A Mid Summer Nights Dream contains ideas of love, desperation, manipulation, and mischief. Throughout the piece readers see a sense of each character as they are consumed by desperation for love, regardless of their relationship status. Readers examine the values of the fairies, as well as the lovers and how far each character will go to take hold of the love they believe is theirs. The ideas and values, love, desperation, and jealousy, the lovers portray in A Mid Summer Nights Dream each tie in together to create the idea that love is characterized by manipulation and instability.
The idea of love in this piece of literature is exceedingly important, throughout the entire story characters are fighting for love, or being forced to love.
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In the beginning, Egueus is allowing Hermia to marry Demetrius, yet she is in love with Lysander. Hermia says to the king Theseus, “So will I grow, so live, so die, my lord.” (1.1.79), she insists she would rather live alone and die than marry Demetrius. Each of the influential figures in her life are manipulating her and the love she so desperately wants, yet Hermia is devoted to her beloved Lysander, and refuses the orders of her father and Theseus. The couple decides to disappear from Athens. “Take comfort. He no more shall see my face; Lysander and myself will fly this place” (1. 1. 204-205). This concept of love is executed throughout this work of literature as Helena is introduced, a fellow Athenian woman that is madly and desperately in love with Demetrius. She is scavenging for his love, and admits she will do anything to secure it. “And even for that do I love you the more. I am your spaniel; and, Demetrius, The more you beat me, I will fawn on you” (2. 1. 202-204). She refers to herself as a dog and Demetrius as her owner, Helena acts as if she does not care what she has to do to earn his love, as long as she does. These characteristics and actions make the reader question Helena’s values, the way she views herself and others. The thoughts of desperation and love that Helena feels are strongly portrayed through the story.
Helena acts in ways of love as she pursues Demetrius in an unhealthy way, yet Demetrius scorns her in all ways, regardless of her effort. “Tempt not too much the hatred of my spirit, for I am sick when I do look on thee” (2. 1. 211-212). Demetrius acts as he hates Helena, he says she makes him sick. But through a series of mischief and manipulation, a love potion is used on Demetrius and Lysander, and in turn both men who once loved Hermia now are fighting for Helena’s love. The difficulty of love and the many hardships that are attached with it are acclaimed in this work of literature and is a key component in the idea of love that is portrayed. When others become involved and interested with the lovers lives is where the mischief present. The meddling fairy, Puck, and Oberon, the fairy King, are to blame for the manipulation occurring. Puck is a servant for Oberon, Puck says, “fear not, my lord, your servant shall do so” (2. 2. 268). Helena now believes both men are mocking, and deceiving her because of their new found love for her which was asserted by Puck in orders from Oberon. The hardships of love set in even more when Hermia enters the story once again and realizes she has been left in the woods by Lysander, and is ultimately left alone because of Lysander’s new found love for Helena. The lovers find themselves together once more and each of the men express …show more content…
their love for Helena, as well as Lysander expressing his hatred for Hermia. Lysander speaks to Hermia in a hateful tone and says“The hate I bare thee made me leave thee so?” (3.2.190). In all aspects, love is manipulated regardless by accident or by scandalous intentions. The values of the lovers and the fairies are shown as they fight for love, each person or fairy involved believes their actions are suitable.
Oberon says, “Do it for thy truelove take; Love and languish for his sake” (2.2.28-29). Helena says she will do anything to have Demetrius’ love, and Hermia suggests she would rather die than be married to someone rather than Lysander. They do not stop pursuing what they want, which worked for the characters in this particular piece of literature. Theseus speaks to the lovers, and the fellow Athenians present and says “For in the temple, by and by, with us. These couple shall eternally be knit (5.1.183-184). Each character found love in whom they intended to be in love with, because of the mischievous work of the fairies. However, Demetrius is under the love potion while he loves Helena, he is being manipulated. Regardless of the fact that Demetrius’s feeling for Helena are not sincere, there is a happiness that is surrounding each of the lovers that overpowers the scheme. In regards to Helena, Demetrius says, “Now I do wish it, love it, long for it, and will for evermore be true to it” (5.1.178-179). These mischievous actions led to happiness, but the values of the fairies are once again tested as they are aware of this happiness, yet know it is untrue. In retrospect, Oberon did say they are solely looking to mend the heartache of the Athenian lovers, and infer true
love. A Mid Summer Nights Dream is the epitome of the difficulties of love and manipulation, the love the play speaks of is not simple. The characters, the Athenian lovers and the fairies, are all in search of love, regardless if it is honest or if it is forced. Love is fickle, and love can be manipulated, in which this is shown through not only the mischievous Puck, but the Athenian lovers and their pursuit of true love. They are forced to love and to not love, filled with desperation, and consumed by their broken values.
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.
In act two scene two Lysander continues to insult Hermia. For example in the book it states “ Content with Hermia? No, I do repent…” (2.2.118-120). This shows that Lysander wants Helena’s love, but he is trying to hard to get it. In act three scene two Helena finds that both Lysander and Demetrius are “mocking” her. For example in the book it states “ ...I pray you,though you mock me, gentlemen.” (3.2.314). This shows that Helena doesn’t believe that Demetrius and Lysander “love” her. Oberon and Lysander find it impossible to control love.
Exerting the type of power that is influenced by malicious intentions can cause one to make decisions that are not beneficial to others. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is written within a time period and setting that favors men instead of woman. In other words, men have all the authority to control the events that occur in their own lives as well as the lives of others whom are considered insignificant. The plot displays the catalysts that ignite many characters’ desire for control that is misused by higher status people. Shakespeare’s use of characterization demonstrates how the wanting of control causes the characters to act irrationally through the misuse of power. Shakespeare’s use of setting, plot and characterization causes the ordeals that the characters ultimately face. In turn, the deceitful choices of a few individuals with status impacts whether the lives of lower status people are enhanced.
Infatuation causes Helena to lose all sense of dignity, as can be seen when in the woods, she desperately pleads with Demetrius to ?but treat me as your spaniel?. Here, Helena also becomes irrational, obsessed with pursuing Demetrius, though it is obvious that Demetrius is fixated on winning Hermia?s hand in marriage. Helena?s infatuation also causes her to see things from a skewed perspective, for she falsely believes that when she divulges Hermia?s plans for eloping with Lysander, Demetrius? love for Helena will rekindle. As the audience, we know that the most probable course of action for Demetrius upon hearing such news is to pursue Lysander and Hermia, or to report them to Theseus or Egeus. Clearly, infatuation has clouded Helena?s ability to think clearly, and she sees things in her own idealistic way.
When Puck mistakenly applies the love potion to Lysander’s eyelids. At this point, both male characters of the main plot have fallen in love with Helena, leaving Hermia out of balance. The struggle of the four lovers is one of the more complicated conflicts in the play. The conflict could have been avoided if Puck had not misused his magic. However, because Puck mistakenly used his magic on Lysander, conflict erupted.
Throughout A Midsummer Night’s Dream the theme of conflict with authority is apparent and is the cause of the problems that befall the characters. It also is used to set the mood of the play. The passage below spoken by Theseus in the opening of the play clearly states this theme.
There is drama caused between the young lovers initially, when Hermia loves Lysander, Lysander loves Hermia, Demetrius loves Hermia, Helena loves Demetrius, but no one loves Helena. Through this short, complicated ‘love story’, arguments and fights occur. The fairy world then comes into contact with the world of the young lovers. Mischievous Puck causes further complications when he uses magic to anoint a young Athenian male’s eyes, who is in fact the wrong Athenian that Oberon assigned Puck. Puck misuses magic when he plays a silly prank on Bottom, who is one of the Mechanicals, by giving Bottom a head of an ass.
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
In the beginning Lysander and Hermia run off to the forest to try to escape the king’s commandments, so they can be together. They believe if they can escape their problems and go somewhere where there is no rules they can finally be happy together. In an essay Bouloussa states how the Athenian lovers (Hermia & Lysander) attempt to escape their problems because they believe this is where there happiness lies. But Helena tells Demetrius and he goes after them, which leads Helena to follow. One day while out Puck and Oberon see Helena and Demetrius fighting and Oberon decides to use the love potion on Demetrius to attempt to fix the love mess. Initially, Puck is only supposed to use the love potion on Demetrius not Lysander. But of course Puck messes up, and ends up using the love potion on both of them, which causes them both to chase after Helena for her love and affection. Furthermore, when she sees them acting this way she believes they are mocking her, so she rejects their
In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the main conflict is between love and social relations. The play revolves around the magical power of love which transforms many lives. As a result of this, it gets the reader’s emotionally involved through ways of reminding us of love’s foolishness and capabilities, as well as violence often followed alongside of lust. This play shows passion’s conflict with reason. For example, the father presented in the play Egeus, represents tradition and reason while Hermia represents passion for love and freedom. Egeus wants Hermia to marry Demetrius and accuses Lysander of “bewitching” Hermia with love charms and songs. This is one way love’s difficulties are presented in the play between father and daughter. Additionally, Helena recognizes love’s difficulties when Demetrius falls in love with her best friend Hermia. Helena argues that strong emotions such as love can make extremely unpleasant things beautiful. This is another way the play presents love’s difficulties between lovers and capricious emotions.
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.
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.
Demetrius, Helena, Lysander, and Hermia are the for young teens of the story. At the beginning of the play it is Lysander and Helena who are madly in love, and are planning to to escape from Athens to elope. Helena is in love with Demetrius, and Demetrius cared for Helena and liked her a lot but was not in love with her. As soon as Demetrius sees Hermia he immediately stops having any feelings for Helena whatsoever and is deeply in love with Hermia. Demetrius thought that he had fallen in love at first sight, but Helena was determined to show him differently. Demetrius: ³ Tempt not too much the hatred of my spirit,/ For I am sick when I do look on thee.² Helena: ³And I am sick when I look not on you.² (Act II, sc. i, lines 218-220) This piece of dialogue shows how much Demetrius is now in love with Hermia from just seeing her, and how disgusted he feels when he looks upon Helena who he used to care about. Helena is simply just expressing how much she is love with Demetrius and how bad she feels that he is treating her in such a manner of hatred.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream portrays magic through many places in the text. Magic is a key component to the plot of the story. Magic can make a problem disappear, or it can intensify the problem. There are many reasons magic is powerful, but one of the main ones is because not everyone understands it. Magic in one way or another affects everyone in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, but the perspective with which each character views magic is different. The power of magic is something that is hard to understand, even those who use magic often cannot fully understand magic because in many ways it is irrational and inexplicable.
The first question that arises in this play is the order and the disorder of society. For instance, the social order of this society emphasizes that the father must pick his daughter’s husband and that he should enforce this for the benefit of his family. However, in the beginning of this play, I was able to observe how a family 's reputation is threatened when a young woman wishes to marry her one true love against her dad 's will. Yet, all of this changes when the four lovers find themselves lost in the woods far away from the ordered and the hierarchical society. Once in the woods Lysander and Demetrius find themselves to be in love with Helena instead of Hermia. This confusion now causes Hermia to feel unwanted by both Lysander and Demetrius and jealous of Helena, as she is the one that has the attention of both men. This disorder of relationships also happens within the fairies when the queen of the fairies falls in love with a human who is mistakenly being transformed into an