A Midsummer Night’s Dream
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In Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the nature of romantic love is a wide theme. Shakespeare has developed great constancy in most of the play’s locations and plots. Romantic love takes time to develop, and should prompt the parties in question to enter into a relationship. Both love and maintenance of the relationship are extremely difficult tasks as depicted by Shakespeare in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The nature of love, as Shakespeare implies, is extremely difficult both to those who are used and starters. In fact, in this play many conflicts emanate from troubles associated with romantic love. The play contains very many romantic elements, but one cannot consider it a romantic story per see because the play keeps its audience at a bay as far as emotions evoked in the various characters is concerned. When either characters that fall in love are tormented and afflicted by the devastating effects of a break up or separation, extreme humor is aroused in the audience. When the play starts, the tone is extremely lighthearted, and consequently nobody among the audience has reason to suspect the play might end sadly. The play has presented the theme of the nature of love so well that every viewer is caught up in the characters’ tension of uncertain outcomes in various scenes.
There is much constancy in the development of this theme in various locations and plots. In Act 1 scene 1, the audience is introduced to Theseus and Hippolyta, who are deeply in love. In this scene, Theseus describes how he came to know Hippolyta, and the course their relationship has been taking since then. He narrates how the courtship has been successful, but how problems often creep and threaten to set them apart. Later in the scene, the audience is told of other four lovers. Egis is one of the unfortunate victims of love, though an indirect one. He deeply complains how his child has involved herself with a man called Lysander. Lysander is a man Egeus has never liked, despite the long period the two have known one another; Egeus daughter had introduced the two over four years ago. Then, Lysander had tried to present himself in a manner his in-law to be would admire him, but in vain. It is not clear, however, why Egeus has failed to develop alike for his son-in-law to be (Shakespeare 206).
In the same scene, the difficult nature of love is explained further. The three other lovers are depicted as having experienced so much difficulty that they virtually went to the verge of hating this concept. Shakespeare develops the motif of imbalance, where “love occurs only when there is the perfect balance” (Shakespeare 248). This means that in any romantic situation with an inequality or disparity, there is acute interference with the harmonious movement of such a relationship. Shakespeare depicts a prime instance of such imbalance when he describes the asymmetrical romantic love among four Athenians including Hermia versus Lysander, Helena versus Demetrius, Lysander versus Hermia, as well as Demetrius versus Hermia. With a keen look, the imbalance is quite noticeable; Helena loves Demetrius, but Demetrius is in love with Hermia. In such an imbalance, a mere numeric imbalance where two men fall in love with one woman leaves one of women with an overwhelming number of suitors while one woman is left desperate and with no lover. Such an immense difficulty of love does not find a solution in Shakespeare’s work.
Even in Act 2 of the play, this nature of romantic love is maintained. Titania and Oberon in this case represent the difficulty of love. Titania has been in love with the indifferent man for approximately two years. Most of the time they relate well as they go to dinner together and carry other minor chores because they love each other’s company. In fact, Titania says she cannot do without Oberon. At one point, however, sharp differences arise between them. They cannot agree at all. The audience is not given a detailed background of the couple’s argument. It is difficult to tell who is in the wrong because of this. In addition, the argument does not appear to start on the stage; the two emerge from behind the curtains quarrelling in the performed play. In spite of the efforts, the audience might put to try to understand this scene in details they find that significant details are not disclosed.
In Act 3 Scene 1, the transformation of Bottom takes central part. This transformation disrupts the rehearsals of the mechanicals significantly. This also contributes to the constancy with which the theme of the nature of romantic love develops in the play. In the second scene of this Act, Kennedy and Kennedy claim Puck makes a grave mistake (128). This mistake is responsible for causing much confusion to the lovers in question. However, the scene does not go to the fine details of what Puck did to cause confusion. Again, the audience is given the chance to fill the remaining gaps for themselves (Kennedy and Kennedy 130).
Titania is not able to contain her feelings as the play enters its fourth Act in Scene 1. She calls Bottom immediately. Though the Bottom is unwilling to see Titania, for reasons Shakespeare conceals from the audience initially, he turns up finally. The audience can now see why Bottom has been so reluctant. When he makes an attempted appearance on the stage, Titania is dumbfounded, and she passes on. Bottom has changed into an ass and accompanied by actual donkeys as he comes to meet Titania. The transformation into a donkey has been considered as one of the troubles that have come because two lovers who had experienced extreme difficulty separated.
As the play comes to a happy conclusion, Act 5 scene 1 depicts three wedding ceremonies that are to take place simultaneously. In addition is a fairy blessing that eventually brings happiness to all. Theseus compares poets and lovers to mad people who exhibit compact imagination. In response, Hippolyta claims the minds of poets and lovers are all transfigured together, hence their resemblance to the lunatic and the growth of their ideas to great constancy (Nostbakken 35).
Shakespeare is able to develop great constancy despite the play’s high number of locations and plots. Romantic love is depicted as extremely difficult. In each of the relationships that Shakespeare brings out, there is some difference between the two lovers. Such a difference is made too complex for the lovers concerned to solve it, and in most of the cases, the relationship breaks up. The young lovers are extremely vulnerable to such difficulties and eventual breakups, in which one or both parties may end up being hurt deeply. Therefore, Shakespeare has brought out the theme of the nature of romantic love clearly in his play, exhibiting remarkable constancy.