What Are The Difficulties In A Midsummer Night's Dream

The Rugged Path of Love Love is often credited with the many joys it brings to lovers; however, these joys are almost always accompanied by difficulties. There are abundant stories that portray the difficulties that come with love from modern day films to Shakespearean plays. Similar to plays by Shakespeare, modern day films like Titanic show how love can have many difficulties, even ones that lead to life changing decisions. Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night's Dream shows difficult in Egeus obstructing Hermia's love to Lysander, Helena chasing after Demetrius, and Oberon and Titania Fighting. In A Midsummer Night's Dream, a character even says, “The course of true love never did run smooth” (1.1.134). The difficulties that can face a
At one instance in the play Egeus is attempting to marry his Hermia to Demetrius. Demetrius has pursued Hermia’s love, but Hermia does not show the same affection back. When Egeus is attempting to convince Hermia to marry Demetrius, all of a sudden, Demetrius informs Egues that he no longer loves Hermia but now loves Helena. He proclaims:
DEMETRIUS. But, my good lord, I wot not by what power
(But by some power it is), My love to Hermia
(Melted as the snow) seems to me now
As the remembrance of an idle gaud,
Which in my childhood I did dote
At the same time Oberon is also plotting to embarrass Titania as a way to get back at her for not paying any attention to him. When Oberon lists the examples of ugly creatures that Titania might look upon when she wakes, he is directly showing the bitterness between the couple that is causing this mischief. This bitterness that causes their feud proves that difficulties do occur in love. Shakespearean critic Catherine Belsey agrees with this point, she wrote, “The king and queen of the fairies are old (or, rather, ageless) married lovers, and they are quarreling. The play does not ignore the trace of violence that exists within love when the other person fails to conform to the lover’s idealized image” (Belsey 120). This comment from Belsey confirms that Oberon and Titania show examples of difficulties in love. Belsey explains that the play includes illustrations of difficulties by having the trace of violence that is expected from married couples like Oberon and Titania. This trace of violence proves as a difficulty in the love between Oberon and Titania by displaying they do not always agree and their love can result in small feuds. In brief, the difficulties Oberon and Titania have exemplify that love has