William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream

William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream

In the following essay I am aiming to show how Lysander's claim that

'the course of true love never did run smooth' is supported by other

events in the play.

"A Midsummer Night's Dream" was written by William Shakespeare. No one

knows the exact date it was written but we know it was between 1589

and 1595. He combines romance with comedy to produce this popular

story.

When he was writing the play superstition about nature and spirits

played an important part in people's lives, therefore Shakespeare

included these ideas in his play. It was believed that fairies lived

in a kingdom of their own and came into people's houses where they

then interfered with the household. The fairies play a major part in

the play where we see a particular character trying to help out the

couples, but end up making the situation worse.

The play is about love and relationships. The different couples never

seem to encounter love running smoothly and are or have gone through

problems when in love. Shakespeare shows us what love can make you do

but at the end we have a traditional 'fairy tale' ending where the

audience eventually see the couples re-united and harmony restored.

Love is the main theme and is portrayed by Shakespeare as a kind of

'madness'. Nowadays love is classed as a good thing, but in the play

'love and reason keep little company together'.

The themes and events are very contemporary and this is what keeps the

play popular today.

"A Midsummer Night's Dream" opens with two romantic conflicts. The

first part of the scene features the two characters Theseus and

Hippolyta. Th...

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...ies and involves them in the play.

I hope to have shown how Lysander's claim that 'true love never did

run smooth' is supported by other events and I think it is clear that

love can make people do many irrational things when it doesn't run

smoothly. Theseus and Hippolyta show us that love can run smoothly in

the end but each relationship has its problem. Hermia, Lysander,

Demetrius and Helena all reflect the idea of love not running smoothly

and show what being in love can make you do. The play remains popular

today due to the contemporary relevance of so many of the themes which

Shakespeare included and he presents the idea that love is

unpredictable and can cause great confusion. Love is something that

cannot be explained but only experienced and Shakespeare leaves us to

develop our own idea of what love really is.