpose of this paper was to tell how closely related Chaucer’s writing was to Dante’s, however, a closer look at the man, the better the picture is that shows the blatant contrasts between these two literary giants.

    Read More

  • Love, Chaos, and Disorder in Midsummer Night’s Dream

    1215 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Tragedy of King Lear

    813 Words  | 2 Pages

    Gonorill is the eldest of King Lear’s daughters. Although, everything began with Gonorill having a genuine concern for her father and his behavior, things quickly changed. She had a very envious demeanor with very devious intentions. When asked to declare her love for her father, Gonorill went in to deep exaggeration. She claimed that she loved her father more than life itself. As a result of Gonorill’s response, she and her husband, Duke of Albany, inherited half of King Lear’s kingdom. After she was given her portion of the kingdom, her true colors began to arise. Gonorill is the most demanding of herself, Regan and Cordelia. After King Lear awarded Gonorill her portion of the kingdom, she betrayed him. Her selfish and devious ways began to become evident. Gonorill became very cruel, not only to her father, but to everyone around her. She even attempted to challenge King Lear’s authority. After Gonorill got her hands on what she wanted out of the deal, she couldn’t have cared less about anyone other than herself. A prime example of this was the fact that she was not...

    Read More

  • True Love and Unrequited Love in A Midsummer Night’s Dream

    1380 Words  | 3 Pages

    In this play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, true love plays a huge role in the play. Several relationships begin with true love such as Hermia and Lysander’s and Hypolyta and Thesus’ but some that did not begin with true love, end with true love such as Helena and Demetrius’. Helena and Demetrius, in my perspective, were meant to love each other so that everyone may be able to love each other in harmony. The love potion was only the push Demetrius needed so that he could be happy forever.

    Read More

  • Love and Desire in A Midsummer Night’s Dream

    816 Words  | 2 Pages

    Some of the most prominent themes in A Midsummer Night’s Dream are the omnipresence of love and desire and the tendencies of characters to manifest their defining traits. Helena and Hermia are two perfect examples of this. Hermia is the lover, and Helena the desirer, and both thrive off of their obsessions. In fact, both women are so tied to these traits that when they are taken away, their characters deflate and fall static.

    Read More

  • King Lear Analysis

    1030 Words  | 3 Pages

    have committed suicide by stabbing herself with a knife. This was not like every story that has a “happily ever after” ending. Cordelia had been killed by her own sister’s plots and so was her father King Lear. Goneril and Regan were both liars and scornful, they had planned to kill their own family members just to get what they pleased for.

    Read More

  • The Relationship Dynamics Of A Midsummer Night's Dream

    1353 Words  | 3 Pages

    William Shakespeare’s writings are famous for containing timeless, universal themes. A particular theme that is explored frequently in his writings is the relationship between men and women. A Midsummer Night’s Dream contains a multitude of couplings, which are often attributed to the fairies in the play. Each of these pairings has positive and negative aspects, however, some relationships are more ideal than others. From A Midsummer Night’s Dream the optimal pairings are Lysander and Hermia, Demetrius and Helena, and Oberon and Titania; while the less desirable pairings are Theseus and Hippolyta, Hermia and Demetrius, Lysander and Helena, and Titania and Bottom. Throughout A Midsummer

    Read More

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

    898 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Theme of Love in A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare In the play ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ many aspects of love are explored. In this essay I will be exploring how Shakespeare conveys the theme of love including illusion, confusion, escape, harmony and lust. Historically, it has been suggested that ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ was written for a wedding, signifying the importance of love in this play, however there is no real evidence to prove this myth. Rather, the Lord Chamberlain’s men performed ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ on the London stage.

    Read More

  • No More Homework!

    759 Words  | 2 Pages

    Firstly, let us examine the limited guidance available at home if an unfortunate student must complete some complex homework. Let us say hypothetically, though this situation occurs often; that a grade ten class has just been set a homework assignment that requires massive amounts of research. The student with the high-speed internet connection and a bookshelf of encyclopedias has an unfair advantage over the other students. Furthermore students might develop questions about the assignment and teachers will be unable to deal with student problems. Resulting in sloppy homework which neither benefits the student nor the teacher. In relation to the lack of resources in some homes, there is also a lack of support from parents. In my elementary school alone, there were a number of student’s parents that did not speak English very fluently. Our school took measures such as publishing the newsletter in different languages. If such a high number of non-English speaking parents exist, then why do schools give massive amounts of homework, while knowing full-well that there may be no one in the home to help if a question arises? As for regular parents, one cannot expect every parent to be familiar with curriculums of grade 12 math, or grade 11 chemistry. Thus, one can see why the limited guidance available to students at home would create a negative effect on a student’s homework.

    Read More

  • Love, Lust and Infatuation in Midsummer Night’s Dream

    1461 Words  | 3 Pages

    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...

    Read More

  • The Course of True Love Never Runs Smooth

    1000 Words  | 2 Pages

    While true love is treasured when achieved, its rarity can be attributed to the multitude of obstacles lovers must face. Couples often have trouble expressing their love for one another or may face challenges within the marriages. Whether it be disagreements, affection of surroundings, friendships lost, or jealousy, the quest for true love has its consequences. This concept is expressed several times in A Midsummer’s Night Dream, in the cases of many of the lovers. However, it can be argued that although complications ensue, true love is worth a life of trouble.

    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

    The overriding theme of the play "A Midsummer Night's Dream" by William Shakespeare deals with the nature of love. Though true love seems to be held up as an ideal, false love is mostly what we are shown. Underneath his frantic comedy, Shakespeare seems to be asking the questions all lovers ask in the midst of their confusion: How do we know when love is real? How can we trust ourselves that love is real when we are so easily swayed by passion and romantic conventions? Some readers may sense bitterness behind the comedy, but will probably also recognize the truth behind Shakespeare's satire. Often, love leads us down blind alleys and makes us do things we regret later. The lovers within the scene, especially the men, are made to seem rather shallow. They change the objects of their affections, all the time swearing eternal love to one or the other. In this scene Shakespeare presents the idea that both false love and true love can prevail..

    Read More

More about Fate and Love in A Midsummer Night's Dream

Open Document