Oberon In A Midsummer's Night Dream

Love is confusing and disorienting, even more so when influenced by a love potion. This aspect of love is shown especially in the magical woods right outside of Athens, where fairies galavant in the trees, actors have donkey heads, and four lovers fall in and out of infatuation. The story of A Midsummer’s Night Dream begins as any good story would, with a complex love triangle and arranged marriages. Hermia, daughter of controlling Egeus, was promised to Demetrius, but is in love with Lysander. Not to mention Hermia’s best friend Helena is madly infatuated with Demetrius, adding another twist to the already-complex web. In one way or another, all four end up lost in the forest, with fairies lurking and spreading mischief behind every twist
In his position as leader of the fairy world, he has the most control over all the events in the woods, specifically the magical nectar that, when anointed to the eyelid, is used to influence people’s minds. He sends his right hand man, Puck, around the world to retrieve the flower containing the love nectar and then anoint the eyes of the lovers in an effort to help Helena win over Demetrius, indirectly making Oberon responsible for the following events. First, Oberon advises him to “fetch me that flower. The herb I showed thee once. The juice of it on sleeping eyelids laid will make or man or woman madly dote upon the next live creature that it sees.” (Act II.1.154-157) After the flower has been obtained, he continues: “Effect it with some care, that we may prove more fond on her than she upon her love.” (Act II.2.273-275) His instructions lead to Puck accidentally anointing Lysander’s eyes instead of Demetrius, which leads to chaos in the woods. However, Oberon is not the most guilty individual as he had good intentions and instructed his assistant to perform the task. Any resulting problems or perplexing situations were due to Puck’s mix-ups between people, not because of Oberon. He was trying to help Helena receive positive attention from her crush, making his motives pure and therefore not
In the beginning of the story, Lysander and Hermia are in love, leaving Demetrius the odd man out. While most people would succumb to the circumstances and graciously drop out, Demetrius pursues Hermia with even more fervor. He tells Lysander to allow Hermia to marry him, as it was his right, saying “Relent, sweet Hermia, and, Lysander, yield thy crazed title to my certain right.” (Act I.1.93-94) Demetrius’ refusal to give up meant that Egeus still had a willing candidate to force Hermia to marry, without having to accept Lysander as Hermia’s mate. This leaves Lysander and Hermia with no choice but to run away and escape the harsh punishments awaiting them when Hermia refuses to marry Demetrius. Lysander comes up with a plan to run away and explains it to Hermia, who immediately accepts. “And in that place [the woods] the sharp Athenian law cannot pursue us.” (Act I.1.164-165) However, this does not fix the problem, as the duo confides their plan to Helena, who in turn tells Demetrius. Inevitably, Demetrius ends up following Hermia, and the lovesick Helena follows Demetrius, leading to all four ending up in the woods because of Demetrius’ stubbornness. With all four lovers in the woods, Puck confuses the two pairs, causing the mixup with the love potion and causing the