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Similarities Between Romeo And Juliet And A Midsummer Night's Dream

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A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare was written in either 1595 or 1596, Romeo and Juliet was written a bit earlier but also published around 1595. In Romeo and Juliet, two star-crossed lovers are torn apart by the prejudice of a family feud. At the end of the tragedy, the suicides of these two lovers mends the age old hatred between their parents. In A Midsummer NIght’s Dream, a comedy, a forbidden love obstructs a father’s marriage plans for his daughter. His daughter and her true lover make plans to run away, which are hindered by their friends, who have equally passionate but conflicting loves, as well fairies who play tricks on their hearts. Meanwhile, the Queen of Fairies, Titania, is made a fool by her husband and his servant, …show more content…

In the beginning of Romeo and Juliet, it appears Romeo’s love for Rosaline must be definite and well-grounded, he strikes one as being amorous and determined, perhaps even stubborn. Then it is revealed that as well as being ornery, Romeo is also fickle, because his feelings change in the second he meets Juliet. This characteristic, indecisiveness, is also a trait of Demetrius’ in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The background for the play is that Demetrius was in love with Helena, in fact they were engaged, but after meeting Hermia, he became enchanted with her and began to detest Helena. Helena explains this in a monologue when she says, “For ere Demetrius looked on Hermia’s eyne, He hailed down oaths that he was only mine; And when this hail some heat from Hermia felt, So he dissolved, and show’rs of oaths did melt.” (1.1.248-251) This quote explains that Demetrius too had of change of heart once he saw someone new. However, while Romeo and Demetrius may have had similar struggles, there are other characters in A Midsummer NIght’s Dream who fall in love against their natural will. For example, Titania, an esteemed nymph, Queen of the Fairies, is bewitched to fall in love with a lowly mortal, Bottom, whose head has been changed into that of a donkey’s. Although she falls in love with him at first sight, (the moment she opens her eyes she proclaims “What …show more content…

In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, love often appears to be a joke to many of the characters, and the characters who are seriously invested in their infatuation are comical to the audience. Bottom, a character in A Midsummer Night’s Dream whose head is transformed into that of a donkey’s, is an actor of rather indelicate comedy, yet he is able to realize the fickleness of love. He says “....to say the truth, reason and love keep little company together nowadays.” (3.1.143-144) Another character, Helena, does not appear to have a sense of humor about being in love, or at least it is not revealed to the audience for she is depressed and angry for the majority of the play. She does however seem to have some sort of twisted wisdom about love, for she says “Loves looks not with the eyes but with the mind; And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind. Nor hath Love’s mind of any judgement taste. Wings, and no eyes, figure unheedy haste.” Both characters state the same viewpoint, that love does not have any rhyme or reason, although while Bottom puts this plainly, Helena uses the metaphor of blindfolded Cupid armed with his bow and arrows to explain why feelings are not logical. On the other hand, in Romeo and Juliet, Friar Lawrence warns Romeo not of the triviality of love, but of it’s madness. He warns against

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