“The course of true love never did run smooth,” and neither is it near perfect. Love is stupidity with a smile, blind trickery, and spontaneous thoughts (1.1.134). Throughout William Shakespeare’s play, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” he portrays the theme of love through his characters as erratic, blind, and foolish.
Shakespeare was not the slightest bit modest when illustrating how inconsistent love is. By speaking through his characters, Hermia and Lysander, Shakespeare demonstrates how discordant love is. The two lovers’ love is broken overnight, but by dawn they have each other’s heart once more. For instance, as Demetrius wakes, he goes as far to say, “O Helena, goddess, nymph, perfect, [and] divine,” (3.2.139). The humor of this is that …show more content…
The playwright adds comedic value by making characters appear as desperate, or even an ass. In Act 3, Oberon, king of the fairies, places a spell on his wife, Titania, making her fall in love with an actor with the head of a donkey. Titania is so deep in love that she is unable to see Nick Bottom’s arrogance and has no issue with his appearance. Shakespeare shows the humor of the situation through Oberon who blatantly states that upon Titania’s awakening, she loved an ass (3.2.33). Shakespeare is mocking his characters through Oberon’s tone. The blinding love of the story reaches all characters, including desperate Helena. She cannot see past Demetrius’ rude remarks even when he threatens to leave her to die (2.1.222). Helena is blind to his hatred, stating that the more Demetrius beats her, the more she loves him (2.1.190). Shakespeare’s focus on blinding love suggests that he understands the austere consequences associated with …show more content…
He portrays love’s victims as unpredictable, oblivious, and radically impulsive. Using both characters and symbols, like the love-of-idleness flower, to show how he feels, Shakespeare keeps the audience laughing while continuing his unambiguous message. Although the play focuses on the extrusive theme of love, he chose to create a comedy contrary to a romance, which affirms his light, mocking tone. Through Shakespeare’s choice of a comedy, one may infer that he wanted his audience to be more open to understanding the deep subject: love. Love may be tragically foolish or romantically impulsive, but Shakespeare's use of a comedy to teach the audience these serious lessons reveals his own attitude about
Shakespeare was not the slightest bit modest when illustrating how inconsistent love is. By speaking through his characters, Hermia and Lysander, Shakespeare demonstrates how discordant love is. The two lovers’ love is broken overnight, but by dawn they have each other’s heart once more. For instance, as Demetrius wakes, he goes as far to say, “O Helena, goddess, nymph, perfect, [and] divine,” (3.2.139). The humor of this is that …show more content…
The playwright adds comedic value by making characters appear as desperate, or even an ass. In Act 3, Oberon, king of the fairies, places a spell on his wife, Titania, making her fall in love with an actor with the head of a donkey. Titania is so deep in love that she is unable to see Nick Bottom’s arrogance and has no issue with his appearance. Shakespeare shows the humor of the situation through Oberon who blatantly states that upon Titania’s awakening, she loved an ass (3.2.33). Shakespeare is mocking his characters through Oberon’s tone. The blinding love of the story reaches all characters, including desperate Helena. She cannot see past Demetrius’ rude remarks even when he threatens to leave her to die (2.1.222). Helena is blind to his hatred, stating that the more Demetrius beats her, the more she loves him (2.1.190). Shakespeare’s focus on blinding love suggests that he understands the austere consequences associated with …show more content…
He portrays love’s victims as unpredictable, oblivious, and radically impulsive. Using both characters and symbols, like the love-of-idleness flower, to show how he feels, Shakespeare keeps the audience laughing while continuing his unambiguous message. Although the play focuses on the extrusive theme of love, he chose to create a comedy contrary to a romance, which affirms his light, mocking tone. Through Shakespeare’s choice of a comedy, one may infer that he wanted his audience to be more open to understanding the deep subject: love. Love may be tragically foolish or romantically impulsive, but Shakespeare's use of a comedy to teach the audience these serious lessons reveals his own attitude about