John Lupario Professor Teresa Nugent ENGL-3000, MW 12:00 PM Sunday, February 26th, 2017 A Midsummer Night’s Dream & The Merchant of Venice While A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Merchant of Venice have extremely different plots and storylines, there are some similarities that we can point to. In both plays, characters grapple with how to prioritize their friendships and their marriage relationships. One common theme that we can point to is the dominance of women by males. That being said, characters reacted very differently when the demands of the relationships come into conflict. When analyzing the two plays, it is crucial to take into consideration the culture of the era in which the plays were written. Shakespeare lived during the Elizabethan …show more content…
William Shakespeare invites the audience to observe the way in which love can be portrayed, forced, and ambiguous. The play occurs in a magical forest and it follows the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. However, the play also follows the square of four young lovers, Demetrius, Lysander, Hermia and Helena. The women in the play, Hippolyta, Hermia and Helena are portrayed in a negative light and they are interpreted as dependent to Theseus, Demetrius, and Lysander. The play opens to Theseus (The Duke of Athens) and Hippolyta discussing their upcoming wedding. “Now, fair Hippolyta, our nuptial hour draws on apace. Four happy days bring in another moon; but, oh, methinks, how slow this old moon wanes…Hippolyta, I wooed thee with my sword and won thy love doing thee injuries” (1.1.1-4…17-18). As The Duke of Athens, and the most powerful character in the play, Theseus fits the role of a dominant male. This could have been Shakespeare’s attempt to appeal to a male audience as the social norms included a dominance of female characters. Theseus and Hippolyta are merely engaged because Theseus conquered the Amazon, which further supports the argument of male dominance. That being said, Hippolyta seems to be happy being engaged to Theseus, even though she is actually portrayed as a powerful woman. At this point in the play, Theseus and Hippolyta are very happy with one another and their characters have the luxury of not having to balance friendships with their marriage relationship, due to their social
Love is anonymous. It is superior to everything that matters. Love is a test, that sometimes can be failed, or sometimes can be worth those one- hundred points. Love is messy, and unorganized, it spills over the edges of everyones life. When love is controlled, it is complicated to figure out how to deal with it. It can have a good or bad ending. Confusion can occur when the love is tampered with. It can be saved with re-uniting of the love, and then living a happy ending. Many love connections are effected somehow either that person doing it to themselves, or someone else who mixes the love relationships up . Confusion within the love can cause misconception and turn into a disaster amongst each other. In Midsummer Nights Dream by
William Shakespeare made all of the characters interact their lives to be based on each other. At first everything was confusing, and the characters were faced with many different problems. In the end, however they were still able to persevere and win their true love, the love they were searching for in the first place. Theseus is the Athenian duke and, plans to marry the Amazonian Queen Hippolyta four days after the opening of the play. Theseus seems to represent a rather unpleasant model of forced love.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream takes place in Athens where the the Duke Theseus and the Queen of the Amazons Hippolyta are set to get married. Following this we see the fruition of two more plots of love, Helena, Lysander, Demetrius, and Hermia and the king and queen of the fairies Oberon and Titania. The plot I am going to focus on will be that of the four lovers, the complication and the conflict that they’re love causes. The conflict begins when “Take time to pause, and by the next new moon—the sealing day betwixt my love and me
He needs her too, so he wins the boy for himself to make her feel inferior. In other words, Titania gave up something that she loved to make her husband happy. This is seen in everyday life, women give up their wants to make their men happy. Titania's sacrifice for Oberon cost her to lose both her Indian boy and his mother, her women lover. When men don't make women happy, they turn to their friends for what they need, whatever it may be. (Scott 370-373) Male domination not only exists between husband and wife, but also between father and daughter. Theseus will not allow Hermia to marry Lysander. Theseus wants her to marry Demetrius. Egeus, a ruler, will force Hermia to become a nun unless she marries Demetrius. In retaliation to his demands, Lysander and Hermia run away together. Hermia is scolded by Egeus for being in love with the man she chooses. This suggests that men cause women to feel forced and obligated to do as they say. (Scott 373) Another example of male domination is the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. Theseus' first wife was frail and yielding, and he divorced her. Hippolyta has been a warrior, and Theseus' victory over her makes her unable to resist. By conquering the female warrior and marrying her, he fulfills his need for the exclusive love of a woman while satisfying his homoerotic desires. Close bonding fulfills this homoerotic desire with a male companion, such as Demetrius and
In William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, there are endless images of water and the moon. Both images lend themselves to a feeling of femininity and calm. In classical mythology, the image of water is often linked with Aphrodite, goddess of passion and love. Born of the foam of the sea, Aphrodite was revered as an unfaithful wife to her husband Hephaestus (Grant 36). This may have a direct coloration to the unfaithful nature of the four lovers, Hermia, Helena, Lysander, and Demetrius, while in the woods. Perhaps more important, however, is Aphrodite’s link to the other Olympian maiden goddesses. As Aphrodite was attributed with love and beauty, Athena was the protector of
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.
Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice is so alike to our financially afflicted world. The rules of law and commerce are subject to deceptive manipulation, fear of "the other" overwhelms respect for a common humanity, duplicity is the norm, sexuality is a vehicle for ambition, and money drives and wraps almost every action. It is a classic tale that includes important details of the financial crisis in the United States during 2007-2009. Shakespeare’s Venice, like the New York of his time - and the financial capitals of ours - is a city based on borrowing, on market speculation and greed masquerading as wealth and sophistication. Behind the curtains of the practice of lending and borrowing money in Shakespeare’s play lay the transition to capitalism: the rise of banking system; the scarcity for credit in developing industrial enterprises; and the growing dispute of default facing both aristocratic landlords and, above all, small, independent early entrepreneurs on trading ventures. Even though almost 600 years apart from each other, both Shakespeare’s tale and the financial crisis in the United States during 2007-2009 have a similar financial dilemma, each has its unique Shylock, Bassanio and Antonio- people who were responsible for causing the meltdown of their days.
Hippolyta's lines in this play are of moderately inconsequential amount and worth when contrasted with Theseus's. For instance, in the first Act, Hippolyta just solaces Theseus by saying that 'Four days will quickly steep themselves in night; Four nights will quickly dream away the time' (I.i.7-8) and they will have the wedding service soon. Furthermore, Theseus appears to be the one settling on the choices with respect to everything, extending from their marriage to Hermia's marriage. This is critical as it demonstrates that Hippolyta is submissive to Theseus as she has little say in these state occasions in spite of being seated by Theseus as Queen of the Amazons. Moreover, Hippolyta's quiet could indicate how she is miserable about being
In the comedy, The Merchant of Venice, the roles and responsibilities of women is a significant social issue proposed by Shakespeare. This theme is communicated by the only three female characters in the play: Nerissa, Portia and Jessica. For example, in Act 4 during the trial between Antonio and Shylock, Portia and Nerissa disguise themselves as Balthasar and Bellario to free their friend. However, Jessica also plays a minor role in portraying the independence of Jewish women in a Christian and Elizabethan society, by successfully betraying her father, Shylock. These characters portray Shakespeare’s overall opinion on women, as well as a modern audience’s view on Elizabethan society in many significant ways by accentuating themes, ideas
The relationship between Theseus and Hippolyta represents ideal, mature love, and contrasts with the other lovers’ relationships with in the play. Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazon, is engaged to Theseus, Athenian duke. Occasionally, they disagree about certain issues, but due to their mature personalities, they are able to confront and resolve their problems. They understand the terms of their relationship, and they know where they stand. Hippolyta is the former leader of the Amazons- a tribe of fierce warrior women whose only connection with men came when it was time to kill or time breed. She is therefore unmoved by Theseus “wooing” her. Their relationship matures throughout the course of the play. At the end of Act 4, as the sun rises,
Throughout history literature has changed into many different forms and styles, it has also stayed the same in many different ways, literary techniques and elements are key to a good piece of writing, a perfect example that shows us just this is in, A Midsummer Nights Dream, where we will further explore the different literary elements that were used most notably the plot. The plot of a story lays out the foundation and the background for the entire play to come, we'll compare and contrast this element and look at the different sub elements which are produced. We will define similarities and difference in these elements form both the play o the film. Taking a look at things such as climax, play incidents, and the conflict will all give us
The Merchant of Venus, is a play written by William Shakespeare and is a majority of the time remembered for its scene with Shylock and Antonio. As intricate as the play wove itself, the word that seemed to occur a majority of the time “bonds”, had multiple meanings occurring throughout the play. Oxford English Dictionary (OED) tells us that Bonds can mean the bondage of a marriage, the ways of which a thing is bound or tied down, agreement or engagement binding to him of which who makes it, and a deed, by which binds himself, his heirs, executors, or assigns to pay a certain sum of money. In this play, we see a strong connection between bonds and goods reoccurring from start to finish. The term “bond”, is
The story of A Midsummer Night's Dream was mainly about love and its abnormal dealings. In the play, Shakespeare tried to show that love is unpredictable, unreasonable, and at times is blind. The theme of love was constantly used during the play and basically everything that was said and done was related to the concept of love and its unpredictable ness. Shakespeare made all of the characters interact their lives to be based on each other’s. At first, everything was very confusing, and the characters were faced with many different problems. In the end, however, they were still able to persevere and win their true love, the love they were searching for in the first place.
The Merchant Of Venice is structured partly on the contrast between idealistic and realistic opinions about society and relationships. The play tells us mercy is preferable to revenge. Shylock chose revenge over mercy against Antonio and how his choices affected him. The Court of Venice begging mercy of Shylock. Finally, Portia forgiving Bassanio for giving away his wedding band.
William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice is a perplexing story of dark humor, race, religion, identity, love, and justice. Generally, most people understand The Merchant of Venice as a comedy about a bitter and outcasted Jewish moneylender named Shylock who seeks revenge against a Christian merchant who has failed to pay his loan back. However, there are many different perspectives on whether The Merchant of Venice is a comedy or a tragedy depending on one’s views on the difference between race and religion. If one views the story as a comedy, it is a dark comedy full of many problems, especially the controversial subject matter of anti-Semitic attitudes of its Christian characters. If one views it as a tragedy, it is a tragedy that concludes with majority of its characters in a “happy ending”—that is if one agrees that Jessica’s decision of love over betraying her father and giving up her Jewish identity is indeed a happy ending.