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Love causes people to behave differently. These behavioural changes differ from person to person. For some, love’s impact is good, while for others it is bad. Shakespeare displays love as having a negative effect. It causes several of the characters in “ A Midsummer’s Night Dream” to go crazy. In this play, love’s influence is harmful because it is a catalyst for craziness.
Hermia’s love for Lysander clouds her judgment. After Egeus tells Hermia that she isn’t allowed to marry Lysander, she forms a plan to run away with him. Out of friendship, Hermia divulges her plan to Helena. She says, “ Lysander and myself will fly this place./ Before the time I did Lysander see,/ Seemed Athens a paradise to me” ( 1.3. 203-205). Hermia’s love for Lysander
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has changed the way she thinks. This new mindset has caused her to leave everything and everyone she loves in order to be with Lysander. She leaves her best friend, Helena, whom she has been friends with since she was young, estranges and leaves her father, and leaves Athens which “ seemed … a paradise”. From a rational point of view, Hermia’s love makes her seem crazy because she is giving up everything in her life that she loves just so she can be with Lysander. Titania’s immense love for Bottom interferes with her reason.
After Oberon puts the “ Love in Idleness” flower on Titania’s eyes, she falls in love with Bottom. While in love, she says to Bottom, “ What angel wakes me from my flowery bed” (3.1. 107)? Titania’s new found love for Bottom shows the influence of the flower. Titania, the fairy queen, falls in love with Bottom, a commoner with a Donkey’s head. She is so in love with Bottom she doesn’t care that she is dating someone with an ass head who is a lowly peasant. Love makes Titania crazy enough that she doesn’t mind about the inadequacy of her love. After Titania is released from the spell of the flower, she does care about this and consequently she loses all her love for Bottom. She even says “ O, how mine eyes do loathe his visage now” (4.1. 76)! Titania’s change in attitude about Bottom is due to the removal of the flower’s powers. If Oberon hadn’t put the spell on Titania in the first place, Titania would have never fallen in love with Bottom. This displays how love can make a person crazy enough to love one who in common sense one would never dream of …show more content…
loving. Helena’s love for Demetrius makes her crazy.
Even though Demetrius has left Helena for Hermia, she still still loves him. This causes her to do insane things in order to try to win his affection. For example, When Hermia tells Helena her plot to run away, Helena reveals the plot to Demetrius. She says, “ I will go tell him [Demetrius] of fair Hermia’s flight” (1.1. 246) Helena’s attempts at winning Demetrius’s heart displays her insanity because her plans are just shots in the dark, and in no way could they help her. By telling Demetrius of Hermia’s plan, she has hurt herself in two ways. First, She has betrayed her best friend. Second, she has enabled Demetrius to find Hermia, bring her back to Athens and possibly marry her. Demetrius Marrying Hermia would ruin Helena’s ability to marry Demetrius, therefore ruining Helena’s plan. Helena’s plan demonstrates how crazy her love for Demetrius has made her, because she will do anything to try to win Demetrius’s affection, including things that have a very little chance of working.
Love causes people to change. In this play, Shakespeare gives us a negative interpretation of the effects of love. His interpretation is that love causes people to become crazy. His interpretation is visible in his play, “ A Midsummer’s Night Dream”. In this play, we see many examples of love making people crazy. These examples can be seen in Hermia, Helena, and Titania. Each character has their own change, depending on the person and the beloved. The
ways in which people change for love is fascinating.
Lysander tells Theseus that Demetrius "Made love to … Helena, And won her soul.” Helena says that before Demetrius looked upon Hermia, "He hail'd down oaths that he was only mine.” In an attempt to win back some of Demetrius's affection, Helena tells him of Hermia's plan to meet in the wood and elope with Lysander.
In Act I Scene I, Egeus, father of Hermia, is clearly upset with his daughter’s choice in Lysander as a suitor. Egeus’ has so much love for Demetrius that he has chosen him to be Hermia’s husband in an arranged marriage. Egeus’ desire to have Hermia marry Demetrius is so strong that he would rather Hermia be dead than marry another. Egeus implores upon Theseus, “As she is mine, I may dispose of her, which shall be either to this
The love-in-idleness flower nectar plays a big part in demonstrating the unpredictability of love, since “[t]he juice of it on sleeping eyelids laid / Will make or man or woman madly dote” (II:i:155-156) This potion depicts the whole love-at-first-sight trope, and shows how volatile people are when it comes to love, especially when it’s merely superficial. Titania’s condition was caused by Oberon, who might have been slightly jealous of Theseus. Love caused Oberon to do things that Titania would probably have never predicted he would do, and Titania falling in love with a creature like Bottom could never have been planned. She clearly did not believe that such a thing could have happened, as she says, “Methought I was enamored of an ass” (IV:i:60) - and yet that is exactly what happened.
Every action made in A Midsummer Night’s Dream revolves around the idea of love. It is a concept which few people can understand because of the extremity a person can go through to go after their love. “Lovers and madmen have such seething brains, such shaping fantasies that apprehend more than cool reason ever comprehends.” Lovers see the world in a way which everyday people cannot comprehend. The idea of love leads to them making irrational choices which may seem
She knows the consequences of refusing her father and the Duke, she exclaims, “If I refuse to wed Demetrius”(I.i.66). After she said this, the Duke explained that the law did not include her choice to be with Lysander; consequently, Lysander came up with a plan to get away from Athens which is why they were in the woods at all. Because Hermia chose to disobey her father, she and Lysander had to run away to be together taking a path through the woods. While Helena complains that Demetrius will never love her, Hermia informs Helena that Demetrius will not see her again. As she speaks to Helena telling her the plan, Helena is given the option to tell Demetrius that his potential bride plans to leave. Hermia explains to Helena, “Take comfort: he no more shall see my face. / Lysander and myself will fly this place”(I.i.207-208). Because Demetrius does not love Helena, Hermia reassures her friend that he will no longer see her around, and Helena can have him to
This is evident in the quote where Lysander says, “Athenian law cannot pursue us.” This would not of been a trial for them, but fate had something else in store. “Content with Hermia? No, I do repent The tedious minutes I with her have spent. Not Hermia, but Helena I love” (II.i ll. 118-12). Puck, a fairy, put cupid’s love juice into Lysander’s eyes. This is evident in the quote, “Night and silence! Who is here? Weeds of Athens he doth wear. This is he my master said, despised the Athenian maid, and here the maiden, sleeping on the ground. Pretty soul, she durst not lie near this lack-love, this kill-courtesy. Churl, upon thy eyes I throw all the power of this charm doth owe” (II.i ll. 76-85). As it states in the quote, it made him fall in love with the first person he saw, which happened to be Helena. This is proven when Lysander said, “but Helena I love”. Lysander told Hermia he was in love with Helena, not her, so the elopement was off. This is evident when he says, “I repent the minutes I spent with her.” This is difficult for Hermia because she is confused, and does not know what is going on, or why Lysander was acting this way. This is evident when she takes her
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.
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.
The relationship between Demetrius and Hermia is problematic, in that Demetrius is seeking the affections of Hermia, while she is in love with Lysander. However, Hermia’s father approves of Demetrius and tries to force her to marry him, but Hermia refuses because of her love for Lysander (A Midsummer Night’s Dream 1.1.22-82). Lysander points out the flaw in the situation through this comment, “You have her father 's love, Demetrius –/Let me have Hermia 's. Do you marry him,” (A Midsummer Night’s Dream 1.1.93-94). The second flawed relationship is between Lysander and Helena, as a result of an enchantment put on Lysander that made him fall in love with Helena. Helena does not want the affections of Lysander, but rather the love of Demetrius, and believes that Lysander is taunting her. In addition, this relationship creates tensions because Hermia is in love with Lysander (A Midsummer Night’s Dream 2.2.109-140). Both relationships are not desirable due to a lack of mutual admiration and the creation of non-peaceful and unsatisfying
Love is a powerful emotion, capable of turning reasonable people into fools. Out of love, ridiculous emotions arise, like jealousy and desperation. Love can shield us from the truth, narrowing a perspective to solely what the lover wants to see. Though beautiful and inspiring when requited, a love unreturned can be devastating and maddening. In his play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, William Shakespeare comically explores the flaws and suffering of lovers. Four young Athenians: Demetrius, Lysander, Hermia, and Helena, are confronted by love’s challenge, one that becomes increasingly difficult with the interference of the fairy world. Through specific word choice and word order, a struggle between lovers is revealed throughout the play. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare uses descriptive diction to emphasize the impact love has on reality and one’s own rationality, and how society’s desperate pursuit to find love can turn even strong individuals into fools.
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.
Love, lust and infatuation all beguile the senses of the characters in this dreamy and whimsical work of Shakespeare, and leads them to act in outlandish ways, which throughly amuses the reader. True love does prevail in the end for Hermia and Lysander, and the initial charm of infatuation ends up proving to have happy consequence for Helena and Demetrius as well. Even when at first the reader thinks that, in theory, the effects the potion will wear off and Lysander will once again reject Helena, Oberon places a blessings on all the couples that they should live happily ever after.
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.
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.
Although Hermia’s father did not want her to marry Lysander, she was madly in love with him and wanted to go against her fathers’ wishes just to be with him, and she did just that. By the end of the play, Hermia and Lysander’s relationship with one another was a success. True love is defined as a love worth fighting for and that is exactly what Hermia and Lysander did, they fought for each other.