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The concept of love in shakespeare's sonnets
Shakespeare and the theme of love
Themes and motifs in a midsummer night's dream
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Recommended: The concept of love in shakespeare's sonnets
Three hundred years ago A Midsummer-Night 's Dream written by William Shakespeare was printed in 1600. In this love sonnet Shakespeare compares his one and only love to a summer 's day, and he talks about the beauty of the two and their similarities. Everything in this world is connected in one way or another, it 's all entangled, and thus it gives a chance for there to be similarities; and two seemingly opposites such as, love and war, may have more in common than what we might have initially thought.
The Importance of Being Earnest, a trivial Comedy is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on February 14 1895, it is a comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious identities to escape demanding social obligations. Throughout the play,
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There can be hundreds of reasons and discussions to initiate a war, but once it has started, no argument or logic works, and the same applies to love. For instance Jack and Algernon confess that they were considering changing their names to Earnest, all so that their wives may approve. “Gwendolen and Cecily [Speaking together.] Your Christian names are still an insuperable barrier. That is all! Jack and Algernon [Speaking together.] Our Christian names! Is that all? But we are going to be christened this afternoon(Pg.41).” First, someone to lay down their birth name, all for the approval of a woman is in other words quite devoted, and that is exactly what Jack and Algernon are. Jack and Algernon are so deep in love, that their judgment has been compromised, and this too also accounts for soldiers in war, because they too have compromised judgment because of what they have been exposed to. Furthermore, Algernon had agreed to wait for Cecily to reach the age of consent for her marriage- thirty-five. “Cecily. Algy, could you wait for me till I was thirty-five? -Algernon. Of course I could, Cecily. You know I could(Pg.45)”. She was 18 at the time, and Algernon was planning on waiting until she had aged to 35 until he could take her hand in marriage. That would be 17 years of waiting, which is very much
In Oscar Wilde’s drama The Importance of Being Earnest, he uses light-hearted tones and humor to poke fun at British high society while handling the serious theme of truth and the true identity of who is really “Earnest.” Truth as theme is most significantly portrayed through the women characters, Gwendolen and Cecily but to present serious themes comically, Wilde portrays women to be the weaker sex of society, despite the seriousness of the subject—the identity of the men they want to marry.
Is love controlled by human beings who love one another or is love controlled by a higher power? There are many people who believe that a higher power has control over love. An example of a higher power would be a cupid, a flying angel-type creature who is supposed to shoot arrows at people to make them fall in love. There are other people who reject the idea that a higher power controls love and that the people who experience love can control it. In the novel, "A Midsummer Night's Dream", by William Shakespeare, several examples of love's association with a higher power are presented. With the use of examples from the above novel, this essay will discuss the evidence that love is associated with a higher power. Examples like: Thesius arranging a marriage between himself and Hippolyta, Egeus choosing who Hermia should marry and the fairies who have the ability to control love in the Enchanted Forest.
In conclusion, in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare effectively uses the motifs of the seasons, the moon, and dreams to show that love, irrationality, and disobedience directly cause chaos. By calling to mind the seasons in unnatural order, describing the moon behaving strangely, and discussing the dualistic, irrational nature of dreams, Shakespeare effectively evokes a sense of chaos and disorder. Linking each of these motifs to the themes of love, irrationality, and disobedience allows Shakespeare to illustrate the disarray that is bound to result from any romance.
AThe Importance of Being Earnest, a play written by Oscar Wilde, is set in England in the late Victorian era. Wilde uses obvious situational and dramatic irony within the play to satirize his time period. According to Roger Sale in Being Ernest, the title has a double meaning to it and is certainly another example of satire used by Wilde. With a comedic approach, Wilde ridicules the absurdities of the character’s courtship rituals, their false faces, and their secrets. Sale, 478.
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.
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 Importance of Being Earnest is regarded as one of the most successful plays written by Oscar Wilde, a great 19th century playwright. Oscar Wilde deals with something unique about his contemporary age in this drama. It addresses Victorian social issues, French theatre, farce, social drama and melodrama. All these factors influenced the structure of the play in a large scale. This play is basically a Victorian satirical drama showcasing the social, political, economic and religious structural changes that affected 18th century England. It was the time when British Empire had captured most part of the world including Oscar Wilde’s homeland, Ireland. The aristocrats of England had become dominant over the middle and poor class people and Wilde wrote plays with the motivation to encourage people to think against the English aristocracy and artificiality.
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.
Different Aspects of Love Presented in William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream Lysander + Hermia = True love? Sexual Attraction (Lust) ------------------------------------------------------- Titania + Oberon = Love or hate (Married )
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, was the most enjoyable drama for me. This Shakespearean play mixed two very different worlds into an entertaining story about love, magic, and an extremely bad play. In true Shakespearean fashion, this play is complex, multilayered, and filled with many symbols. Some of these symbols include dreams, a love potion, and again, one very bad play.
Throughout the events which unfold in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare delivers several messages on love. Through this play, one of the significant ideas he suggests is that love is blind, often defying logic and overriding other emotions and priorities. Helena loves Demetrius unconditionally and pursues him despite knowing that he loathes her; conflict arises between Helena and Hermia, childhood best friends, over Demetrius and Lysander; and because she is in love, Queen Titania is able to see beauty and virtue in the ass-headed Nick Bottom.
Throughout the twists and turns of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, love can be seen in many different forms. Forced love that is mandated by law, superficial love, and true love are all portrayed throughout Shakespeare’s writing. These different examples of love create the conflict between characters of the play. These different emotions drive the story line and cause numerous conflicts between characters in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. During a time when the law of the land would allow a father to choose a husband for his daughter, Egeus chose to give Demetrius his consent to marry his daughter Hermia (Act 1, Scene 1, 24-25).
In the play, Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde ridicules and identifies the negative aspects of Victorian society through comedic dialogue. He uses characters with ridiculous personalities to demonstrate his idea of Victorian life. By making absurd scenes with foolish characters, it is his way of mocking the Victorian lifestyle passive aggressively.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Shakespeare is full of comical jokes and humorous scenes, but something that subtly masks the stories of these characters is the recurring theme of love, specifically in dreams. Love can render one blind, letting them fall into a rabbit hole of a strange dream-like state. By act four, all (except for Demetrius) return to their normal selves, where Bottom says, "I have had a dream, past the wit of man to say what / dream it was. Man is but an ass if he go about t'expound this dream"(4.1.200-201). The events that he had just experienced were too bizarre to comprehend, as he says he sounds like a fool trying to explain them. Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream shows how being infatuated can not only blind one, but it can feel like a hazy dream.
True love is never as easy as it may seem. Society today is all about finding “the one” but in reality, over 30% of Americans have never found true love. During the Elizabethan Era, it was considered very foolish to marry someone for love. Arranged marriages were always set up by the parent and it was usually to the son or daughter of a neighbor or friend. You were always more likely to have a happy marriage when you put your love life in the hands of your parents (Ross). In the play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare uses setting to express that releasing your fantasies, although disrupting the path, will help you to find your true love quicker than staying in reality.