Why Is There Love In A Midsummer Night's Dream

Many people today hope for a fairy tale romance in which they get the person of their dreams without a hitch, more often than not, though, this is not the case. In William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream he attempts to answer the question “Why isn’t love ever simple”. He attempts to answer this through the experiences of the four lovers Helena, Hermia, Lysander, and Demetrius.

One way Shakespeare tries to answer this question is through Helena’s experiences with Demetrious, specifically his rejection, and later love, of her. Helena was at first desperate for Demetrius’ love, following him as he searched for Hermia and showering him with signs of her affection. “Your virtue is my privilege: for that/It is not night when I do see your face” (Shakespeare 2.1.227-228). Surprisingly, this changed when Demetrius showed similar feelings towards her, and she took it as more signs of hatred from him. She seemed willing to do anything to gain

As Demetrius evaded all attempts at romance from Helena, she kept persisting despite his obvious disapproval. Had the fairies not made Demetrius fall in love with Helena, they most likely would never have been together. This shows that sometimes in the pursuit of love, the other person just isn’t interested and you have to deal with that. In the real world there won’t be any magical solution to your problems, and you can’t simply force someone to love you. This also serves as a source of hope, as Helena did end up in the relationship she wanted. Shakespeare showed that, even though there might not be an easy solution to the problem, that doesn’t mean you can’t overcome it at all. In this way he shows that it can be good to keep trying if you truly love that person, but at the same time, you cannot control how they feel and must ultimately accept the outcome, because no fairies will come to your aid if you dislike