How does love relate to the world of law and reason? How can a supernatural power make one fall in love with another regardless of their previous desires, feelings, or status? In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, William Shakespeare took advantage of the theme of love, comparing the play within a play with affection and Athen’s law in the 1590’s. Although this play is meant to be a comedy, the theme of love runs a major line across the story. Love plays a separate role for each character, varying from type, circumstance, unpredictability, and unreality. Passion of love can make one blind, irrational, inconstant, and desperate, symbolizing the foolishness that one is willing to experience in order to achieve what was believed as love.
Whether it is …show more content…
Naturally, it is something that requires time and effort in order to overcome the obstacles that lead to the long-lasting love. The lengthy road to future contentment can be bumpy and uneven, as “[t]he course of true love never did run smooth” (I: i: 136). In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, there were numerous inescapable circumstances. Hermia’s father wanted his daughter to marry Demetrius, a gentleman which he approved of, but Hermia fell in love with Lysander without his permission instead. Demetrius and Helena once loved one another, but later Demetrius fell in love with Hermia instead, leaving Helena fighting in her one-sided love. Love triangles made situations even more complicated. In the beginning, Demetrius and Lysander both loved Hermia while Helena loved Demetrius; under love potion, Demetrius and Lysander both loved Helena instead. This represents the rough, unpredictable road to achieve real love, all the challenges one must experience and overcome on the way to find true love. Rarely, there might be peculiar things pulling one away from true love; in this play, it was Puck’s magic love potion that turned everything around. Not only did it cause confusion and sadness, but also chaos between the characters in favor to fight for what they blindly believed as …show more content…
The unreal love causes the characters to doubt themselves, not sure whether they were in a dream or in reality. As this play was a fantasy, the characters weren’t sure of whether they were awake or dreaming; too many unbelievable things happened that they couldn’t determine the reality of love. Demetrius said, “[a]re you sure/ that we are awake? It seems to me/ that yet we sleep, we dream…” (IV: i: 194-196), showing how they were still skeptical of what took place, doubtful that it was just a dream. Hermia’s terrifying dream foreshadowed the upcoming fault in her relationship with Lysander; she dreamt that a snake was eating her heart, symbolic of her losing her ability to love, and Lysander was watching and smiling, symbolic of him losing his love for her. Her fear from this dream represents that she fears nothing more than the event in which she and Lysander break up, and this suspicion was confirmed when she realized that Lysander was no longer by her side when she awoke. Love also illustrates chaos in this story; the characters would carry out all possible actions for the love that they believed in. Hermia and Lysander ran away at night to secretly get married; Helena betrayed her best friend in order to earn Demetrius’ love back; under the love potion’s spell, Demetrius and Lysander were both willing to do everything to win Helena’s
Whether it is …show more content…
Naturally, it is something that requires time and effort in order to overcome the obstacles that lead to the long-lasting love. The lengthy road to future contentment can be bumpy and uneven, as “[t]he course of true love never did run smooth” (I: i: 136). In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, there were numerous inescapable circumstances. Hermia’s father wanted his daughter to marry Demetrius, a gentleman which he approved of, but Hermia fell in love with Lysander without his permission instead. Demetrius and Helena once loved one another, but later Demetrius fell in love with Hermia instead, leaving Helena fighting in her one-sided love. Love triangles made situations even more complicated. In the beginning, Demetrius and Lysander both loved Hermia while Helena loved Demetrius; under love potion, Demetrius and Lysander both loved Helena instead. This represents the rough, unpredictable road to achieve real love, all the challenges one must experience and overcome on the way to find true love. Rarely, there might be peculiar things pulling one away from true love; in this play, it was Puck’s magic love potion that turned everything around. Not only did it cause confusion and sadness, but also chaos between the characters in favor to fight for what they blindly believed as …show more content…
The unreal love causes the characters to doubt themselves, not sure whether they were in a dream or in reality. As this play was a fantasy, the characters weren’t sure of whether they were awake or dreaming; too many unbelievable things happened that they couldn’t determine the reality of love. Demetrius said, “[a]re you sure/ that we are awake? It seems to me/ that yet we sleep, we dream…” (IV: i: 194-196), showing how they were still skeptical of what took place, doubtful that it was just a dream. Hermia’s terrifying dream foreshadowed the upcoming fault in her relationship with Lysander; she dreamt that a snake was eating her heart, symbolic of her losing her ability to love, and Lysander was watching and smiling, symbolic of him losing his love for her. Her fear from this dream represents that she fears nothing more than the event in which she and Lysander break up, and this suspicion was confirmed when she realized that Lysander was no longer by her side when she awoke. Love also illustrates chaos in this story; the characters would carry out all possible actions for the love that they believed in. Hermia and Lysander ran away at night to secretly get married; Helena betrayed her best friend in order to earn Demetrius’ love back; under the love potion’s spell, Demetrius and Lysander were both willing to do everything to win Helena’s