True Love In A Midsummer Night's Dream

Great Essays
Throughout the course of history, the human race has loved. Love, some might argue, is a waste of time, while others might say that love is powerful and helpful. True love is defined as love for each other through hardship, which is controlled by a divine being. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the author, Shakespeare, makes it clear that there is true love in the piece, since Oberon and his court of fairies serve as divine beings that meddle with mortal lives. Shakespeare’s connecting to the classics includes the fact that the people believed in these divine beings. According to the Huffington Post, “Love is when what you want is never important. But what the other person needs and wants is always paramount. If you truly love someone, both of …show more content…
Oberon’s involvement in the love lives of Hermia, Lysander, Helena, and Demetrius’ relationships shows the readers that true love takes place in the story, since the relationships are meddled with and finally mended after Oberon’s servant and troublemaker Puck messes up. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, true love seems to exist because of the fact that it is influenced by a divine being, the lovers triumph their hardships together, and both couples strive to love even when the other does not love them back.

First off, true love can be affected by a divine being, and this is shown in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. This is because of the fact that Oberon is a divine figure who has lots of godly powers as a fairy king. His rule over the fairies and his ability to use magic to affect mortal lives shows his divine nature as a king. In modern times, some religions believe in the concepts of
…show more content…
This is shown in multiple cases with the four lovers in Midsummer Night’s Dream because of the fact that Helena loves Demetrius even when he treated her like one of his dogs. Unfortunately, love seems almost comical in between Demetrius and Helena, because Helena’s advances are constantly rejected by Demetrius. But, this still signifies the true love. “And even for that do I love you the more. I am your spaniel; and, Demetrius, The more you beat me, I will fawn on you: Use me but as your spaniel, spurn me, strike me.” She was completely ignored and hated by him. In addition, Hermia and Lysander’s love are restricted by the fact that Hermia’s father will send her off to a nunnery if she does not carry out her father’s demands. Because of his selfish state of mind towards his own daughter 's life, he doesn 't favor of Hermia 's TRUE LOVE to Lysander. Egeus claims the old benefit of Athen 's law to allow him to have the final word in their relationship. In the play Egeus tells Hermia that she must marry Demetrius. But from a father 's perspective, he shows love, but it is selfish. He wants what is best for his child, and he does not believe Lysander is a good fit for his child. This can be argued as true love because he loves his daughter so much that he would make his daughter marry someone who he thinks is a better suitor for her. Lysander and Hermia’s relationship goes against the odds and so far tries to make their

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    In Shakespeare’s A Midsummer’s Night Dream, the main theme of the book focuses on love and whether or not true love exists. In the book there are four main characters who fall in and out love with each other. Love is fickle as shown through these characters, proving that true love does not exist.…

    • 666 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The lovely Hermia wants to marry Lysander, but her controlling father Egeus does not believe they are a good fit to be together. “Take comfort, he no more shall see my…

    • 856 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Hermia and Lysander faced many hardships to be together. “Upon that day either prepare to die for disobedience to your father’s will, or else to wed Demetrius, as he would, or on Diana’s altar to protest for aye austerity and single life” (I. i 85-90. 13). Egeus demanded that his daughter Hermia marry a man she does not love. He wanted Theseus to punish Hermia if she didn’t comply with the demands. She had to marry Demetrius or be sent off to the convent.…

    • 375 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The True Love of Lysander In the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare, two points of view on love exist and clash regularly throughout the play. There are those who believe in forced love, and there are those who believe in true love. One of the four young lovers in this play, Lysander believes in true love.…

    • 399 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In A MidSummer Night’s Dream, William Shakespeare proves that there is no limit to how far people will go to get what they want. Egeus, father of Hermia, will have her sent to her death or a nunnery if she does not marry the man he wants her to. Lysander and Hermia, the young lovers, are willing to run away and leave everything behind to be with each other and get married, because they are forbidden to in Athens. The king fairy, Oberon, has his wife, Titania, put under a spell to fall in love with another being so he can have her Indian boy that she cares for. Although getting what these characters want have consequences, they will go through thick and think to ensure it happens.…

    • 1030 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The course of love is rarely harmonious, and is often susceptible to lack of reason and sense. Unrequited love is a tragically universal theme experienced by most that cruelly targets its victims with little discretion. In William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the theme of love’s uncontrollable power is reflected through a metaphor mouthed by an emotion-blinded Helena after she follows Demetrius to find Lysander and Hermia in the woods during Act Two, Scene One: “You draw me, you hard-hearted adamant. /But…

    • 1393 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Lysander and Hermia love one another, but in the eyes of Hermia’s father he…

    • 1648 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, we are drawn to mull over the love between the four Athenian aristocrats. On one hand there is the irrational approach, which appeals to passion and capricious preference but, on the other hand there is the rational approach towards the love affair which appeals to law and tradition. In the struggle of the lovers, neither irrationality, nor reason dominates the other. Sometimes reason is in control and sometimes irrationality is in control.…

    • 1090 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    When Oberon and Titania get in an argument, Oberon accuses her of still being in love Theseus. He decides to put the spell on her. He says, “Fetch me that flower...the juice of it on sleeping eyelids laid, will make a man or woman madly dote upon the next living creature it sees… be it a lion, bear or wolf”(2.1). This whole situation gives Oberon control and authority over Titania. Demetrius is in love with Hermia whom is Helena’s best friend.…

    • 703 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    William Shakespeare’s comedic play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, uses similes and metaphors through its characters to imply that love is preposterous due to its complexity and uncertainty. Shakespeare begins the play in act one, scene one where two of the four lovers converse on the complexity of love. Lysander, a young Athenian, discusses with Hermia, the woman he is in love with, the ways love can be flawed.. He states, “The course of true love never did go smooth.” (1.1.36)…

    • 475 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Although earthly love can be sacrificial, it is very rare. While reading Midsummer Night’s Dream, some learned that two characters stand out, one showing sacrificial love, and the other shows non sacrificial and selfish love. In Shakespeare’s writings of Midsummer Night’s Dream, it is clear that Hermia shows more of the biblical qualities of sacrificial love than Lysander does. There are many qualities of love stated in the bible, but one that stands out, and is related to Midsummer Night’s Dream, is the quality of sacrificial love. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (ESV, John 3:16).…

    • 799 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    True love is when one shows strong affection and expresses sincere feelings towards another person, for who they are. In the play, Twelfth Night written by Shakespeare, the characters fall in love with each other, but one can debate whether this is true love or infatuation. Firstly, characters desire others at first sight and fall in love instantly. Also, characters fall in love with each other due to their appearance and status. Lastly, they are greedy and selfish about the concept of love.…

    • 1144 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Two of the main themes discussed in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream are love and magic, and one must reflect on how the two correlate between the main characters. Lysander, Hermia, Helen, Demetrius, and Titania are all greatly affected by the use of magic in this story. They seem to already struggle with developing relationships, and the tricky, unpredictable use of magic is of no help to them. In this essay, I will prove that magic undeniably has a negative effect on love and relationships.…

    • 1819 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A Midsummer Night’s Dream portrays people in love by showing all strengths and weaknesses of being in love with somebody. Just because you are in love with someone does not mean that they will be in love with you. A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare, a romance fantasy, explains how love is a very difficult emotion to deal with in life but if you are in love with the right person it may be easier. Falling in love becomes so much harder when you are forced to fall in love with a certain someone. The most important characters in this romance fantasy are; Lysander a young man of Athens, in love with Hermia, Demetrius a young man of Athens, initially in love with Hermia and ultimately in love with Helena, Helena a young woman of Athens,…

    • 1158 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Introduction In William Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream tale between several lovers, the contrasting impacts of illusion against reality, allows the demonstration of conflict through love. Not able to be terminated by one’s own consciousness, there are an array of incidences where magic has aided in the detriment of reality leading into conflicting circumstances between the pairs; Demetrius and Helena, Lysander and Hermia. Directly through the concept of love using a supernatural ‘love juice’ , Shakespeare is able to generate problems in his play and ultimately show that love is desired by all, but is not as straightforward as it seems. Paragraph 1…

    • 944 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays