The Psychological Theories Of Love In A Midsummer Night's Dream

What is love? Love is a chemical reaction, a rush of dopamine in the human brain. The ‘dream’ encompasses and displays all the boundaries of love and the challenges that come with such an intimate relationship. When we profess our undying love for one person and make a promise to them until the day we die, what are the deepest thoughts going through our heads? Dreams are a window to the soul and this dream could be a window into the audience's soul as well as shakespeare's personal experiences and beliefs. In Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream the psychological lens reveals how, many characters acted out in psychological distress, leading one to believe perhaps love can really make one go mad. Love is portrayed as a game, one that ends with full hearts, but only with a twist created by magic. The magic found within love and the feelings, thoughts, and actions this magic causes is seen through the dream as there is envy, lies, trickery and …show more content…
Outside help is needed for true love to prosper, this shows what the author defines love as. This circle of love and jealousy where Helen loves Demetrius who loves Hermia, who loves Lysander, who ends up loving Helen can only be halted by the magic and meddling of mischievous fairies. Even with the best intentions this caused complete chaos, for meddling in others love affairs never ends well. These crazy love affairs and fighting is all caused by a change in their thoughts and state of mind. Usage of mind altering substances can have an affect on love and relationships. These Athenian men were cursed with “magic” or basically a drug that altered their state of mind to believe they loved someone they truly did not. This displays the psychological problems caused by use of mind altering substances. Brain chemicals are changed and in this process, thoughts become twisted, confused, and overlap with reality and a dream