Midsummer Nights Dream Essay, Research Paper

In Shakespeare^s play A Midsummer Night^s Dream, one of the chief

reoccurring subjects is love. Shakespeare writes of love that is

passionate and unprompted, or reasonable and sensible. In Act three,

Bottom, a petroleum common man provinces on sentiment of love. & # 8220 ; And Yet, to state

the truth, ground and love maintain small company together now-a-days ; the

more commiseration, that some honest neighbours will non do them friends. & # 8221 ; ( Act

III, Scene I, line 136 ) However, in many ways, ground and love are

already much more closely linked in their society than the modern twenty-four hours

reader is used to. Shakespeare has one illustration of existent love in this

drama: Hermia and Lysander^s. Their love is pure and simple. They have

no ground to be in love with each other, but yet have hopelessly fallen

so. This is Shakespeare^s symbol of ultimate artlessness. However, frequently

with artlessness comes maltreatment of that quality, as in A Midsummer Night^s

Dream. Egeus, Hermia^s male parent, feels that Hermia is excessively guiltless to

take her ain hubby, and that it is his topographic point to take one for her.

Although possibly he is merely making this to ^protect^ her, it shows his

sentiment of Hermia^s incompetency. He illustrates this value system when

explains to Theseus & # 8220 ; And, my gracious duke, This adult male hath bewitch^d the

bosom of my kid. Thou, 1000,

Lysander, 1000 hast given her rimes,

And interchanged love-tokens with my child^ With cunning hast 1000

filch^d my daughter^s bosom, Turn^d her obeisance, which is due to me,

To stubborn harshness. & # 8221 ; ( Act I, Scene I, line 27 ) In many ways the

antonym of existent love, Hermia and Demetrius^ relationship is symbolic

for practicality and esthesia. Hermia does non love Demetrius and

garbages to get married him. It is non even clear what Demetrius^ motivations are.

One can theorize, nevertheless, that he desires to get married Hermia for her

money or respectable household. Whatever the grounds, it is evident that

this relationship is rather contrasting in comparing to Hermia and

Lysander^s. It seems to be more of a concern agreement than anything

else. Egeus explains this to Lysander by stating & # 8220 ; True, [ Demetrius ] hath

my love, And what is mine my love shall render him. And she is mine,

and all my right of her I do estate unto Demetrius. & # 8221 ; ( Act I, Scene I,

line 97 ) With these relationships, Shakespeare illustrates the sarcasm of

love in the values of the community and civilization. In this manner, The

reader discovers that reasonable matrimonies are more likely to be embraced

by the community than passionate 1s and that Bottom^s suggestion that

love should be more closely linked to ground has, organize a modern

reader^s oculus, already been followed.