A Midsummer Night's Dream A Change Of Heart Essay
Mike Allen
Pd.3
3/6/11
A Change of Heart In the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream, by William Shakespeare, love is impulsive; it changes hearts and minds in an instant. Although magic and fairy mischief is a large part of the play, this theme is still portrayed for the quick changing hearts of young lovers. Shakespeare does a wonderful job of portraying that quickly changing love known to young people. In the play love’s restlessness is shown when the fairy Queen falls in love with an ass, best friends become bitter enemies, and a haphazard love triangle suddenly sorts itself out. The first display of an indocile love is when the fairy queen, Titania, falls in love with Bottom, a man who is given the head of a donkey by the trickster Puck. Titania spends most of act III doting on …show more content…
Bottoms every whim as well having her fairies reluctantly attend to his every need, even feeding him. Shakespeare shows the irony of a queen falling in love with the hideous mortal by having Titania tell Bottom, “Thou art as wise as thou art beautiful” (III.i.140). Naturally having the head of a donkey makes Bottom hideous, while most of what he says makes no sense and is completely moronic. However, the comedic union is ended as briskly as it began after Oberon uses a counter potion on Titania. Upon waking Oberon informs Titania that she was not dreaming and displays Bottom, who is laying with Titania, and at first glance Titania exclaims “mine eyes do loathe his visage now” (IV.i.78)! This speedy change of heart indicates that a person can easily fall in love with someone and just as quickly find themselves extremely detached from the relationship. After Shakespeare uses the most obvious form of antsy love, the opposite types falling in and out of love, he tones down the obvious and gives us a look at a friendlier version of boisterous love. While Titania was busy adoring Bottom, Hermia and Helena were busy losing their bond of friendship.
Early in the play Hermia and Helena are clearly tagged as very close and have been friends a long time. Sadly, after Robin’s initial mistake the two girls quickly become enemies, fighting over whom was responsible for Lysander and Demitrius’ actions. As Helena believed that Hermia is playing the role of a puppet master, as Helena states” Fie, Fie, you counterfeit, you puppet, you” (III.ii.289)! This display of betise shows us that Helena foolishly believed that her friend betrayed her by having Lysander and Demitrius taunt her with promises of affection. While Hermia, sure of her innocence and bewildered by Helena’s accusations, makes claims against Helena, saying Helena is a “thief of love!(III.ii.284)” Soon enough the two begin arguing sporadically about one another’s stature and body types eventually breaking out into a fight between the two. This scrap between Helena and Hermia conveys love as irrepressible, even in the love of friendship. Now, even with all this madness going on, Shakespeare managed to work things out perfectly between the two ladies and their respective
lovers. After all of the nonsense occurring in the woods between the two couples, Shakespeare ends the play by sorting out the confusion of the love triangle involving Hermia, Lysander, Helena, and Demitrius. Throughout the play Shakespeare conveys twists and plot developments that create chaos among the lovers, at the end, however, Shakespeare corrects all the mistakes made by other characters in the play. He even goes as far as to have the lovers discovered in the woods by Theseus, Hermia’s father, Egeus, and Hippolyta as they celebrate May Day and the eve of their wedding. Upon discovery Lysander explains his reason for being out in the woods with Hermia, at which Egeus demands “the law, the law, upon his head” (IV.i.154). Theseus then explains to the lovers that they “are fortunately met” and decides that the two couples will be included into his wedding ceremony making it a triple wedding. This act of random kindness shows loves constant alteration, turning order into chaos and vice versa. Throughout the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare conveys loves true nature, a tendency to cause chaos within peoples heart and mind. Shakespeare does this by first having a beauty suddenly fall in love with a hideous beast then realize there is no way she could love a monster. Meanwhile, two close friends become bitter enemies as their lovers constantly switch their love between the two ladies. Finally Shakespeare shows that loves inconsistency is not always a bad thing by fixing all the mistakes made that caused the lovers to quarrel, thus settling the four lovers into the perfect couples. Shakespeare shows that love is inconsistent, it shifts like the wind and alters the hearts and minds enveloped in it.
Pd.3
3/6/11
A Change of Heart In the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream, by William Shakespeare, love is impulsive; it changes hearts and minds in an instant. Although magic and fairy mischief is a large part of the play, this theme is still portrayed for the quick changing hearts of young lovers. Shakespeare does a wonderful job of portraying that quickly changing love known to young people. In the play love’s restlessness is shown when the fairy Queen falls in love with an ass, best friends become bitter enemies, and a haphazard love triangle suddenly sorts itself out. The first display of an indocile love is when the fairy queen, Titania, falls in love with Bottom, a man who is given the head of a donkey by the trickster Puck. Titania spends most of act III doting on …show more content…
Bottoms every whim as well having her fairies reluctantly attend to his every need, even feeding him. Shakespeare shows the irony of a queen falling in love with the hideous mortal by having Titania tell Bottom, “Thou art as wise as thou art beautiful” (III.i.140). Naturally having the head of a donkey makes Bottom hideous, while most of what he says makes no sense and is completely moronic. However, the comedic union is ended as briskly as it began after Oberon uses a counter potion on Titania. Upon waking Oberon informs Titania that she was not dreaming and displays Bottom, who is laying with Titania, and at first glance Titania exclaims “mine eyes do loathe his visage now” (IV.i.78)! This speedy change of heart indicates that a person can easily fall in love with someone and just as quickly find themselves extremely detached from the relationship. After Shakespeare uses the most obvious form of antsy love, the opposite types falling in and out of love, he tones down the obvious and gives us a look at a friendlier version of boisterous love. While Titania was busy adoring Bottom, Hermia and Helena were busy losing their bond of friendship.
Early in the play Hermia and Helena are clearly tagged as very close and have been friends a long time. Sadly, after Robin’s initial mistake the two girls quickly become enemies, fighting over whom was responsible for Lysander and Demitrius’ actions. As Helena believed that Hermia is playing the role of a puppet master, as Helena states” Fie, Fie, you counterfeit, you puppet, you” (III.ii.289)! This display of betise shows us that Helena foolishly believed that her friend betrayed her by having Lysander and Demitrius taunt her with promises of affection. While Hermia, sure of her innocence and bewildered by Helena’s accusations, makes claims against Helena, saying Helena is a “thief of love!(III.ii.284)” Soon enough the two begin arguing sporadically about one another’s stature and body types eventually breaking out into a fight between the two. This scrap between Helena and Hermia conveys love as irrepressible, even in the love of friendship. Now, even with all this madness going on, Shakespeare managed to work things out perfectly between the two ladies and their respective
lovers. After all of the nonsense occurring in the woods between the two couples, Shakespeare ends the play by sorting out the confusion of the love triangle involving Hermia, Lysander, Helena, and Demitrius. Throughout the play Shakespeare conveys twists and plot developments that create chaos among the lovers, at the end, however, Shakespeare corrects all the mistakes made by other characters in the play. He even goes as far as to have the lovers discovered in the woods by Theseus, Hermia’s father, Egeus, and Hippolyta as they celebrate May Day and the eve of their wedding. Upon discovery Lysander explains his reason for being out in the woods with Hermia, at which Egeus demands “the law, the law, upon his head” (IV.i.154). Theseus then explains to the lovers that they “are fortunately met” and decides that the two couples will be included into his wedding ceremony making it a triple wedding. This act of random kindness shows loves constant alteration, turning order into chaos and vice versa. Throughout the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare conveys loves true nature, a tendency to cause chaos within peoples heart and mind. Shakespeare does this by first having a beauty suddenly fall in love with a hideous beast then realize there is no way she could love a monster. Meanwhile, two close friends become bitter enemies as their lovers constantly switch their love between the two ladies. Finally Shakespeare shows that loves inconsistency is not always a bad thing by fixing all the mistakes made that caused the lovers to quarrel, thus settling the four lovers into the perfect couples. Shakespeare shows that love is inconsistent, it shifts like the wind and alters the hearts and minds enveloped in it.