Visions of Love Love comes in many different forms. Shakespeare has a way of making his audience feel many forms of this through watching or reading his plays. Shakespeare has a way of subtly adding different types of viewpoints of love between his characters. The three that I believe are the most prominent portrayals of love in the play “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” are forced love, romantic love, and familiar love. Individuals have their own vision of what love is and much of it is driven by what we are feeling. Forced love is common in Shakespearean plays (Charney 2001). Throughout history, it is common to find stories of forced love. Among certain cultures it is still common today. Thousands of marriages were documented in recent years …show more content…
He sees Helena and Demetrius in the woods and does what he feels will help Helena. He sees the passion behind Helena and her love. Helena feels romantic love for Demetrius, even though those feelings are not reciprocated. “Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, and therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.” (Shakespeare, 1959). This quote describes the feelings of love being of the mind and soul. She states that cupid is blind because there is a feeling that you do not get to choose who you fall in love with. Helena loves Demetrius and does not care that he does not feel the same. She longs for him and will do what it takes to win his love in return. Even if it means betraying her friendship to Hermia. Hermia and Lysander feel romantic love for one another as well. They feel a passionate enough about their love that they will betray her father and run away for it. Romantic love can make you do crazy …show more content…
Sometimes it changes with different perspectives. Oberon changed his perspective when he saw things did not work out the way he had planned. Theseus changed his perspective when he found that Helena and Demetrius were in love and there was no need to kill Hermia. Love can be tragic, obsessive, and manipulative. Love can also be romantic, passionate, and unconditional. Shakespeare knows how to bring all forms of love for us to see. He creates new perspectives and creates a connection and a feeling of understanding for the characters and what they are feeling. Good or bad love, it is better to feel love than nothing at
Demetrius says this because he is in the same condition he was during the night. His feeling of love towards Helena is being described as the feeling of a dream, for love is something momentary. From common knowledge, we know that love fades or changes overtime and this relates to how Demetrius feels. His feeling of love he is going through is only bound to fade at some point, if the love potion does not completely override him. The strong emotion of love for a person can also disappear in an instant.
When Helena and Demetrius were together, she was perfectly content and satisfied with herself. She knew of her magnificent beauty and high potential. Unfortunately, when Demetrius strayed from her, her self-confidence dropped several notches, and she no longer thinks of herself as desirable nor beautiful. Then, after Puck anoints Demetrius’ eyes with the love potion, he falls back in love with Helena. However, she thinks he is mocking her, and in her eyes, it is a very repulsive deed. Love’s misfortunes consequently vanquish all of Helena’s self-confidence and prompt her judgement to become
Lysander can be seen as a victim of love, though the fact that he is forced to love Helena, because of the flower juice placed in his eyes, even though he loves Hermia. One example of this can be seen through the line “And run through fire I will for thy sweet sake. Transparent Helena! Nature shows, art, That through thy bosom makes me see thy heart.” (Shakespeare 2.2 103-105) This line is from when he is first affected by the love potion, and it makes
Staying true to one's love is so very important when one believes in their true love with every fibre of their being. Hermia and Lysander are so in love that nothing else seems to matter. They want to be together at all costs and they will not let anything get in their way, this is true especially for
Lysander is one of the main characters who are in love with Hermia, but her father –Egeus-
Hermia’s love for Lysander can be seen as genuine as she states ‘I would my father looked but with my eyes’ which means she wishes her father could see Lysander the way she does. This suggests that she is not under his spell as she truly sees him with her own eyes, and loves him. The audience also sees that she is very passionate about Lysander, as she chooses to ‘yield my virgin patent up’ and live the life of a nun or die rather than ‘wed Demetrius’. We also see the love between Lysander and Hermia is genuine later in Act 1 Scene 1 when ‘Exeunt all but Lysander and Hermia’, as it appears that Lysander is finishing Hermia’s sentences, indicating they are very familiar with each other, and he is comforting her lovingly. Lysander also states ‘true love never did run smooth’ which suggests they truly believe what they feel is true love. Another technique used by Shakespeare to emphasise their love is vivid imagery. Hermia’s speech declaring that she would meet Lysander in ‘the wood’ is filled with imagery suggesting love and passion, such as ‘by Cupid’s strongest bow’ and her reference to the Greek Goddess Venus: ‘By the simplicity of Venus’ doves’, emphasises her passion for Lysander.
Helena and Hermia have this kind of love and would do anything for each other. It happens that Helena is in love with Demetrius who Hermia is being forced to marry. Demetrius does not want Helena but Hermia. Helena loves her friend Hermia but at the same time wants to get her man.
Demetrius delivers this line in the forest after Helena has provided him with the information concerning Hermia and Lysander's plans to elope. Since Demetrius has taken what he wants from her and tells her to leave him alone. This shows that love can possess a cruel and abusive nature.
However, their inseparable bond had a flaw. When Lysander broke Hermia’s heart and showed no interest in her anymore, it had a huge impact on the feelings of Hermia. She was filled with grief, sorrow and regret.
It is possible to love one person deeply, but then fall in love with an entirely different person. This occurs in several instances in the play. Lysander, although under the influence of the love potion, strangely develops a hatred for Hermia, leaving her dumbfounded. He spontaneously develops feelings for Helena, and tells Hermia, “Content with Hermia? No!
Additionally, Shakespeare uses Helena’s generality to depict how common her emotions are: to be jealous and seek the affections of another. After the final placement of the love potion, the lovers’ relationships are in their final form, and entirely similar. When Demetrius shares his sentiment that his love of Hermia “seems to [him] now / as the remembrance of an idle gaud” (4.1) he essentially reiterates how he used to feel about Helena, except with a new subject. What was once so important becomes now irrelevant after he finds a new love. Shakespeare employs Demetrius to show the cyclical nature of relationships.
The love for Helena appeared out of nowhere. He did not develop the passion for her, it happened in one day. True love needs true passion, not passion from a potion. Love is not something that is material; it is felt from the heart, not a potion. Demetrius’ and Helena’s love is forged
In 'Romeo and Juliet', Shakespeare portrays different aspects and types of love in many ways. The obvious love is the fateful love between Romeo and Juliet although the play also displays platonic love, maternal love and aspects of adolescent love.
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
Her reality of love is questioned because there is no significant reasoning to why she loves Demetrius. So, her love is viewed as pure lust. The more she tries to chase Demetrius, the more he will distance himself from her--their love is based on just honest disinterest. Also, she is a fixed character of gender reversal by pursuing love more aggressively than a woman in her era is suppose to because they are meant to be chased, not be the chasers: “We cannot fight for love as men may do:/ We should be wooed, and were not meant to woo”(2.1.241-242). When Helena talks about the difficultness of fighting for love between men and women, she explains that women are not “meant to” have the power or strength to continously to fight for love like men because that chase should be the men’s role. Helena’s perspective can be illustrated as her love not having the same worth as if Demetrious were to chase her. Also, it shows Helena as a paradox of the non-tradition of chasing men but needing the tradition to design the worth of love. Likewise, Helena is persistent in chasing Demetrious until he loves her back. Her perspective of love is viewed as being childish, blinded by love. She attempts to seduce him in multiple occasions but he continously dismisses her and Helena uses comical language to tell him that she will never give up on him: “I am your spaniel, and, Demetrius/ The more you beat me I will fawn on you”(2.1.203-204). Shakespeare explores the subjectivity of the character’s different views of reality when it comes to understanding