The Flower Motif

During the renaissance, many great works of literature were created due to the renewed interest in the classical Greek and Roman learning (The Middle Ages). For example, A Midsummer Night's Dream by, William Shakespeare, is a story of 4 lovers who get mixed up with Titania, Oberon, and Puck during the time of Duke Theseus and Hippolyta's wedding. The story begins with the argument between Hermia, Helena, Lysander, and Demetrius getting mixed up with Puck's love potion. Then, the play ends with the wedding and a play preformed by the rude mechanicals. Moreover, the use of the flower motif is significant, because it helps develop the theme of love in the play.

In the play, Shakespeare mentions a variety of flowers and plants. Upon researching them, you find that some have further meaning that connects to the play. For instance, the primrose, muskose, and honeysuckle all have to do with love. To illustrate, the primrose was mentioned when Hermia says, "And in the wood where often you and I / Upon faint primroses beds were wont to lie" (1.1.219-20). According to Garden Guides, the primrose symbolizes "youth or young love, or mean 'I can't live without you'" (Garden Guides). This can connect with the play because young
love is shown at the beginning of the play when Hermia and Lysander are planning to runaway to the forest. Next, the muskrose is mentioned when Oberon says, "Quite overcanopied with luscious woodbine / With sweet muskrose, and with eglantine" (2.1.259-60). When researching the muskrose, you find that it symbolizes "Capricious love" (Garden Cards). Moreover, when researching "capricious", you find that it means "changing suddenly in mood or behavior" (Merriam-Webster) and "not logical or reasonable" (Merriam-Webster). This connects to the play in two ways because "not logical love" goes along with the idea that love is blind; however, "quickly changing love" shows that sometimes people's ideas about love change, similar to Puck's love potion. Finally, Shakespeare mentions the honeysuckle when Titania says "So doth the woodbine the sweet honeysuckle / Gently entwist" (4.1.43-44). When researching the honeysuckle, you find that it "represents being 'united in love' and devotion" (Garden Guides). Furthermore, honeysuckle "would [appear] in the wedding ceremonies to represent the love that clings without harming anyone" (Garden Guides). This is important to the play because it shows the overall path of love. At first, love is youthful and foolish like Helena chasing Demetrius into the forest. Then, love can change along the way due to other people and problems, such as the love potion. Finally, once everything is situated, at the end of the story the 4 lovers are united in love.

The general theme of Midsummer Night's Dream is "The course of true love never did run smooth" (1.1.136); however, the real theme is much more deep and complex.
Overall, Shakespeare is showing how love can be challenging and showing things you may experience in love. As he does this simultaneously, he creates a theme that can be summed up with Lysander's quote. Moreover, the flowers connect to the overall theme because the main flowers such as the primrose, muskrose, and honeysuckle show the path of love, whereas the other flowers show what may happen during that path. Shakespeare uses this to communicate to the audience that love is a complex and challenging thing that requires patience and understanding, which is still something we deal with
today.

The way Shakespeare decided to work this complex idea into this play is brilliant because it is so subtle. If Shakespeare wanted to make it obvious, he could of used people or events to represent the different hidden ideas. Furthermore, the flowers were a key element in this play because it adds a deeper level of understanding and meaning that would be lost without it. Thus, without the flowers, the message wouldn't be communicated as effectively.