...Midsummer Night’s Dream (MSND) is one of the masterpieces that Shakespeare has foretold. The play is a tragic comedy that hinges on a group of quarreling lovers. The lovers include Helena, Demetrius, Hermia, and Lysander. Lysander and Hermia are in love, but Hermia’s father wants Hermia to marry Demetrius, a man with strong interest in her. Helena is in love with Demetrius, but he has his eyes on Hermia, so he abuses her and puts her down. They seek council with the king of Athens to end the feud, but he gives Hermia three choices, to die, to become a nun, or to marry Demetrius. Lysander and Hermia escape into the woods and the other lovers search for them. Other groups in this play include fairies and the actors putting on a show for the...
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...In the book, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, it centers its story about a complicated love web. In the end of the story, there will be a wedding for one of the couples, where there will be a play. Throughout the story, a couple of trade’s people practice for this play. In the fairy side of the story, there is some trouble in the royal couple relationship. This story focuses on the weird occurrences that will occur in the days before the wedding. Shakespeare uses several different relationships in A Midsummer Night’s Dream to the real nature of romantic love. Two relationships in, particular, Helena and Demetrius and Titania and Bottom illustrate that love is toxic and misleading. To begin, Helena and Demetrius were a clear example of how...
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...Explore the ways writer’s present characters in difficult circumstances. What similarities and differences do you find in the ways Juliet in ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and Hermia in ‘A Midsummer night’s dream’ are presented in their battle to be with the man they love. Both plays, Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night’s dream are based upon the theme of love. Shakespeare’s explores the difficulties faced by the characters in both plays and how they struggle to be with the person they love, I will be exploring two main female characters in both plays which are Juliet in “Romeo and Juliet” and Hermia from “A Midsummer Night’s dream”. Both Women face difficult and challenging decisions throughout the plays however the plays differ on what kind of story they are “Romeo and Juliet” is a tragedy, whereas “A Midsummer Night’s dream” is a comedy. Juliet is in a land of hostility where the audience knows from the very beginning the audience know she is controlled by fate and is going to die at the end. The Audience are told this right at the beginning in the prologue where it says “The fearful passage of their death-marked love,” this tells the audience that the lovers of the story are going to die in a tragic way. On the other hand, Hermia’s surroundings are fair more kind and because the play is a comedy, the audience know it’s going to end with a wedding and you could say “happy ever after”. There are parallels throughout both plays that copy each other but these parallels exist within...
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...Reflections on A Midsummer Night’s Dream For most people the word 'Love' brings upon strong emotions to our minds. For Shakespeare's story “ A Midsummer Night's Dream” love is a strong ongoing theme. In which 2 young men and 2 young women will go to any extent for love. Often getting in sticky, confusing situations. Mainly being the fact that; Hermia loves Lysander and Lysander loves Hermia. While Helena loves Demetrius, however, Demetrius loves Hermia. To quote Lysander: “The course of true love never did run smooth,” (I.i.134) In many ways the strong emotion of love drives this hectic story. In the story Hermia is the princess of the kingdom. She loves lysander, yet she is forbidden to marry him by her father, Egeus. “Full of vexation come I, with complaint Against my child, my daughter Hermia.Stand forth, Demetrius. My noble lord,This man hath my consent to marry her. Stand forth, Lysander: and my gracious duke, This man hath bewitch'd the bosom of my child;Thou, thou, Lysander, thou hast given her rhymes,And interchanged love-tokens with my child:Thou hast by moonlight at her window sung,With feigning voice verses of feigning love,And stolen the impression of her fantasy With bracelets of thy hair, rings, gawds, conceits,Knacks, trifles, nosegays, sweetmeats, messengers. Of strong prevailment in unharden'd youth:With cunning hast thou filch'd my daughter's heart, Turn'd her obedience, which is due to me,To stubborn harshness: and, my gracious duke,Be it so she; will...
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...Shakespeare’s Four Different Kinds of Love in AMND A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a comedy/fantasy fiction by William Shakespeare wrote in 1595 or 1596 where Theseus plans to marry Hippolyta, and where lovers spend the night in the forest and fairies do spells and pranks on them. The play takes place in Athens. The plays first performance was on January 1, 1605 (Study.com, 2003-2018) and has been a popular play all over the world, ever since. The play is about love; it is not a tragedy. There were many different types of love portrayed in the play. Shakespeare talked about four different kinds of love in A Midsummer Night’s dream. He talked about forced love, parental love, romantic love, and complicated love. Forced Love- At the beginning of the play Theseus and Hippolyta have a forced love....
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...Name: Instructor: Course: Date: A Midsummer Night's Dream (Love & Madness) The theme of love has always been the main subject when it comes to Shakespeare. The play “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is no exception. The multiple love triangles in this play have enhanced the manner in which the theme of love can be perceived in this case. Love has been presented as a form of insanity where people opt to do crazy things all in the name of love. The characters in the play are involved in different acts of love that portray the idea of madness. As a result of this, love has been shown as a form of madness brought about by the actions of those in love. A quote from the play states “Lovers and madmen have such seething brains; such shaping fantasies, that apprehend more than cool reason ever comprehends.” This goes to prove the insanity evident in love. This argument brings about a different comprehension to the works of Shakespeare. This is evident from the notion of insanity applied to the interpretation of love; thus making love to look like something different other than the desire and passion intended by the author. While the story revolves around love, we are introduced to different acts of love that the different characters are involved in. The major story of love is portrayed by Theseus and Hyppolita. The different love triangles among the other characters such as Hermia, Helena, Lysander and Demetrius also portray the notion that love has been represented as a form...
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...Eyes are a very significant symbol in A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare, eyes have various meanings in the play some of them include understanding and perspective, fantasy and jealously. Right from the beginning of the play eyes are mentioned when Hermia wants her father Egeus who is completely against her marrying Lysander to understand the love she feels towards Lysander, she wants her father to see things from her perspective as she says here “I would my father looked but with my eyes” (Hermia 1-1-56) this quote shows us the power that men had over women in the past. Another meaning of eyes is fantasy, Eyes imagery is often used when referring to the love juice used in the woods because the only way the love juice is affective...
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...Antithesis in A Midsummer Night’s Dream In Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's, there are a lot of themes that are evident. Some of these themes included order, disorder, reality, dream, harmony, enmity, amity, harmony, and dissonance are just to name a few. Normally, none of these themes would even be present at the same time because of their contrasting nature and the fact that they are complete opposites. However, the fact that not only are these themes present at the same time, but they even interact with one another inside of the play to create events within the play is the epitome of antithesis. Shakespeare even includes character antitheses that intertwine with the themes. Furthermore, in A Midsummer Night's Dream the main overshadowing theme is the concept of antithesis because the fact that all of the themes present in the play have opposites that can be clearly be seen and the fact that Shakespeare places next to each other in contrasting beauty show antithesis. In this play, none of these themes would exist without their opposites. Initially, one of the examples of antithesis, and probably the most prevalent, in A Midsummer Night's Dream is the theme of disorder and its companion order. Disorder is a dominant theme in this play because it is seen on nearly every page and in many aspects of the play. In most cases, the disorder is cause by the fairies. These fairies are part of the dream world that actually controls the real world. One of the main fairies that...
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...in a midsummer night's dream women are portrayed as characters that will do almost anything for love, even when they are not under a spell. the women characters in this play are shown to be very gullible, and are all greatly effected by the love spell. women are manipulated a lot in this play. friendships built upon more solid foundations crumble when attacked by the artillery of petty jealousies or when undermined by misunderstandings, which creates a complicated portrayal of women and their relationships with one another that cannot be understood in one specific way. Shakespeare wanted to convey regarding the nature of female passions and affections, not only as they affected women, but also as they impacted women’s relationships with men. The friendships and relationships of women in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” by Shakespeare are important to the plot and even the general structure of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” by Shakespeare. One of the most interesting representations of the friendships of women in A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Shakespeare can be seen in the conflict between Titania and her husband, Oberon. This is occasioned by the fact that both the wife and the husband want to retain possession of a young Indian boy who has been placed in Titania’s care. Titania does not want to give up the boy because she has, as she states in one of the important quotes from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” by Shakespeare, “never had so sweet a changeling” (II.i.23); for this reason, she...
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...In the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Shakespeare, there are many aspects of love. Many characters present a dark feeling of love towards others. Helena believes her friendship with Hermia has changed ever since men have entered their lives. Helena reacts to this adjustment in her life with jealousy. Theseus shows his love for Hippolyta in a more manly way rather than romantically. He believes in the more dominant type of love, where man overpowers woman. Egeus, Hermia’s father, is an ignorant man. He does not care for his daughter’s happiness with Lysander but for his own well-being. Shakespeare approaches the concept of love in a negative way. Helena and Hermia are best friends but ever since men have made an impact in their lives, Helena has been left out. She believes her friendship with Hermia has taken a turn for the worst. She feels jealous because she wants to be like Hermia, she wants to be loved by Demetrius and have the characteristics that he loves about her. She misses her simple friendship with Hermia, “So we grow together, Like to a double cherry, seeming parted, But yet a union in partition, Two lovely berries moulded on one stem; So with two seeming bodies, but one heart;” (III.ii.208-212) Helena explains how close she used to be with Hermia. They have branched apart and wish she could be like her because men like her and she is beautiful. This represents the fact that when a relationship is put between friends the love in the middle of the friendship can...
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...“The course of true love never did run smooth.” This quote has multiple interpretations. One explanation is that relationships are complicated. While the feelings of happiness and contentment come into play, so do the complications of finding a middle ground, or dealing with relatives. In Shakespeare’s play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the course of true love is very rough. At least three of the couples in this Shakespearean work have troubles in obtaining a relationship that is not ridden with hardships. Oberon and Titania fight over a boy who invokes feelings of jealousy in Oberon. Lysander and Hermia’s relationship does not have the approval of Hermia’s father. Demetrius loves Hermia, but Helena longs for him to return the love that...
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...Shakespeare ? What made him “the greatest writer in the English language ? Why Shakespeare's work has stood the test of time ? To understand Shakespeare's great gift for writing or rather try to we have to learn more about his style of writing. Shakespeare had a very moving writing. He was an emotional and passionate man. He has the ability to write human feelings as eloquently as nobody can. In Sonnets and Hamlet : examples : "Doubt that the sun doth move, doubt truth to be a liar, but never doubt I love". Hamlet Quote (Act II, Sc. II). "Love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs." Hamlet Quote ( Act I, Sc. I). Shakespeare used over 25,000 different words in his writings. He is the magician of words. He made many play-words, quotes and expressions still used nowadays. (Beginning of his career in 1592 Robert Greene : Elisabethan playwright called WS “upstart cow”) Shakespeare wrote mainly tragedies. His work contain thousands of quotes from the Gevena Bible (Matthew) There is many changes in his style of writing. His first plays were acknowledged by the public : The Comedy of Errors, and Taming of the Shrew He wrote tragedies as well as comedies. From 1580 to 1613 : he wrote 37 plays! He had the ability to represent human nature. He saw life as a theater and theater as life. He gave the public what he want. He was a formidable storyteller. He told every kind of story: comedy, tragedy, history, melodrama, adventure, love stories and fairy tales...
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...What Type(s) of Love is Portrayed in A Midsummer’s Night Dream Written by William Shakespeare In the play A Midsummer’s Night Dream by William Shakespeare, there are many different types of love that are portrayed. While I feel that this play is more along the lines of a comedy and tragedy rather than love, Shakespeare did his best to portray this as a love story. “The course of true love never did run smooth” (Shakespeare, 2010, 1.1.134). This leaves you wondering is true love found in this play or do we find ourselves seeing other types of love as well. One of the first types of love portrayed in A Midsummer’s Night Dream is parental love. Parental love is often defined as, the love of parents towards their children (Allwords, 2018). Anyone who is a parent understands that this love runs deeper than any other type of love, at least that is the way that I feel. As a mother to six, and a wife, I have found myself with a deeper love for my children than I do for my husband at times. This is portrayed with Egeus and Hermia. Egeus is the father to Hermia, he has shown his self to be very commanding and...
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...was looked at as a person who helped mold a child emotionally and intellectually. Recent studies show that a father is more likely to play with a child than a mother. Almost anyone who looks back on their childhood who had a father or father figure would likely say they can remember how playful their father was. This paper will also look into the plays written by Shakespeare and the father – daughter relationships within them. A Father’s Role The need for a father has stayed the same, but the role of a father has changed since Shakespeare’s time to today’s society. There are many great quotes on the father-daughter relationships that some hold on to for inspiration. Some examples are, “There is no love like a father’s love for his daughter” and “A father’s job is not to teach his daughter to be a lady. It is to teach her how a lady should be treated.” Clearly these quotes did not come from Shakespeare’s time. In Shakespeare’s time a father looked at his daughter was looked at as a subject who was owned by their father (Richmond, 2005). The father would own his daughter until she was married. A young daughter could be auctioned off to the family or man who was able to bring the most dowries, or goods to prove worthiness. Arranged marriages were common in Shakespeare’s time. Often the arrangement was negotiated well before the daughter was able to crawl. The thought of selling off my own daughter is...
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...Elysia Knight “A comedy, then, is a problem-solving story, ending in resolution and order, normally symbolised by marriage.” Alexander Leggatt famously said “a comedy is, then, a problem-solving story, ending in resolution and order, normally symbolised by marriage” and we can definitely apply this quote to Shakespeare’s tripartite play A Midsummer Night’s Dream because there is a constant problem throughout the play which eventually becomes solved, ending in “marriage” and “order”- the two couples are wed correctly and the King and Queen are happily married at the top of the hierarchy. However, at the very beginning of the play when the fairies are fighting, it has the potential of very serious consequences for the entire natural world, as Titania and Oberon announce that the natural world is all mixed up, the four lovers (Lysander, Hermia, Demetrius and Helena) go wandering into the very natural world, creating a “problem-solving story”… Marriage is constantly foreshadowed throughout the play by the language used, in Act IV scene I, Titania is straight away speaking in rhyming couplets- “flowery bed” and “smooth head”, “do coy” and “gentle joy”, gentle joy is also a harmony reference. However there is a huge juxtaposition in the language of the characters which creates comedy because whilst Titania is speaking romantic, Bottom is talking about killing people “get your weapons in your hand” “kill me a red-hipped humble-bee”, Titania then goes on to speak in blank verse...
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