How Does Shakespeare Portray the Nature
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How does Shakespeare portray the nature
of love in “A Midsummer Nights Dream”?A Mid-summer Nights Dream is evidentially concerned with the series of hindrances in the course of true love. Shakespeare reverses the categories of reality and illusion, portraying to the audience with a comic edge that when overcome with the illusion of love couples become blind to the misfortunes that are bound to cross their path.
The most basic part of Shakespeares plays is the relationship between men and women. In a society so closely woven with Christianity, it seemed natural to take the mandate for this relationship from the bible. This names the husband the head of the household; he can govern his family as he pleases. Despite the pervading view in Elizabethan England of women as the property of their fathers. Shakespeares form does not take a firm stance on how he thinks marriage should work. Marriage was considered as a way to establish order most of Shakespeares plays have to do with the making or breaking of family ties.
The Characters are drawn from three different worlds: the Athenian Gentry, the Craftsmen of Athens, and the Fairy World. The protagonist is the bizarre nature of love, as represented by four couples: Hermia and Lysander, Helena and Demetrius, Titania and Oberon, and Hippolyta and Theseus. The whole play centers on the central idea of lovers, ironically and comically coming together and being free to marry.
The opening exposition is first set in Medieval Athens; Shakespeare uses familiar figures from Greek mythology, which would be seen as autocratic and mature mirroring the future portrayal of their love. Theseus as the male is dominant over Hippolyta; her submission brings forth the imminent wedding. Because they meet in an adverse environment it creates dramatic and passionate tension, which is later resolved. This is in stark contrasts with the young lovers, who are erratic and indecisive.
Hippolyta, I wooed thee with my sword;
And won thy love doing thee injuries;
But I will wed thee in another key,
With pomp, with triumph, and with reveling.
(Theseus 1:1 lines 16-19)
Oberon and Titania are noble fairies. Although they have high status, fairies were seen to be avid and passionate. This passion causes human-like, vindictive quarrels between them.
I have forsworn his bed and company;
(Titania 2:1 lines 61-62)
Oberon plays tricks on Titania to prove his authority over her, but the sight of her humiliation arouses his love and they reinstate their love to one another. The young lovers are profound but lack distinction compared to the nobles. The young girls encompass a perpetual love for the men, but the men become distracted by the illusion of love and are exploited to portray extravagant and unreliable love.
Content with Hermia? No, I do repent…
(Lysander 2:2 lines 110)
This shows the young Athenian lovers to have unreasonable and irrational changes in their fickle relationships. In this passage Lysander shows unpredictable changes in love this is done through the theatrical devise of the love potion. Shakespeare has used this to illustrate the unreliability of the youths love for one another to create a relationship between the overought drama on stage and the reality of the audiences experiences.
Helena when closing Act 1 Scene 1 talks in her soliloquy clearly and sensibly, about the nature of love, she recognizes that love is blind and not subject to reason. But doesnt understand the contrast between her sense and emotion. She talks of Cupid the god of love who was believed to have a child-like irresponsible naivety about him and to be blind, this relates to the symbolic meaning of Love is blind.
The Love Potion is used as a dramatic devise to exaggerate the characters emotions.
Shakespeare uses dramatist skills to show the contrast between factual and passionate (lust) love, not hiding the knowledge that love causes pain. Jealousy arises throughout the play and is made prominent by the love poison. The clearest act of this is between Helena and Hermia, which demonstrates their corrupted behavior at the cause of fickle love.
O me! You juggler, you canker-blossom,
you thief of love!
(Hermia 3:2 Lines 282-283)
Jealousy caused them to quarrel spitefully with each other. The characters emotions are reflected in their language. Hermia and Lysander create an air of innocence in their love through their flamboyant and overought romance, dramatized by the use of exaggerated rhyming couplets.
Oppose to this is Theseus and Hippolyta who are courtly characters