Midsummer Night's Dream Theme

MSND Theme Essay What is love? Webster's defines it as a passionate affection for another person. But in the play, "A Midsummer Night's Dream," by William Shakespeare, he explored all the different types of love and the ways in which it is expressed. Each character in the play represented in some way Shakespeare's ideas on the subject. Shakespeare had loads of ideas about love, each idea is molded to suite his views of the connections with life and people. I have chosen to write about Demetrius’s situation in this play. The character Demetrius falls in love with the character Helena, through a love potion. Therefore, Demetrius' love for Helena is not true love because of the lack of foundation, explanation, and unreal nature of that love. Demetrius gives us another idea of love that is unlike the others. He shows ignorance toward the insane love given off from Helena. "Use me as your spaniel: spurn me, strike me," Helena is infatuated with Demetrius, and he shows nothing back, not even acknowledgment of her presence at times. This attitude gives the audience a glance at unreturned love. The kind of love that is wasted on people who have only one desire, and that is their own selfish wants. Helena still loved Demetrius from their time together. She is the idea that true love can never be broken down, even though the favor is never returned. Her loves grows stronger as his hate grows deeper. True in life as well as their world, Shakespeare, with Helena, creates the idea of confident love that never fades. The feeling that Demetrius has for Helena is not love because the foundation that the love is based on is missing. His everlasting desire for her suddenly appeared in his head and he would not be able to explain why he loves her and give evidence of it, other than the fact that she is beautiful. His love for her can be compared to a tree that has no roots or foundation but is still growing. However, if the magic that created the tree were to