Poison In A Midsummer Night's Dream Essay

A Victim of Venom: The Applications of Poison in A Midsummer Night’s Dream

In William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the young lovers Hermia and Lysander flee the walled city of Athens in search of the freedom to elope. They enter the surrounding wood with hopes of free will and the right to do as they please, and although they perceive their choices and actions as being of their own devices, they are in fact being closely manipulated by a love poison created by Puck, a fairy, under the orders of King Oberon. Thus, the two have found no freedom whatsoever, only a shift in power from Hermia’s father Theseus to the fairy king. This shift, which is completely unknown to the characters, provides an interesting commentary on the true nature

Theseus, father of Hermia, disapproves of the romance between Hermia and Lysander, preferring the suitor Demetrius for his future son-in-law. The forbidden lovers seek freedom outside the walls of Athens, where Lysander believes “the sharp Athenian law cannot pursue us” (Shakespeare 1.1 162-163). Although what Lysander states is true, escaping the clutches of one powerful leader only leads them into the hands of another. The lovers, followed closely by Demetrius and Helena, flee to the wood outside the city, only to have the delicate fabric of their intertwined relationships torn apart by Oberon and the servant Puck. Though their desires are modified by the love poison, the two men perceive their newfound love as natural. In an effort to prove his “true love” for Helena, Lysander weeps for her, requesting that she “Look when I vow, I weep; and vows so born, In their nativity all truth appears” (3.2 124-125). Although the lovers are unaware of it, they have simply shifted from one overarching figure of power to another. Oberon’s intents are essentially different, looking to settle and calm the score between the four young people, as compared to Theseus who is simply attempting to exert his power over his daughter, but at its core, it is simply another figure of power taking control of those

When elites exert their power or compete with one another, those below them on the ladder often feel the greatest impact, a theme which recurs numerous times throughout the play. A Midsummer Night’s Dream’s statement about the nature of these social hierarchies is extremely applicable to the modern day, as countless lives are “poisoned” by those in positions of power every