The Faces of Love
William Shakespeare’s “A Mid-Summer Night’s Dream” is, like many of his works, a play whose theme is centralized around love. In this particular play Shakespeare approaches love from several different angles or different types of love. There is a paternal love like that of Egeus and his daughter Hermia or even between Titania and the changeling child she cares so much for. The reader also experiences marital love as between Theseus and Hippolyta as well as the love of Oberon and Titania. Of course the young romantic love that is themed throughout the play cannot be ignored when discussing the play’s themes of different kinds of love. These three types of love are separate yet interwoven with each other and some of the characters actually experience more than one kind of love. No matter the type, it is love that rules these societies both the human realm and the magical fairy world. And yet it is love that transcends both worlds bringing them together in the end. The paternal love in this play is expressed by more than one set of characters but the reader is first introduced to the …show more content…
As husband and wife disagree, the entire house feels the tension. This marital love is also exemplified in this play by the Duke of Athens, Theseus and his betrothed, Queen of the Amazons Hippolyta. They are not yet married but their actions toward each other are not that of a young, puppy love but of a more mature and long lasting marital love. When Theseus is professing his love to Hippolyta he says, “Hippolyta, I wooed thee with my sword and won thy love doing thee injuries; but I will wed thee in another key,” (Bevington, 2014). This shows how their love began with passion and he fought vigorously to win her heart but now that they are to be wed it is time for their love to transition to “another key” or the maturity of a marital
William Shakespeare’s “A Mid-Summer Night’s Dream” is, like many of his works, a play whose theme is centralized around love. In this particular play Shakespeare approaches love from several different angles or different types of love. There is a paternal love like that of Egeus and his daughter Hermia or even between Titania and the changeling child she cares so much for. The reader also experiences marital love as between Theseus and Hippolyta as well as the love of Oberon and Titania. Of course the young romantic love that is themed throughout the play cannot be ignored when discussing the play’s themes of different kinds of love. These three types of love are separate yet interwoven with each other and some of the characters actually experience more than one kind of love. No matter the type, it is love that rules these societies both the human realm and the magical fairy world. And yet it is love that transcends both worlds bringing them together in the end. The paternal love in this play is expressed by more than one set of characters but the reader is first introduced to the …show more content…
As husband and wife disagree, the entire house feels the tension. This marital love is also exemplified in this play by the Duke of Athens, Theseus and his betrothed, Queen of the Amazons Hippolyta. They are not yet married but their actions toward each other are not that of a young, puppy love but of a more mature and long lasting marital love. When Theseus is professing his love to Hippolyta he says, “Hippolyta, I wooed thee with my sword and won thy love doing thee injuries; but I will wed thee in another key,” (Bevington, 2014). This shows how their love began with passion and he fought vigorously to win her heart but now that they are to be wed it is time for their love to transition to “another key” or the maturity of a marital