Alexander Max
Wendy Xin
English R1B
September 6, 2012
Interpretations of Love in A Midsummer Night’s Dream
In Shakespeare’s comedy, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, characters such as Lysander, Helena and Oberon must grapple with their own interpretations of love. Using form and function harmoniously Shakespeare gives the reader great insight into each character. This is accomplished through an elaborate love square between Lysander, Hermia, Demetrius and Helena. Fairies and Cupid are used to change the dynamic of this love square. Additionally, and perhaps most significantly, Shakespeare makes love out to be something other than an emotion in the eyes of Lysander, Helena and Oberon. It becomes a barrier for Lysander, a person for Hermia and a force for Oberon. Also, for or all of these characters love becomes a binary “either or” or “neither nor” statement that quantifies an emotion they are trying to make sense of. In Act One, Shakespeare shows Lysander’s dilemma and he asserts that love is an obstacle. He feels this way because Egeus, Hermia’s father, claims control over his daughter. He tells Lysander, “She is mine, and all my right of her” (I.I.97). In this Greek society women are subordinate to men and Hermia cannot marry Lysander without her fathers permission. To this, Lysander pronounces, “The course of true love never did run smooth,/ But either it was different in blood” (I.I, 134-5). Lysander believes that love is not easy and it will always have obstacles and in this case it is Lysander and Hermia’s different social standings. This is especially powerful because Shakespeare calls love a course, pointing out that it is dynamic. Lysander is putting love into a proverbial box and thereby giving it a strict definition that is sensible for him. It is also important to note what Lysander is not saying. In response to Egeus one would think he would be irate but he is calm. This shows that Lysander truly does believe love is an obstacle and his speech reflects this. Shakespeare is satirizing this because the point of an emotion is not to be understood, it is to be felt, and that fact that Lysander is doing the former is humorous. Helena expands upon the notion of what love means even further in Act One and likens it to a person. Even though Lysander and Demetrius do not love Helena she still understands what it means to be in love because she loves Demetrius. She pronounces that, “Love looks not with the eyes but with the mind./And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind./Nor hath Love’s mind of any judgment taste—/Wings and no eyes figure unheedy haste” (1.1, 234-7). The repetitive use of “but” and “not” in this quote shows a dichotomy and also proves to the audience that she is not happy with her current situation. The lines seem choppy and rushed which is an example of form following function because Helena undoubtedly feels uneasy about the situation. To justify it to herself, Helena sees love as a blind, hasty person. This personification of love also makes it seem like it is somewhat random. It picks two people without caring about the consequences. However inaccurate this may be it makes sense to Helena, thus making her feel better about her situation.
The last character that contemplates love sees it as more poignant and abstract than Lysander or Helena. Oberon, king of the fairies, plays with the lovers by giving some of them a mystical flower potion that makes them fall in love with the first person that they see. In the middle of these capers Oberon makes the point that, “Some true love
Related Documents: Essay on A Midsummer Night's Dream
Irony in A Midsummer Night’s Dream By Ana Victoria Martinez English 103, Section 1 Mrs. Elizabeth Rose Theme 5 April 13, 2010 Word Count: 745 Outline Thesis: The irony in this work presents humorous words or situations to develop the play into a comedy. I. Verbal irony makes some of the characters’ words humorous. A. Sarcasm occurs in the story to mockingly praise Bottom’s play. B. Another form of verbal irony in the play is malapropism. II. Situational irony humorously mocks the…
William Shakespeare’s play, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is an English Renaissance comedy that features characters that go through chaotic obstacles for love and acceptance. The play contains numerous love triangles of rejection and obsession, only to find in the end that there is someone for everyone. A twenty first century adaption of this play is the movie entitled, “Get Over It”, which takes place in a typical American high school setting. The main characters struggle to hold on to the ones they…
What Fools These Mortals Be In the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Shakespeare, there are many aspects of love. Many characters present a dark feeling of love towards others. Helena believes her friendship with Hermia has changed ever since men have entered their lives. Helena reacts to this adjustment in her life with jealousy. Theseus shows his love for Hippolyta in a more manly way rather than romantically. He believes in the more dominant type of love, where man overpowers woman. Egeus…
Question2: Worlds Collide: A Midsummers Night’s Dream focuses on explaining how crazy and illogical love really is. To convey these themes Shakespeare uses two different settings in the play to show the contrasts. One is Athens, the rational world, and the other is the forest, the irrational world. The play takes place on midsummer’s night’s eve, a time of mayhem and chaos. A Midsummer’s night’s dream has a convoluted plot of intricate characters and a spider web of relationships. Shakespeare…
resolution of troubles.’ To what extent do the marriages at the end of a midsummer night’s dream represent an amicable conclusion? An amicable conclusion indicates an ending in which there is peace and no discord. The four marriages at the end do well to eliminate all of the problems that happen during the play and do to some extent represent a harmonious conclusion to all the bad events that occur throughout A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The first time Titania and Oberon speak (since getting married) both…
two parts should be approximately 250 words. Part One – Outline the role of your character. Examine how he/she interacts with the rest of the group. Puck, also known as Robin Goodfellow, is a character in William Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream that was based on the ancient figure in English mythology, also called Puck. Puck is a clever, mischievous elf and is also the jester to Oberon, the fairy king. You could say he is quite a trouble maker and is always doing something wrong…
1. I believe the main role of the play-within-a-play was a comical interlude, but I think it did have some relevance to the main story. The rehearsals of the play helped show the upcoming of the wedding which gave the audience the idea that the wedding would be the denouement. The story of Pyramus and Thisbe was a similar story regarding forbidden love and reflected on the story as a whole with an ironic and comical approach. 2. The lighting definitely helped present the story by making each…
Love in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and the Sonnets Briana Farrell 10/7/2014 Gordon Leighton, English 224 In Shakespeare’s comedy, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, we see love that can change in the blink of an eye, infatuation with one person turning to obsession with another at a moment’s notice. This type of love is driven by pride and selfishness, and consequently changes quickly and easily. Another type of love can be observed in many of Shakespeare’s sonnets; he writes that his love will…
Ashley Billings Mrs. Akin English 102 23 April 2015 “Contrasting Helena and Hermia” In Shakespeare’s play, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” there are two very interesting female characters. Hermia is beautiful, and is able to easily get men’s attention, even if she is not trying. Hermia is also very confident and wants everything to go her way. She loves Lysander and no one is going to keep them from being together. Helena, on the other hand, has to work hard for anyone to notice her. She is easily made…
Shakespeare’s play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, is about 2 different worlds that are able to come together because of the love of 4 people. Both worlds are able to interact with each other in extremely different ways and yet are able to co-exist despite their differences. Athens’ is a city driven by reason where rules are strictly followed, the restrictive laws negatively impact 4 people and their relationships. The magic forest is driven by only passion, and magic although used thoughtlessly, helps…