Love in 'a Midsummer's Night Dream'
How does Shakespeare use the theme of love in ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’?
Shakespeare uses the theme of love to show how complicated love can be; Hermia falling in love with Lysander and Egeus not allowing her to get married to Lysander. Lysander and Hermia try to figure things out between themselves and their forbidden love, “The course of true love never did run smooth”. On the other hand Shakespeare uses comical love with Helena’s unrequited love for Demetrius. Helena is so sad she calls herself his spaniel, “Lord, what fools these mortals be!” Another example of comical love is Titania falling in love with Bottom, with the ass’s head on. Love can blind our eyes in some situations and we can fall head over heels, which makes us look quite foolish. The ‘play within a play’ characters, Pyramus and Thisbe, have comical but also tragic love as Shakespeare makes the young man who plays Thisbe to be really embarrassed to have to play the part of a girl. Their love is also very tragic as Pyramus thinks Thisbe is dead and kills himself and later on Thisbe sees him dead and kills herself. (A parallel story to Romeo and Juliet).
Shakespeare uses tragic love in many ways including love causing pain and unrequited love. Hermia is suffering from love causing pain as she is under pressure for who she’s marrying. Lysander and Hermia are true lovers but her father, Egeus, wants Demetrius to be her husband, or she will face consequences: “As she is mine, I may dispose of her; Which shall be either to this gentlemen Or to her death, according to our law.”
At the time this play was written, the law in Athens was that the father would choose who their daughter would marry and the daughter would not disobey her father. If Hermia disobeyed, she would be sentenced to die a heartbreaking death. These lines show the reader that Egeus is not a kind of father to mess with and what he says goes. Shakespeare reveals that Hermia runs off to the wood to weep
Shakespeare uses the theme of love to show how complicated love can be; Hermia falling in love with Lysander and Egeus not allowing her to get married to Lysander. Lysander and Hermia try to figure things out between themselves and their forbidden love, “The course of true love never did run smooth”. On the other hand Shakespeare uses comical love with Helena’s unrequited love for Demetrius. Helena is so sad she calls herself his spaniel, “Lord, what fools these mortals be!” Another example of comical love is Titania falling in love with Bottom, with the ass’s head on. Love can blind our eyes in some situations and we can fall head over heels, which makes us look quite foolish. The ‘play within a play’ characters, Pyramus and Thisbe, have comical but also tragic love as Shakespeare makes the young man who plays Thisbe to be really embarrassed to have to play the part of a girl. Their love is also very tragic as Pyramus thinks Thisbe is dead and kills himself and later on Thisbe sees him dead and kills herself. (A parallel story to Romeo and Juliet).
Shakespeare uses tragic love in many ways including love causing pain and unrequited love. Hermia is suffering from love causing pain as she is under pressure for who she’s marrying. Lysander and Hermia are true lovers but her father, Egeus, wants Demetrius to be her husband, or she will face consequences: “As she is mine, I may dispose of her; Which shall be either to this gentlemen Or to her death, according to our law.”
At the time this play was written, the law in Athens was that the father would choose who their daughter would marry and the daughter would not disobey her father. If Hermia disobeyed, she would be sentenced to die a heartbreaking death. These lines show the reader that Egeus is not a kind of father to mess with and what he says goes. Shakespeare reveals that Hermia runs off to the wood to weep