Diction In A Midsummer's Night Dream

In the play “A Midsummer’s Night Dream” written by William Shakespeare, all the lovers are swapped around exceedingly that they seem almost interchangeable. The similarities and confusion of love between characters causes love itself to seem like an illusion. The characters should have been clearly distinguished to make the play comprehensive, therefore, characters are not wrongly identified. Shakespeare should have used a technique in which the audience would be able to make not only connections, but distinctions between different characters and their particular situation. The plot used in the play creates duplications rather than distinctiveness. If anything, Shakespeare establishes characters individually only using diction during some …show more content…
Through diction the audience can begin to see the different personalities between Hermia and Helena. In act one, scene one, there is a conversation between Hermia and Helena that exhibits their different personalities and feelings about love. Hermia is trying to run away from her father who gives her an ultimatum to choose Demetrius, or become a nun, if not death. Helena on the other hand, just wants to win Demetrius’ heart and figure out how she can become more like Hermia since Demetrius is the one chasing Hermia instead of her. Shakespeare begins to use the skill of diction to put Hermia and Helena closer together as friends, yet allows the audience to see their opposing views and situation. Helena states “The rest I’d give to be to you translated. O, teach me how you look and with what art you sway the motion of Demetrius’ heart!” (1.1.195-97). In other words, she tells Hermia that she would give the world, all except Demetrius in order to be in her shoes. This diction begins to display Helena’s distinctiveness, personality, and attitude towards love in comparison to Hermia. This diction now gives the audience a different effect and distinctiveness of each …show more content…
When they are all in the woods, the characters become interchangeable all over again. In addition, love now becomes an illusion because magic interferes. When Hermia and Lysander run off to the woods, Demetrius and Helena follow them to try and stop the madness. The madness actually starts to increase. The drama and plot in the woods emphasis how the characters continue to be interchangeable throughout the play. The drama also escalates when a magical flower is used on the wrong person. King Oberon from the woods overhears Demetrius and Helena disputing about their unshared love connection. Oberon sends a request to use this magical flower on Demetrius to help solve his love altercation with Helena. The flower has the ability to make a person fall in love. When the juice from the flower is anointed in the eyes of a character while they are asleep, the character will wake up and fall in love with the first living creature they see. Oberon wants Demetrius to open his eyes and fall in love with Helena, but instead the eyes of Lysander are anointed. Demetrius and Lysander are even more so interchangeable now. They were interchangeable before because they were involved with the love altercation between Hermia and Helena, and this extended drama does not help to distinguish these characters apart. The person who was requested to complete Oberon’s demand (Robin Goodfellow) could not even