In Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream love blooms in Athens. Lysander and Hermia are truly in love, but kept apart by Egeus, Hermia's father. She is told she has to marry Demetrius or die. Demetrius more than likely doesn't love Hermia like Lysander, but he wants her because she is Lysanders'. Demetrius is already loved by Helena, but treats her cruelly although she is almost as fair as Hermia. Why does Demetrius want Hermia when he already has a beautiful girl? It is common nature for any person to want what they can't have.
Many people can relate to coveting things they do not have. People always strive for better or unobtainable things such as cars or in this case women. For example, two children may receive happy meals with two different toys. One child is more than likely going to want the other child's toy. The child might even pretend to hate his toy although he truly knows he likes it anyways. This example may be simple even silly, but most of the time it's the small things we desire.
After waking from a crazy night, Helena and Demetrius are in love and marry. And the child in the example is more than likely going to forget the other toy and be satisfied with his own. In the end most people realize the thing they wanted the most was in front of them the whole time.
I look this prespective on this. I never thought about the fact that Demetrius wanted what he couldn't have and how you stated that most people are like this because that is very true. Most people don't look at the fact that they have that "special" person standing right infront of them, they are always looking for the next best thing. It's kind of sad that Helena had to take so much pain and rudeness from Demetrius before he fell in love with her. He was really a jerk and didn't deserve that undying love that Helena was trying to give to him. I think that the child example was a excellent example to portray this because most children always want more even if they have a toy of their own and know they aren't even going to play with the other toy.
ReplyDeleteI think that it is so true about people wanting what they cant have. I see it happen all the time and sometimes i even do it myself. Sometimes I look at what other's have and say to myself "why cant i have that ipod?" or "why am I not smart like her?" I then realize though that I really don't need an ipod because I already have an mp3 but its just not as pretty as pretty and expensive as an ipod. I also realize that it is not a matter of beeing smart but really it is a matter of trying your best. If I try my best on things I can also be smart. So, my point is that its not good to be jealous of others because you only hurt yourself. You have to be happy with what you have or just try hard for what you want to have. In this case Demetrius only wanted Hermia because Lysander had her and it made him jealous. He should have just been happy with Helena because in the end he really did like her, he only followed Hermia because of pure jealousy.
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