True Love's Journey

Finding a true love is something most people search for their entire lives. Best said by Nicholas Sparks, “How far should a person go in the name of true love?” This reoccurring theme can be seen throughout William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, a comedy about the triumphs of young foolish lovers and the forces that act against them. Two main characters, Hermia and Lysander, face many obstacles in their journey of love. Overall, Shakespeare uses the quote; “Could ever hear by tale or history, the course of true love never did run smooth” (I, i, 136-137), to foreshadow the entities Hermia and Lysander have to fight in order to be together.

In the opening of the play, Hermia and Lysander face the objection of Egeus. Since he is the father of Hermia, Egeus believes he has the sole right to choose whom his daughter will marry, and this man is Demetrius: “Stand forth Demetrius, my noble lord; this man hath my consent to marry her” (I, i, 25). In the eyes of Egeus, the love Lysander offers Hermia is merely a play on her innocent mind and heart because he has stolen her heart away from Demetrius. Without the approval of her father, the love is ultimately unworthy and unacceptable. Hermia’s disobedience to her father leads him to seek advice from Theseus, so he can gain his “claim to power over her in Athenian law” (Slights 3). Since Egeus argues the law with his request, Theseus’s ruling on the matter is for Hermia to marry Demetrius or be put to death by the Athenian law. In order to escape the wrath of her father and the Athenian law, the two lovers plan to elope to the woods: “There, gentle Hermia, may I marry thee; and to that place the sharp Athenian law cannot pursue us” (I, i, 165-167).

The character Helena plays the s...

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...e the next morning, their recollections of the previous night are just realistic dreams. Lysander is once again free to marry Helena.

“If true lovers have ever cross’d, it stands as an edict in destiny. Then let us teach our trial patience” (I, i, 156-158). Shakespeare uses this quote in A Midsummer Night’s Dream as a tool to show that when two people truly love each other, no trial or misconception will ever keep them from being together.

Works Cited

Shakespeare, William. A Midsummer Night's Dream. Clayton, DE: Prestwick House, 2003. Print. Side by Sides.

Slights, Camille Wells. "The Changes and Chances of Mortal Life in A Midsummer Night’s Dream."Shakespeare’s Comic Commonwealths. Toronto: U of Toronto P, 1993. 103-124. Rpt. inShakespearean Criticism. Ed. Lawrence J. Trudeau. Vol. 152. Detroit: Gale, 2014. Literature Resource Center. Web. 12 Mar. 2014.