William Shakespeare explores the different aspects of human nature in A Midsummer Night’s Dream in several ways. This can be seen through strong emotions such as jealousy and desire, generational conflict, and the inability to make rational decisions when in love. These ideas can be seen through Helena's character, Egues and Hermia’s conflict and Lysander and Hermia’s relationship. Human nature is still as relevant today as it was in the past, with many situations from the play still being true to modern society.
Human nature is driven by powerful emotions like jealousy and desire. This can be seen through the character of Helena and her longing for Demetrius. Her jealousy drives her to do irrational things in the hopes of being with Demetrius.
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This can be seen through Hermia and Lysander’s relationship and the lengths they would go to in order to preserve their love. This can be seen when Lysander tells Hermia “And then end life when I end loyalty.” And when Hermia thinks that Lysander is dead and she wishes “Plunge in the deep And kill me too,” Both these quotes show how deep their love for one another goes, showing that they would rather die than be apart. This is irrational thinking as their life can still go on without one another. Although it may be painful, choosing death instead of living without a loved one is an extreme, illogical action to take. At another point in the play, they plan to run away together and escape their problems rather than confront them. During this rash decision-making, they don’t consider the consequences of their actions as they are too focused on being together. These are perfect examples of love can make someone lose sight of what is important. This is a vital lesson for the past, present and future as love can often blind people and make them act in ways they wouldn’t usually. Shakespeare highlights this idea in several ways throughout the play in the hopes of telling the audience not to lose sight of reality when you are in