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Desire In A Midsummer Night's Dream

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Desire is a well-known trope in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The four lovers and their magically caused mishap is one of the plays main scenes. However, even though sexual desire is found in every act, it isn’t the only type of desire found within the play. In addition to sexual desire, we find a desire for utter and complete control, which is held most notably by Oberon, as well as the desire for chaos. Puck is a character recognizable by those who study mythology by his mischievous nature and tendency to play tricks on those unfortunate enough to slight him. These three incarnations of desire all play into the social standing of life at the time. Those in power had control, and felt threatened by anyone else who had any form …show more content…

He takes back control by using a ‘love potion’ that will “Will make or man or woman madly dote/Upon the next live creature that it sees” (2.1.171-2). With Titania’s attention averted, Oberon will be able to get the child, and thus regain his control in their marriage. His desire blinds him to any compassion towards his wife, and he doesn’t care about what this situation could land Titania in: “The next thing then she waking looks upon—/Be it on lion, bear, or wolf, or bull,/On meddling monkey, or on busy ape—/She shall pursue it with the soul of love” …show more content…

In fact, it is the very first image that is given in the play. The first words out of Theseus’s mouth are words depicting his sexual wants: “…but O, methinks, how slow/ This old moon wanes! She lingers my desires/Like to a stepdame or a dowager/Long withering out a young man 's revenue” (1.1.3-6). The theme of sexual desire isn’t only present in the male characters of the play, as it often is in many plays of the time. In fact, the level of sexual desire fluctuates between all of the characters. Hippolyta reveals in her response to Theseus that she too cannot wait until their wedding night, but she is far better at hiding it. It, however, is not the case that women are forced to hide their sexual wants due to it being considered ‘unsuitable’ for women, as can be seen in the case of Helena and Demetrius. Helena is far from afraid of announcing her affections for Demetrius to him. It is a form of sexual harassment, and Demetrius is far from giving into her wants, and even goes about warning her from spending too much time with him unsupervised: “You do impeach your modesty too

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In the play A Midsummer’s Night Dream by William Shakespeare, many of the characters relentlessly pursue their goals in the face of illogical decisions, and, while fictional items such as the “love-in-idleness” flower are used to explain the character’s sudden love for each other, the play does illustrate how love and ambition can lead to unforeseen consequences. For example, when Puck accidently anointed Lysander’s eyes with the “love-in-idleness” juice, he started a chain of events leading to Lysander and Demetrius fighting over Helena while Hermia is treated as though she is worthless. Moreover, at one point, Lysander and Demetrius even threatened to duel each other when Lysander awoke after being anointed with the flower 's juice and said, "Where is Demetrius? O, how fit a word is that vile name to perish on my sword" (61). This shows how the character’s love for certain other characters, and their ambition to pursue said love, can lead to the destruction of previous relationships and lead them to make dangerous decisions.

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In Act 3.2, Oberon tells Puck, “I want you to interrupt their search by makinging it foggy. Do not allow them to find each other… Once they are asleep, place this potion in Lysander's eyes to remove the pollen you mistakenly placed. ”(16) With that power of control by being the Fairy King, he is controlling his servant to have him things right between the couples. Oberon controls Puck by telling him what to do to the couple so they won't be able to find each other and fight.

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Oberon always chose to manipulate and control others to do as he wished in his thirst for power. Oberon had been obsessed with taking the changeling from Titania ever since she had adopted the boy. But, Titania would always say that she took a vow to protect the boy and would never give him up to Oberon. Oberon neglected to listen to her and was focused on getting the child regardless. He went as far as putting a spell on his “true love” so that Titania would be susceptible to his suggestions, which enabled him to control her.

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For example, Oberon tries to control Demetrius. Oberon does this because he feels bad for Helena and wants Demetrius to love her. He feels pity for Helena as he loves her himself. He controls him by putting a magical love potion on Demetrius so he falls in love with Helena. Furthermore, the play states: ¨O Helena, goddess, nymph, perfect, divine!

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Again they are deliriously in love because of the love drug. In the beginning of the play neither of the males want anything to do with Helena, she is blindly chasing after Demetrius desperate for his attention, but he brushes her off. Oberon orders puck to put the spell on Demetrius. “Thou shalt know the man by the Athenian garments he hath on.” (II, i ln 42 & 43)

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Most people control other people for the feel of power. During the play Puck stumbles upon Nick Bottom and his colleagues. Puck likes the feel of control so he turns Nick Bottom into a donkey. When one of his colleagues, Snout, see’s him, Snout says, “O Bottom, thou art changed! What do I see on thee?”

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The underlying theme of the play, Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare was the clash between the company pursuing their personal desires or deciding to conform to what is socially expected. The circumstances of this affray were on display when Romeo presented his plot of marrying Juliet to Friar Laurence. The consequences of Romeo deciding to pursue personal desire were also on display when displayed his disapproval to his punishment for extirpating Tybalt. These instances culminate Shakespeare's idea of that the pursuit of personal desire not always rewarding the aspirant. The asininity of carelessly pursuing your personal desires and not thinking about the ramifications was on display when Romeo presented his notion of espousing Juliet.

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Toba Beta once said: "“Justice could be as blind as love.”   Shakespeare 's play A Midsummer Night 's Dream captures the blind bias of both love and justice.   Egeus, a respected nobleman in Athens, arranged for his daughter, Hermia, to marry nobleman Demetrius.   Egeus tells his daughter that she must obey his wishes: if she does not, she can either choose to become a nun, or die.   Hermia, much to her father 's dismay, is deeply in a mutual love with a different nobleman, Lysander.

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This may also present to us that the women in this play are quite strong and independent despite the times this play is set in, Hermia's father Egeus treats Hermia as though she is his property and that she has no freedom of choice Egeus threats his daughter by death or to become a nun which shows some state of

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He did this by having two settings: Athens and the woods. Athens represented modern Elizabethan society, and here, all the women are in their stereotypical gender roles; Hermia was the dutiful daughter that had to follow her duke’s and father’s orders, Helena was the girl that was in love Demetrius but was not allowed to go after him, and Hippolyta was the captive who had to marry her captor. Athens was a society not yet prepared for the inclusion of women; essentially, Shakespeare meant that Elizabethan England was not yet ready for women to have the same rights as men. To contrast this setting, William Shakespeare made up the woods. The woods is where the four lovers run off to, and where fairyland presides.

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This idea is explored through Helena’s hatred over her own appearance. She wishes to look like Hermia so Demetrius’s affections would be with her. She takes on the role of the aggressor by courting Demetrius. She says, “Your wrongs do set a scandal on my sex.

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She seeks the help of Thamyris, Thecla’s fiancé, “she relates to him how her daughter is completely mesmerized…and bound to the window (Misset-Van de Weg, 2010, p. 149). Thecla does not leave the window and Thamyris questions how “a virgin of great modesty exposes herself to such extreme discomfort” (The Acts of Paul and Thecla, 8:7). At this point Thecla is completely entrenched in what Paul is saying. However, she remains at a distance while other virgins approach him. The people of Thecla’s town believe that Paul has entranced, as if through magic, most of the women.

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“And though she be but little, she is fierce” -William Shakespeare. In today’s day and age, one of the greatest topics of debate is gender roles. It is evident everywhere, from cyberspace to the streets of home, from online petitions to marches across the country such as the Women’s March. Shakespeare lived in the Elizabethan Era of England, where Queen Elizabeth I, the virgin queen ruled.

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A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a comedic play written by William Shakespeare. Although there are different points of views within the story, the play centers around the ideas of romance--one of which happens to be a “love rhombus” between four athenian youths. Demetrius, one of the young men amongst the four youths, is in love with Hermia (one of the young ladies), yet she despises Demetrius and is in a relationship with Lysander (the young man who is a rival to Demetrius). While Demetrius pines after Hermia, Hermia’s best friend Helena is in love with Demetrius, but he hates her.

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This piece of literature demonstrates the roles for men as the dominant gender and women as submissive, which are obsolete stereotypes. Shakespeare portrays the roles of the dominant males when Egeus tells, “as she is mine, I may dispose of her, which shall be either to this gentleman or to her death, according to our law immediately provided in that case” (1. 1. 42-45). He states this to let readers know that Hermia will not marry Lysander, and he gets the final decision. He gives her options, which are to marry him or die.

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