A Midsummer Night’s Dream Essay Love and Marriage

Love and Marriage in A Midsummer Night’s Dream There is something to be said for the passionate love of young people, and Shakespeare said it in Romeo and Juliet. The belief that any action can be excused if one follows ones feelings is a sentimental notion that is not endorsed by Shakespeare. Thus, Theseus suggestion in 1.1 of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, that Hermia marry a man she does not love rather than live a barren sister all her life would seem perfectly sensible to Shakespeare’s contemporaries. Shakespeare writes for a public who views marriage unsentimentally. At all levels of society, from king to commoner, marriage is entered into for commercial and dynastic reasons. People marry to increase their†¦show more content†¦Is Demetrius love for Helena at the end of the play still being artificially stimulated by the love-in-idleness? Although Dians bud has been used as an antidote, we do not know that the magic lasts for ever. The tone of Demetrius defence, in 5.1, before Theseus of his love for Helena, in striking contrast with his earlier declaration of love to her (Goddess, nymph, divine) shows that his love is no longer due to the magic flower, but to a new insight into her merits; above all, his love for Hermia, clearly a youthful infatuation, has been dispelled. Likening this to an idle gaud doted upon in childhood, Demetrius suggests that his rediscovered love is of a mature kind, and so it appears to the audience. Although Hermia can be stubborn and fierce, she seems serious in her love for Lysander. One reason for Theseus description of the nuns lonely calling is to test just this. (The question of course assumes that maternity is a state highly desired by any woman - which very much does reflect Elizabethan attitudes.) The answer, in which Hermia echoes the exact terms of Theseus metaphor of the rose distilld and the single rose, indicates Hermias seriousness of purpose. This is confirmed by her insistence, in the wood, that Lysander does not compromise her by lying too near. Lysander, while feeling more amorous than this, is ready to do Hermias bidding. Although their love seems, therefore, far moreShow MoreRelated A Comparison of Romantic Love in A Midsummer Nights Dream, The Tempest, and Twelfth Night1505 Words   |  7 PagesRomantic Love in A Midsummer Nights Dream, The Tempest, and Twelfth Night In all of Shakespeares plays, there is a definitive style present, a style he perfected. From his very first play (The Comedy of Errors) to his very last (The Tempest), he uses unique symbolism and descriptive poetry to express and explain the actions and events he writes about. 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