In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare shows how magic influences not only the thoughts but also the actions of the characters of this play. Every time magic was used, there were consequences; hence, magic is the main theme of the of the play.
Magic has been perpetually perceived as negative, some might even say evil, but in the plays of Shakespeare, magic is more whimsical in nature and generates an almost playful setting. Moreover, the kind of magic in this play should not be perceived as threatening, but situations that caused comical situations which were later resolved by magic. Shakespeare believed that when magic meets reason, it can make for a rather amusing play.
The setting of this play is essentially based in a playful forest
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Puck with his misguided actions made Lysander fall in love with Helena and this is what she has always wanted but was in so much disbelief that she rejected the advances from him. On the inside, she must have been confused and a little smitten with the fact that not only Lysander but also Demetrius both wanted her at the same time, so much so that she did not believe the at all. Nevertheless, Puck brought happiness to Helena and no one was hurt in the process, well maybe Helena was a little insulted, but she ended up with the man of her dreams in the end. It was self-evident by his actions that Puck never meant to hurt anyone, he just did not take into account there being two men that dressed the same, the same as King Oberon had described. “Shakespeare’s fairies cannot resist interfering in the Athenians’ lives” (Brown, 2009). Puck seems to just cause chaos, but after telling the King of his misdoing, the Oberon dismisses him and tells him to correct the issue. The issues between the King and Queen of the fairies started to heat up over the changeling boy. The King is compelled to make him his own and the queen will not allow it. The Queen has her mind made up that the changeling will not leave her sights. “Give me that boy, and I will go with thee. Not for thy …show more content…
Egeus requests the couples return to him and have one giant wedding. With the magic taken out of the picture, Helena is in love with Demetrius and Hermia is in love with Lysander. The final part of the magic in this play is when Bottoms play, which is supposed to be a serious play, was taken as a comedy that everyone loved. After the day was over King Oberon and Queen Titania visit the castle at night and bless the marriages with magic. At this point, Puck enters and tells the audience that if anything offended them to remember ““If we shadows have offended, think but this, and all is mended: that you have but slumbered here while these visions did appear. And this weak and idle theme, no more yielding but a dream, gentles does not reprehend. If you pardon, we will mend” (5.1.440-447). Puck almost leaves it open to the people that watched or read the pay to keep in mind that this may all be a dream.
The use of magic used in the play A midsummer's night's dream was very important. It created balance in the play with the use of humor, love, and conflict. Without magic, the play would not have the same levels of mystery and comedy. In this way, magic was needed for this play to be the success as it is has been for so
After observing the senseless behavior of the Athenian lovers, Puck exclaims to Oberon, “Lord, what fools these mortals be” (III.ii.115)! This line, aimed at Lysander’s foolish behavior is meant to be humorous, but it also cleverly addresses the prominent theme of the story: that love is not under human control. Puck is clearly referring to the foolishness and exaggerated emotions of the four lovers in the play; however, Shakespeare also intends to target the audience members by emphasizing that humans in general have the tendency to do and say crazy things because of love’s powerful grasp on their emotions. Therefore, a character such as Puck, according to Robert Diyanni, “may remind us in some ways of ourselves; they may appeal to us because they differ from us” (Diyanni 1270). Although the Athenian lovers neglect to realize the extent of their ludicrous behavior, their unbalanced emotions are very noticeable to the fairies, who replace the audience’s role in this scene. Moreover, it signifies the contrast between both the human lovers, who become so entangled in a disarray of emotion, and the enchanting fairies, always playful and rascally in
As the readers read A Midsummer Night’s Dream the choice of how Puck changed the play became evident, as they read act 2. In the book it stated “Radiant beautiful Helena! I feel like Mother Nature has allowed me to see into your heart, as if by magic” (2.2.110). This means that since Puck put the flower juice on Lysander’s eyes it made him love Helena. The second piece of evidence that proves Puck is the most important
Bottom, a boy with many ridiculous opinions about acting, gets the part of Pyramus. The group agrees to rehearse in the forest outside Athens. Meanwhile, in the forest, Oberon, the king of the Fairies, is fighting with his queen, Titania, over possession of a beautiful Indian changeling boy. Oberon decides to punish his wife for refusing to obey him. He sends his servant, Robin Goodfellow, a mischievous fairy also known as Puck, to bring him the love-in-idleness flower. The magical juice from this flower causes a person,or fairy to fall in love with the first thing he or she sees. Just then, Oberon sees Helena following Demetrius through the forest and hears him threaten to abandon her. Oberon decides to make Demetrius love Helena and tells Puck to put the love juice on the eyes of the man in Athenian clothes. Oberon then sneaks up to the sleeping Titania and drops the potion on her eyes. As all this is going on, Lysander and Hermia get lost in the forest, and find a place to sleep, apart, for the night. Puck sees Lysander's Athenian clothes, and puts the love juice on his eyelids. Nearby, Demetrius finally abandons Helena. Lysander wakes, sees Helena, and falls in love. Helena thinks Lysander is mocking her with his declarations of love, and stalks off. Lysander follows. A moment later, Hermia wakes up. Shocked that Lysander would abandon
There are many instances of struggling with balance and accord between the two worlds, fairy, and mortal. Puck was told to give a love potion to Demetrius for him to fall in love with Helena, but instead messed with the lovers and their couples by giving the love potion to both Lysander and Demetrius, “ [He anoints Lysander’s eyelids with the nectar.] When thou wak’st, let love forbid Sleep his seat on thy eyelid. So, awake when I am gone, For I must now to Oberon” (2.2.85-89). Through Puck’s mistake, he has made both Demetrius and Lysander fall in love with Helena. This can be seen as a struggle of balance of power and accord as Puck is showing his superiority and show to the lovers his capabilities. There is no true agreement in this part of the play, the Athenian lovers don’t agree with what has happened to them. The love potion that Oberon and Puck use has lead to many disagreements for the couples, in this
A Midsummer Night’s Dream is recognized to be one of the most popular plays written by William Shakespeare, alongside favorites such as Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, and Macbeth. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is an outlandish comedy with profound roots within Greek mythology, granting the audience and readers of the play a greater understanding of the main characters within the work. With Greek mythology being well known during the Elizabethan period (1558–1603), various writers of the era used mythological beings to convey to their audience and readers a deeper sense of the characters and overall themes. Because of this, the way an author presented mythology in his or her writing gave the writer ‘creative slack’ to alter how the new work was received
I decided to do this part of the play because it's where everything goes wrong. Oberon asked Puck to smear the potion on Demetrius eyes so that he will fall in love with helena. But Puck spreads the magic potion over Lysander’s eyes, thinking Lysander is Demetrius. Lysander falls into love with Helena, who thinks he is toying with her. Then, Puck spreads the potion over Demetrius’ eyes, so that he, too, is in love with Helena. Helena thinks that both boys are cruelly mocking her, while Hermia is left alone and equally confused. Puck's mistake separated true lovers that is hermia and lysander. This part therefore is very significant to the play.
Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream presents an assortment of characters whose difficulties with their lover’s present itself in many situation of the play through these unique relationships. In Act 3 Puck is reporting to Oberon about Titania and Bottom when Demetrius and Hermia enter the scene Puck states “This the woman but not this the man” (3.2.44). Puck’s quote holds a simple but repeated metaphor of the play itself and its reoccurring themes on the mystery love presents. Puck’s motives throughout the play don’t ever seem to get clearer aside from knowing that he services Oberon, and makes one mistakes to shake up the entire story before choosing to cause his own mischief. Through the entire story the fairy Puck plays one of the main antagonists, even from the beginning he is responsible for a lot of problems but later solutions. Shakespeare cast Oberon and Puck as character to create a living metaphor for the mystery behind conflict and resolution experienced in relationships.
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.
However, Puck is not aware of the two Athenian men in the forest that night and unknowingly confuses Demetrius for Lysander. To solve this, Puck puts the love potion on Demetrius's eyes so both Athenian men fall for Helena. As a result, this mistake forms major conflicts between a lot of characters for several reasons. The first reason being that Helena believes that both Athenian men (with Hermia) are not sincere and playing a joke on her. The second would be that since Lysander is now pursuing Helena, Hermia no longer has a companion.
He insists that he has made a mistake in loving Hermia, but this only angers Helena and she eventually storms off. This was an interesting first interaction for audience members to see as we can see the contrast of blind love and true love in the character of Lysander. We, as an audience, watched Puck enchant Lysander and observed the transition from his true love with Hermia to his blind love with Helena. We are called to imagine the despair that Hermia must have felt upon realizing that Lysander did not love her (so he thinks) and, thus, the
In A Midsummers Night Dream, by William Shakespeare the biggest comparison you have to decipher is the difference between real life and fantasy. The role of magic is used in the play to help the mortals find love because in this play love is expressed so no mortal knows how strong love's effects has on someone. Love goes past the comprehension of a human being and that is where fantasy comes into play with the fairies. They are here to show how magic and love become one thing.
Puck is one character in a Midsummer Night’s Dream that makes a difference. Puck makes a big difference as he separates the fairy monarch, he weakens the relationship between the Athenian lovers and he causes chaos to the workers. In the play Puck retrieves a flower for Oberon. The liquid inside this flower makes people fall in love with the first person they see. As a result of Puck doing this he made a difference as Oberon used that flower to make the fairy queen Titania fall in love with Nick Bottom. Puck also used the love flower’s juices on Lysander instead of Demetrius. This split all the Athenian lovers apart as Lysander fell in love with Helena. This shows that an individual can make a difference as Puck weakens the relationship of the Athenian lovers. Puck also causes chaos to the workers as he changes Nick Bottom into a donkey which scared the rest of the workers. This again shows an individual can make a difference as Puck makes a difference to the group of
The magic potion causes conflict by influencing Demetrius and Lysander to fall in love with Helena when they previously loved Hermia. The comedic aspect of the play is shown when Titania falls in love with Bottom because of magic. Finally, the thematic idea that love is blind is reinforced by how the magic potion is applied to the victim’s eyes. In all great works of literature, magic has some contribution that not only enhances the story but makes it an inspiring and memorable
Plays, shorts stories and other works of literature of that time were full of the out of this world wonder of magic and sorcery. A few of the best compositions to be brought out of the Renaissance integrated magic into its wording, such as plays by Shakespeare, Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Tempest. Shakespeare's a Midsummer Night's Dream was inspired by his interest in Renaissance magic. The play's plot is centralized around the mystical world of fairies and the result when they use magic disorder the usual control of things. It made apparent that the use of magic in the play Midsummer Night’s Dream is especially important, without it there would hardly be a show. Shakespeare as a Renaissance writer had the motivation from magic as his final play The Tempest was modeled on John Dee. In Shakespeare’s work, he demonstrated two sides of magic: the first being that magic can easily cause chaos, and subsequently magic can fix things. Shakespeare’s writing about magic as an object of positive and humorous was unusual for the Renaissance era, unlike common displayed of fear and
This is when Lysander and Hermia are going through the woods to get to his aunts. And Helena decided to tell Demetrius that they were eloping, so they were also in the woods looking for them. When Demetrius and Helena were together in the woods Oberon noticed that Demetrius was being very rude to Helena. He was saying that he does not love her and never will. So when puck returned with the love potion Oberon told Puck to give Demetrius the love potion so that when he wakes he will be madly in love with Helena. But Puck cause a lot of problems and he accidently gave the potion to Lysander instead. So when Lysander woke up the first person he saw was Helena, which made him love her instantly. And this cause even more problems. Helena and Hermia ended up fighting. Helena didn’t want to fight with her, and she tried to get the guys to help her. “I pray you, though you mock me, gentlemen, Let her not hurt me: I was never