In William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, love is an evident factor throughout the play. The play starts with Lysander’s forbidden love with Hermia, to Demetrius’s undesirable love for Helena, and ends with the tragic love between Pyramus and Thisby. Shakespeare uses these different love situations to show love is complicated.
One of the hardest ordeals between lovers is being forbidden to be together. This is true for Hermia and Lysander. Hermia’s father does not approve of Lysander and forces Hermia to marry Demetrius or die. Lysander sums up the difficulty of love when he says, “The course of true love never did run smooth” (Midsummer 1.1.134). At this point in the play Lysander is reassuring Hermia by telling her lovers face obstacles. They plan to escape the grim future of separation, but encounter more problems on the way when they get lost and put under the influence of a flower’s magical juice. Most lovers today face obstacles such as distance, financial problems, and death of a relative. Although trust seems a more likely obstacle in a relationship, Helena shows that no love in return is an obstacle in itself.
The best way to describe Demetrius’s love for Helena is undesirable. No matter how hard Helena wants Demetrius to love her and show her attention he disregards her. Tricked by Demetrius’s once fondled love, Hermia cannot get over the fact he no longer loves her. Demetrius shows his feelings for Helena when he says, “Tempt not too much the hatred of my spirit, for I am sick, when I do look on you” (Midsummer 2.1.212). Despite the fact Demetrius treats Helena like a dog she considers herself worthy to be treated so. She even goes as far to say, “I am your spaniel: and Demetrius the more you beat me, I will fawn on you” (2.1.204). Hermia’s remark makes me think of those who are abused. Although they are abused they continue to stay because they are in love and would rather be treated like dirt than nothing at all. Hermia faces the hardship of loving Demetrius and tries her best to please him, but does not receive anything in return. Although all of the lovers face many obstacles, they are matched perfectly to the one they truly loved, but Shakespeare includes a comedy of Pyramus and Thisby to show not all true love ends happily ever after.
In the play of Pyramus and Thisby we once again see a struggle between lovers. Like Hermia and Lysander these characters are separated by something that prevents them from being together and they face obstacles as they go to meet each other. Fooled by a bloody garment Pyramus kills himself and Thisby seeing her true love dead kills herself also. Death, a hindrance in their plan, drove the lovers to suicide. To me losing the one I love would be the most difficult obstacle to face. The fact they meet at a place called “Ninny’s tomb” (Midsummer 5.1.199) is symbolic of the foolish love that puts them both in the grave. Shakespeare may have included this short romantic play in the end to show: the greatest complication in love is death and not all love stories end happily.
Unlike most fairy tales, A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare shows the reality of true love. True love is not easy and many obstacles are faced along the way.
Works Cited
Shakespeare, William. No Fear Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night’s Dream. 1595. New York:
Sparknotes, 2003. Print.
No comments:
Post a Comment