Love a Midsummer Nights Dream
Types of Love Represented in “A Midsummer Nights Dream”
In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, as in many of Shakespeare's plays the main theme is love. Shakespeare presents many different aspects of love in the play. He shows how love can affect your vision of reality and make you behave in irrational ways. He presents many ways in which your behavior is affected by the different types and aspects of love. The main types of love he presents are; true love, unrequited love, sisterly love, jealous love, forced love, and parental love. Shakespeare tries to show what kinds of trouble, problems and confusion, love can get you into.
"The course of true love never did run smooth" is one of the play's most famous quotes. However, when you look at the action of the play itself, it's clear that "true love" is a problematic common idea (Act I, Scene I, Ln 134). Thanks to Puck and Oberon's interference, the "true love" between Hermia and Lysander is split apart, and Lysander falls in love with Helena, although they are, of course, reunited at the end. "True love" eventually follows the path and finds its way to marriage. This line delivered by Lysander captures clearly the nature of true love. True love is seen as strong, and can endure despite hardships. It is difficult to keep once found but well worth the troubles. The course of their true love does not run smooth for many reasons. One of the reasons is Egeus, Hermia's father. By law he has power over her. Hermia is expected to respect and obey him but with her thought of destiny which is represented in Act I Scene I Line 150 when Hermia says, “If then true lovers have been ever cross’d, It stands as an edict in destiny”, she is determined to follow her destiny even against her fathers will. Egeus’ over-protective parental love demands Hermia a different man, but Hermia and Lysander's determination brings the two through, again supporting true love as being strong. Egeus and the Athenian Law are both obstacles that result in
In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, as in many of Shakespeare's plays the main theme is love. Shakespeare presents many different aspects of love in the play. He shows how love can affect your vision of reality and make you behave in irrational ways. He presents many ways in which your behavior is affected by the different types and aspects of love. The main types of love he presents are; true love, unrequited love, sisterly love, jealous love, forced love, and parental love. Shakespeare tries to show what kinds of trouble, problems and confusion, love can get you into.
"The course of true love never did run smooth" is one of the play's most famous quotes. However, when you look at the action of the play itself, it's clear that "true love" is a problematic common idea (Act I, Scene I, Ln 134). Thanks to Puck and Oberon's interference, the "true love" between Hermia and Lysander is split apart, and Lysander falls in love with Helena, although they are, of course, reunited at the end. "True love" eventually follows the path and finds its way to marriage. This line delivered by Lysander captures clearly the nature of true love. True love is seen as strong, and can endure despite hardships. It is difficult to keep once found but well worth the troubles. The course of their true love does not run smooth for many reasons. One of the reasons is Egeus, Hermia's father. By law he has power over her. Hermia is expected to respect and obey him but with her thought of destiny which is represented in Act I Scene I Line 150 when Hermia says, “If then true lovers have been ever cross’d, It stands as an edict in destiny”, she is determined to follow her destiny even against her fathers will. Egeus’ over-protective parental love demands Hermia a different man, but Hermia and Lysander's determination brings the two through, again supporting true love as being strong. Egeus and the Athenian Law are both obstacles that result in