When given the opportunity, people change themselves in order to find love. One often feels as though his or her identity does not possess the proper qualities for love and seeks to develop the qualities in which he or she believes she needs. The search to find love and the search to protect love causes people to seek new identities. Imagine a young girl in middle school. The girl likes another student, however she feels as though he will not like her for her real identity. She starts to wear more make-up and does not hang out with her old friends, who she does not see as fit enough to spend time with her. She completely transforms herself in her chase after the boy and love. In both Charles Dickens’ 1861 fictional novel Great Expectations …show more content…
One seeks to change his or her identity, or to create a new one, in order to find love. In both Dickens’ novel and Shakespeare’s play, the two protagonists, driven by love, flee from their normal lives in order to search for a better existence. Shakespeare illustrates that when love consumes people, they will do whatever it takes to protect it: “There my Lysander and myself shall meet, and thence from Athens turn away our eyes to seek new friends and stranger companies” (Shakespeare I.i.222-224). Shakespeare asserts that the two characters Lysander and Hermia must protect their love, so they choose to run away into the forest. In order to protect their love the two possess a mindset that they must flee from their home and create new identities. They wish to create an identity for the both of them that their love produces. In order to develop their perfect identity, they flee from Athens and seek out a new life with new friends and new places in which their love can grow and flourish. Shakespeare tells the audience that when people love each other, endless …show more content…
Shakespeare and Dickens show the audience/reader that when one mistakes another’s identity, love becomes damaged. Shakespeare shows the damage that a mistaken identity can inflict on love when he writes, “Thou hast mistaken quite and laid the love juice on some true-love’s sight. Of thy misprision must perforce ensue some true-love turned, and not a false turned true” (Shakespeare III.ii.90-93). Puck mistakes Lysander for Demetrius and casts a spell that makes Lysander fall in love with Helena. His mistaken identity destroys his love for Hermia and destroys Helena’s trust in him. Throughout the play, Shakespeare shows that the love between Hermia and Lysander diminishes as Lysander fawns over Helena and Hermia wanders, heartbroken, after him. Puck manipulates the love between two people and in turn, new identities are established. Lysander no longer loves Hermia, which makes him chase after Helena and act immature and love-struck. Demetrius becomes jealous of Lysander and the two fight of Helena. Hermia becomes a grief stricken girl. Helena feels as though she cannot trust her friends and becomes skeptical of everyone. All of the main protagonists become confused versions of their old selves. Shakespeare warns the audience to not meddle in other people’s love life. He shows the audience that people cannot set up true love, true love develops between two people naturally. Shakespeare shows that love changes people and brings out
The hilarious play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, by William Shakespeare, tells the twisted love story of four Athenians who are caught between love and lust. The main characters: Hermia, Helena, Lysander, and Demetrius are in a ‘love square’. Hermia and Lysander are true love enthusiasts, and love each other greatly. Demetrius is in love with Hermia, and Helena, Hermia’s best friend, is deeply and madly in love with Demetrius. Hermia and Lysander try to elope in the woods because Egeus, Hermia’s father, disapproves of Lysander. Helena, hearing about their plans, tells Demetrius, and all four of them end up in the woods where Lysander’s quotation, “The course of true love never did run smooth”(28), becomes extremely evident due to several supernatural mix-ups, authority, and jealousy.
When Lysander is speaking to Hermia in Act I, Scene I; he is both stating a truth about the mystery of love, as while as foreshadowing the upcoming trouble in the play. Egeus has made his demands that his daughter obey him and marry Demetrius. The tension between the father and the chosen lover of his daughter has set the conflict into motion. Demetrius has left with Theseus, Hippolyta and Egeus to discuss the wedding of the Duke of the Athens. The young lovers Lysander and Hermia are left on stage and he tells her in Lines 132-134: “For aught that I could ever read, Could ever hear by tale or history, The course of true love never did run smooth.” He speaks these words to comfort Hermia, but neither has any idea of the crazy night that will come in the
“The course of true love never did run smooth” ~William Shakespeare. In the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Theseus and Hippolyta plan their wedding, which includes a play by the craftsman. While the other characters are trying to figure out their love for one another, the fairies interfere. Throughout the play the characters alternate lovers often. Although they bicker at one another, everyone finds their way to their true soul mate. The characters in William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream are successful, after many trials and tribulations, in acquiring their desired relationships.
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.
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 funniest part of this play seems to be when Puck, the trickster, keeps mixing up the people who he is assigned to put the love juice on. Even when he did put the love juice into the right people's eyes, they still fell in love with the wrong people sometimes. The first example of this mistake of Puck's is where he puts the love juice in Lysander's eyes, mistaking him for Demetrius. Oberon tells Puck to put the love juice in the eyes of an Athenian man, Demetrius, and to make sure that the first thing he sees after this is the woman whom he hates, but who loves him so much, Helena. Puck ends up finding Lysander and Hermia, lovers, sleeping on the forest floor. He puts the love juice in Lysander's eyes and leaves. Then along come Helena and Demetrius to this spot. They are still arguing and Demetrius leaves her with the sleeping Lysander and Hermia. Helena notices them there and tries to wake Lysander. Lysander wakes and the first thing he sees is Helena. "And run through fire for thy sweat sake. Transparent Helena! Nature shows art, That through thy bosom makes me see thy heart."(2.2.103). This is what Demetrius says to Helena when he sees her. He has fallen in love with her. This is where the comedy of this love mix up begins. Now Helena is confused and thinks that Lysander is playing a trick on her so she runs away. This is a most particularly funny part of the play and these mix ups with whom loves who seem to be the funniest pieces of the play.
Shakespeare creates a situation in which two pairs of young lovers, Lysander and Hermia, are forced to elope from the oppressive authority of their Elders, here we see Lysander asking Hermia to flee to the woods, “there gentle Hermia may I marry thee; and to that place the sharp Athenian law cannot pursue us” Freedom is not permitted in Athens, therefore the two lovers plan to escape into the woods. Hermia has two options given from her oppressive father, ‘either to die the death, or to abjure for ever in society of men’. She disobeys his commands. Shakespeare uses images to reflect Athens, and to magnify and to solidify Lysander and Hermia’s love for each other, which is strong and cannot be broken, without the use of magic. ‘Withering on a virgin thorn, grows, lives, and dies in single blessedness’.
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.
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.
No novel boasts more varied and unique character relationships than Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. This essay will serve to analyze three different relationships, paying special attention to the qualities that each uphold. Dickens created three types of character relationships: true friends, betrayed friends, and loving relatives.
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.
This mix-up creates lots of animosity among the characters more so the two ladies who now feel betrayed by one another. Therefore, we observe that the supernatural flower or the magic created another conflict in the play. Puck takes great enjoyment in this battle as seen in the phrases, “Shall we their fond pageant see? / Lord, what fools these mortals be!” (115-116). Nevertheless, again, everything is restored back before the play comes to an end. Puck uses the supernatural powers to make Lysander fall for Hermia again as Demetrius remains in love with Helena.
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.