Theme Of Madness In A Midsummer Night's Dream

The chaotic nature of love is infamous: the multitude of songs, poems, and literature that exists can attest to the confusion, turmoil, and brief forays into insanity that romance, particularly among young people, can generate. This phenomenon is not by any means a new one, as even artists and writers from centuries ago have mused upon the mysterious, madness-inducing magic that love can inflict on unsuspecting people; in William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the fickleness and irrationality of love, represented and presided over by the near-constant presence of the madness-inducing moon, is illustrated through the interchangability between characters in addition to their rash thoughts and actions.

Although A Midsummer Night’s Dream contains multiple layers of narrative, perhaps the most iconic tale is that of Hermia, Lysander, Demetrius, and Helena, four young lovers who Shakespeare

This element of intense similarity between characters serves to illustrate how fickle and easily changed feelings between young people can be. For example, the strong similarities between Demetrius and Lysander are discussed relatively early in the play; at Theseus’s assertion that Demetrius, the man she is reluctantly betrothed to, is “a worthy gentleman”, Hermia shoots back that “so is Lysander.” (1.1, 53-54). Lysander himself is also quick to point out the strong similarities between himself and his romantic rival, stating that he is “as well derived as he/As well possessed…/My fortunes every way as fairly ranked” (1.1, 99-101.) The apparent identical traits of Lysander and Demetrius lend themselves to the mystery of why Hermia loves