Attempting to seek freedom from the shackles of Athenian society, reflecting among the segregation lifestyle a woman carries in Athens leads to Hermia’s decision to run away with Lysander in the search for sealing their love on Mayday;backlashes against her will as a result of puck’s confusion to Oberon's orders towards the use of the flower of love. Puck’s mistake reflects greatly on the actions of the protagonist showing their deception of reality versus illusion as they scavenge through the forest learning reality while waking up to what feels like an illusion.
Written in the ages of controlment and high standards towards women, exemplified in William Shakespeare's comedic playwright, A midsummer night’s dream, brings to life the frustration
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Does Lysander love me anymore? In an attempt to escape Hermia’s duties as a daughter and a woman, Lysander composes the idea of running away into the forest where his aunt lives while being unaware of the effects it may have on his relationship with Hermia as well as their trust for one another. Living so close to the forest allows not only Hermia and Lysander to escape from their problems but as well as the Athenian people looking to commit a crime or freely express themselves. In the Discussion of Egeus marriage arrangement, Lysander gives Hermia immense confidence for a marriage in the forest assuring her “I could marry you there, gentle Hermia, where the strict laws of Athens can’t touch us.”(I.i.ll 160-1) referring to the strict laws of Athens shows the tremendous lack of freedom towards the citizens of Athens especially women forced into marriage. Agreeing with this plan causes a ray of happiness towards Hermia allowing her to share the secret with her lifelong friend Helena soon revealing her plans to Demetrius, her true love, overflowing him with determination to find Hermia before marrying Lysander. As the four lovers scavage through the forest on the hunt for their cravings disaster strikes as a fairy servant is sent to withdraw the love for Hermia from Demetrius into Helena causing a catastrophic change of fate among Lysander and Hermia. As Lysander walks up with the essence of the flower of love on his eyelids to the presence of Helena in front of him, shapes true love into an illusion. The confrontation of disbelief from Hermia assures she feels “Can you hurt me any more than by saying you hate me? Hate me? Why? What’s happened to you, my love? Am I not Hermia? Aren’t you Lysander?...you still loved me when we fell asleep, but when you woke up you left
In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare makes heavy use of hyperbole, the twisting of reality into something greater than what it actually is, in both the dialogue and the ridiculous, larger-than-life nature of the situations that occur to provide a basis for the conflict between reality and illusion, blurring the line that separates the two concepts.
A flower was struck by the arrow of cupid. Consequently, a love flower was born; the nectar of this flower when applied to someone’s eyes will make them fall in love with the next living thing they see. Oberon orders Robin to apply the nectar to Demetrius’ eyes because he notices how mean he is to Helena. Unfortunately, Robin anoints the eyes of Lysander instead. When Lysander awakes, the first person he sees is Helena. Lysander claims to Helena,”Content with Hermia? No, I do repent The tedious minutes I with her have spent”(1.1.118,119). The love flower makes Lysander fall in love with Helena. The flower is a major challenge for the couple because Lysander is suddenly madly in love with Helena. Lysander and Hermia left Athens to escape the law together. Unfortunately, Lysander despises Hermia. When Hermia awakes, she does not see Lysander and begins to worry. Hermia sobs to Demetrius, “If thou hast slain Lysander in his sleep, Being o’er shoes in blood, plunge in the deep And kill me too”(1.1.49-51). Lysander is chasing Helena whom he loves because of the flower. Helena thinks Lysander is playing a practical joke. Meanwhile, Hermia believes that Demetrius kills Lysander. The quote demonstrates how much Hermia loves Lysander because it shows she would rather die than be without Lysander. The flower creates a huge complexity in Lysander and Hermia’s relationship by splitting them up and making Lysander love another
Hermia and Lysander are one couple who unquestionably love each other, their irrational behaviour leads to conflict and tension, which then entertains the audience. Hermia and Lysander’s love is oppressed by both Egeus and the strict Athenian law, Hermia’s father Egeus comments, ‘As she is mine I may dispose of her’. Egeus’s demeaning attitude towards his daughter (and who she loves) demonstrates the strict Athenian law, and suggests how daughters were meant to listen to their fathers and other men. Lysander however, is not worried by Hermia’s father’s obvious dislike towards him, he believes that love ‘never did run smooth’, and decides to elope into the forest with Hermia.This spontaneous decision reinforces the idea that love makes people
Exerting the type of power that is influenced by malicious intentions can cause one to make decisions that are not beneficial to others. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is written within a time period and setting that favors men instead of woman. In other words, men have all the authority to control the events that occur in their own lives as well as the lives of others whom are considered insignificant. The plot displays the catalysts that ignite many characters’ desire for control that is misused by higher status people. Shakespeare’s use of characterization demonstrates how the wanting of control causes the characters to act irrationally through the misuse of power. Shakespeare’s use of setting, plot and characterization causes the ordeals
One might say that Shakespeare’s play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a timeless piece of literature. Despite being written 400 years ago, the themes and situations are still relevant to young people today. With cheating happening in ⅓ of relationships and 41% of marriages ending in divorce, it is obvious that relationship issues are still very prevalent today. Most young adults and teens can admit that they face some of the same struggles as Hermia, Helena, Lysander, and Demetrius.
They may have free will at first, but once they fall, they have no control anymore. Hermia understands the aforementioned concept well; she admits it when she says “I know not by what power I am made bold,” (I. i. 61) when she defies her father’s command to marry Demetrius. Hermia has another experience with the loss of free will when Lysander falls for Helena because someone else meddles with his adoration. Her love for Lysander causes her to feel confusion and hurt, while Lysander’s love for Helena causes him to abandon all reason and thought for Hermia’s feelings to chase Helena. Earlier in the book, Hermia and Lysander feel the pull of teenage rebellion together as their love for each other pulls Hermia away from her father. Lysander suggests, “If thou lovest me then, steal forth thy father’s house tomorrow night,” (I. i. 165-166). Together, the two lovers plot to run away together, something Hermia would never do if not for Lysander’s
In the city of Athens the strict laws forbid Hermia and Lysander from happily marrying each other. For this, they conclude that the only way that they can be truly happy together is if they run away with each other to the rule free forest. Lysander and Hermia believe that the forest will offer them an escape from their dictated lives in the city.
There are many different themes in The Midsummer Night’s Dream. The main theme or the most important is deception. Deception occurs to many actors in the book. The top three groups that deception has occurred to are, the first group Bottom, Titania, and Oberon. The second group is Lysander and Hermia deceiving the kingdom. The last group is the Actors. Deception is the action of deceiving someone.
So we grow together, Like to a double cherry" (III.II. 201, 210-211). But, the interference of love and men, results in betrayal. When Hermia and Lysander conspire to flee Athen’s they tell Helena about their plan, Helena, ignorant of her long-lasting friendship with Hermia, tells Demetrius of their plan, “I will go tell him of fair Hermia’s flight./Then to the wood will he tomorrow night/ Pursue her. And for this intelligence/ If I have thanks, it is a dear expense.”
“Beware of your stereotypes and prejudices, they can trap you in a box and make you miss what life has to offer you”─Med Yones. One has to see past the stereotypes in life, just as one should do for A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare. This literature masterpiece entails a quarrel of a pair of lovers caught entangled in a treacherous web of tainted love and magic. This comedy, viewed through the archetypal literary criticism lens─which focuses on the stereotypical aspects─, makes the audience wonder and push beyond the boundaries of the stereotypes with the tale. Combined with its other elements, A Midsummer Night's Dream is more entertaining and meaningful when viewed through the archetypal literary criticism lens; such as in Act 1: scene 1; Act 3: scene 2; and Act 5: scene 1 in both the printed text and the 1999 film versions.
In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the true love between Hermia and Lysander is unstable because of many obstacles. The very first obstacle
In William Shakespeare’s book, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, magic is a powerful and useful tool for the characters that have the capability to use it. Some of the characters abuse the power of magic, while others are more responsible in how they use it. Oberon is one the characters that abuses the power of magic. Oberon’s magic has an immense impact on the plot of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. More specifically, Oberon’s magic affects his own life, the lives of other characters, and all the characters in the story experience his magic differently. We will see that even the person who has power to use the magic can become surprised by it. Magic, the ultimate supernatural power, is often unpredictable and inexplicable.
Above all the tensions created by the discussion of marriage, Lysander deliver a quotes to his love Hermia. “The course of true love never did run smooth…” (Act 1, Scene 1, line 134) is a famous quote by Lysander. In the quote he conveys to readers that love is not perfect, it also has its ups and downs and that he and Hermia are going through a tough situation. Hermia and Lysander both love each other and have made a plan to meet in a forest and then escape Athens however the problem arises when Hermia has tells Helena this and she plans to tell Demetrius about this so that he will love her and not Hermia. The King of fairies− Oberon hears all this and decides to settle the dispute between all of them. He instructs his assistant Robin Goodfellow to search for Demetrius and put the love juice on his eyelids so that he is compelled to love Helena, he informs him about the dressing style of Demetrius in "thou shalt know the man by the Athenian garments he hath on" (Act 2, Scene 1, line 263-264). However there is a problem, in the forest there are two Athenian men dressed in Athenian garments and their identities were mistaken; instead of putting the love juice on Demetrius's eyelids Robin Goodfellow put it on Lysander's eyelids. Now Lysander "loves" Helena and wants to get away from Hermia. After discovering Robin Goodfellow's mistake, Oberon tries to correct this mistake by putting the same love juice in Demetrius's so that he loves Helena eyes however
Lysander and Hermia also portray true love. Refusing to marry her suitor, Demetrius, she willingly gives up everything and runs away from Athens with her lover, Lysander, “There my Lysander and I shall meet, and thence from Athens turn away our eyes.” In the play within the play, Pyramus and Thisbe also present us with true love. Their situation
As the play begins to unfold love is immediately illustrated to be the main theme of the play; starting with a wedding and leading up to tears shed by miserable lovers.Although it is an extremely rewarding, love is never an easy adventure. Lovers must be prepared to protect and fight for one another against everyone and anyone. In Hermia’s tragic situation her enemy was her father. Egeus passionately voices his disapproval by taking his daughter to Theseus and stating, “ full of vexation come I with complaint Against my child, my daughter Hermia.—Stand forth, Demetrius.—My noble lord,This man hath my consent to marry her.—Stand forth, Lysander.—And my gracious duke,This man hath bewitched the bosom of my child” (1.1. 22-27). When love is at last passionately felt amongst both lovers, it encounters a malevolent invincible demon; parental disapproval. Hermia and Lysander’s love is cursed and forbidden by her father’s