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Yogarajah
Joanna Yogarajah

Mr. Tuccitto

ENG3U1

29 March 2021

A Midsummer Night's Dream Essay

In the play “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, you can see a lot of problems and turning

points throughout the story these problems start to slowly turn for the better when all of the

characters start resolving their problems and have a happy ending with some humor throughout

the play. The play starts off very dark but as it progresses there is humor that starts to unravel.

The mood then changes to bring light in the play where all is well in the end. The problems that

take place in the beginning of the play is between the lovers. Shakespeare portrays the theme of

love in A Midsummer Night's Dream as problems and struggles the young lovers face between

Hermia and Lysander, the separation that is caused between Titania and Oberon because of the

challenging little boy, and Helena desperately trying to win back Demetrius even though he

loves Hermia.

The essay begins by showing the problems faced between Hermia and Lysander. Hermia

and Lysander’s relationship can be looked upon as a problematic relationship since they had a lot

of obstacles they faced in their relationship. Hermia’s father, Egeus finds out that Hermia is in

love with another man and confronts her in front of Theseus. Theseus gives her three options

which are to be executed and never see another man again, marry Demetrius, or become a nun.

(1.1.65-78) Hermia refuses all these options because she is in love with Lysander and not

Demetrius. The obstacles they faced in their relationship were different social classes (high and

low), an age gap, and parents/guardians not approving of marriage. After realizing the problems
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they faced in their relationship, Hermia says “If then true lovers have been ever crossed,”

(1.1.150) Hermia decides to stay patient because she knows that all lovers have problems and

obstacles that come in their way. Lysander also states “The course of true love never did run

smooth.” (1.1.134) She knows that these problems might ruin their relationship so, she tells

Lysander to be patient while they sort through their problems to try to deal with them. They then

decide to run away so that Hermia wouldn’t have to marry Demetrius. While they wander

through the woods, they start to get tired and decide to sleep. While they sleep Oberon tells

Robin to get the “love-in-idleness” flower. This flower juice can cause someone to fall in love

with the first thing they see. Robin makes a mistake by mixing Lysander for Demetrius. When

this happens Demetrius and Helena are arguing and Helena wakes up Lysander unaware of what

just happened and he falls in love with Helena. This causes Lysander to leave the woods with

Helena, leaving Hermia alone. Hermia wakes up confused of where Lysander may have gone

and why he left her alone. They meet each other and Lysander is very rude to Hermia and starts

acting cold towards her since he is blindly in love with Helena. All the characters are confused

since Lysander was in love with Hermia and now is he in love with Helena. This portrays the

problems faced between Hermia and Lysander.

Titania and Oberon have a rocky relationship. When their characters are being

introduced, Robin and the fairy have a conversation and they tell each other to keep Oberon and

Titania away from each other since they’re mad at each other. They end up seeing each other and

Titania states that Oberon has been unfaithful to her and has been sneaking away to see

Hippolyta. Then Oberon states that Titania has not been faithful either and claims she is in love

with Theseus. They have a rocky relationship since both of them are not faithful to each other

and they have always been fighting. Titania starts to say that both of them arguing and fighting
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has been affecting the weather. “These are the forgeries of jealousy. And never, since the middle

summer’s spring, Met we on hill, in dale, forest, or mead, By pavèd fountain, or by rushy brook,

Or in the beachèd margent of the sea, To dance our ringlets to the whistling wind, But with thy

brawls thou hast disturbed our sport. Therefore the winds, piping to us in vain, As in revenge,

have sucked up from the sea Contagious fogs, which falling in the land Have every pelting river

made so proud That they have overborne their continents.” (2.1.66-77) Oberon and Titania have

been arguing because Oberon claims that Titania has stolen a little boy from an Indian king and

Oberon is jealous and wants the child for himself so he can accompany him on his wanderings

through the wild forests. Titania refuses to give up the boy. This starts to cause an argument.

Titania explains that the little boy’s mom was one of her worshippers as they were good friends.

She later on explains that the little boy’s mom died giving birth to the boy and for her sake she is

raising the boy and will not give him up to Oberon. Oberon starts to get mad and jealous since

Titania “crowns him with flowers, and makes him all her joy.” (2.1.13) He decides to get

revenge on her and tells Robin to get the “love-in-idleness” flower. To make sure that Titania

wakes up and falls in love with the most hideous things she sees. Robin is spying on the

tradesmen while they are rehearsing for a play as one of the tradesmen goes backstage since he

was on break. Robin decides to stick a donkey head on him and the rest of the tradesmen run

away since they were scared. Bottom starts singing and Titania wakes up and is in love with

Bottom. This portrays the separation caused between Titania and Oberon.

Helena and Demetrius’ relationship is very tricky because one person loves the other

more. Helena loves Demetrius and Demetrius doesn’t love Helena. Helena clearly knows that

Demetrius loves Hermia but she is trying desperately to win back Demetrius from her. Helena is

jealous of Hermia, her best friend since Hermia is able to have Demetrius’ affection instead of
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her. Demetrius fell in love with Hermia and left Helena hopeless of gaining Demetrius’ love.

You can see the constant love that Helena has for Demetrius since she would allow him to

mistreat her as long as she could be near him. She says “I am your spaniel. And, Demetrius, The

more you beat me, I will fawn on you. Use me but as your spaniel—spurn me, strike me, Neglect

me, lose me. Only give me leave, Unworthy as I am, to follow you. What worser place can I beg

in your love—And yet a place of high respect with me—Than to be usèd as you use your dog?”

(2.1.188-195) Demetrius' abandonment of her caused Helena to lack self-confidence and self-

respect, going so far as to tell Demetrius that she'd love and follow him even if he treated her like

his dog. Helena is treated badly by Demetrius that she doesn’t even know her self-worth and

starts comparing herself to an animal just so Demetrius can love her. You can tell that they are in

a toxic relationship where Helena is so blinded by love that she doesn’t value herself and doesn’t

know her self-worth. Demetrius treats Helena badly and it doesn’t faze her. “Tempt not too much

the hatred of my spirit. For I am sick when I do look on thee.” (2.1.196-197) Demetrius says this

after Helena compares herself to a dog. She still continues to be blindly in love with him even

after all the horrible things he says to her. She says these things so that Demetrius may fall in

love with her but Demetrius doesn’t seem to care since he is in love with Hermia and not Helena.

This portrays Helena desperately trying to win back Demetrius while he’s still in love with

Hermia.

These are my three reason as to how Shakespeare portrays the theme of love in A

Midsummer Night's Dream. He portrays them as problems and struggles the young lovers face

between Hermia and Lysander, the separation that is caused between Titania and Oberon because

of the challenging little boy, and Helena desperately trying to win back Demetrius even though

he loves Hermia. Despite the problems and struggles the young lovers face in the play they
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decide that they should not lose hope and fight for their relationship. This is clearly shown in the

end of the story when all of the lovers in the beginning who had to face these obstacles are very

in love having a happy ending. In the end, the mistake Robin made is fixed and the lovers solve

their problems and live a happy life. As for Hermia and Lysander they solved their problems,

Helena and Demetrius are madly in love with each other and got married along with Theseus and

Hippolyta. The two couples get married with Theseus and Hippolyta since he sees how much

they’re in love with each other. As for Titania and Oberon, the love spell is lifted from Titania.

Titania and Oberon go back to normal and are dancing and fall in love with each other again.
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Works Cited

Shakespeare, William. “A Midsummer Night's Dream.” Midsummer Night's Dream: Entire Play,

shakespeare.mit.edu/midsummer/full.html.