ipl-logo

Justice In A Midsummer Night's Dream

779 Words4 Pages

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. In addition, Hermia 's childhood best friend and Demetrius were in love prior to his sights turning towards Hermia. This crushed Helena, causing her to lose self-confidence, but still: she yearns for Demetrius 's reciprocated love. Lysander and Hermia are in love with each other. Egeus does not approve of his daughter 's chosen love. The couple wishes for Helena to be happy with Demetrius. …show more content…

Hermia and Lysander want to run away to stay together. While Egeus is trying to convince Hermia to marry Demetrius; Lysander objects, saying, "I am, my lord, as well deriv 'd as he, / As well possess 'd: My love is more than his . . . I am beloved of beauteous Hermia" (1.1.99-104). Lysander compares himself to Demetrius, saying that he is equal to him in every way. Lysander then points out that he has something Demetrius will never have, Hermia 's love. He makes it clear that the couple will do anything to be together. After Egeus denounces his daughters chosen love, Hermia talks to Lysander, agreeing to leave Athens with him in order to get away from the law code that allows marriage to be prohibited. To Lysander, Hermia says, "Keep word Lysander; we must starve our sight / from lovers ' food till morrow deep midnight" (1.1.221-223). Hermia says that both she and Lysander will do anything to be able to stay together, even flee their lives and all they have known. In addition to love, the lovers also run away together because Hermia 's father will only condone a marriage between her and

Show More
Related
1255 Words | 6 Pages

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.

Read More
485 Words | 2 Pages

In William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Hermia's love triangle with Lysander and Demetrius is a complex interplay of both fate and agency. Throughout the play, Hermia demonstrates a strong sense of agency in shaping her own romantic fate, while also being subject to the whims of fate and the supernatural forces at play. One example of Hermia's agency is her defiance of her father's wishes for her to marry Demetrius. In Act 1, Scene 1, she says, "I do entreat your grace to pardon me. /

Read More
1474 Words | 6 Pages

Odysseus and Penelope are in love since Odysseus won her hand in marriage by beating her father Icarius in a footrace. Hermia and Lysander have been in love since they were young. Another reason why these characters are in love is because they won’t give up for each other. Odysseus doesn’t give up for Penelope and tries to return home to her and Penelope doesn’t stop wishing for him to come home. These characters are all taking risks.

Read More
888 Words | 4 Pages

Most of the time, when a person thinks they can control another person, they are mistaken. A Midsummer’s Night Dream by William Shakespeare is a play that demonstrates the subject of control. Several Characters in the play attempts to make another person do what they want. An example in the story is when a woman named Helena is tries to force a man named Demetrius to love her by chasing him in the woods trying to persuade him. At the end, Shakespeare makes the case that it is not possible to control another person’s actions, because the results are unwanted and tragic.

Read More
735 Words | 3 Pages

he had Puck drug them for his enjoyment and to help out Helena who he takes pity on. He takes pity on her because no one loves her, and because he feels bad about Demetrius brushing her off. Lysander, Demetrius, Helena, and Hermia have a crazy and complicated love square that gets even more complicated throughout the play. Being crazy in love is a major theme of A Midsummer Night’s dream by Shakespeare. This is shown by many characters throughout the play.

Read More
757 Words | 4 Pages

  Hermia, much to her father 's dismay, is deeply in a mutual love with a different nobleman, Lysander.   In addition, Hermia 's childhood best friend and Demetrius were in love prior to his sights turning towards Hermia.   This crushed Helena, causing her to lose self-confidence, but still: she yearns for Demetrius 's love.   Hermia and Lysander 's love, Egeus 's harsh rule, and Helena 's unrequited love for Demetrius causes the lovers to leave Athens.

Read More
793 Words | 4 Pages

Hermia and Helena are best friends until there friendship had many complications. Hermia of course is in love with Lysander , and Lysander is in love with Hermia. But there is also Demetrius who is also in love with Hermia and Helena who is in love with Demetrius. They have been through many obstacles, like in the Act 3 scene 2. After Puck put the love potion on Lysander and he fell in love with Helena, he has been following her around nonstop.

Read More
879 Words | 4 Pages

Egeus, who is Hermia’s father, wants her to get married to a man named Demetrius. Egeus then tells her she has three choices, “Either to die the death or to abjure/ Forever the society of men '' (1.1.67-68). Due to Egeus’s behavior, Hermia was emotionally controlled until she had enough of it and planned on fleeing with her lover, Lysander.

Read More
245 Words | 1 Pages

Hermia is audacious in that she will defy a person of virtuous authority and will take risks so she can get what she wants. First and foremost, she disobeyed her father when Theseus says Demetrius is a worthy gentlemen to marry. Hermia, without hesitation replies “so is Lysander” because she believes Lysander is as equally worthy of a gentlemen as Demetrius. This shocks Theseus because generally women in the 1600’s are submissive and were not allowed to speak without being given permission. His delayed response, was evidence of his shock.

Read More
848 Words | 4 Pages

The strong effects of love makes Helena a bit foolish and blind in the ways she reacts to it. In scene one of act one, the readers learn that Helena still loves Demetrius even though he loves her friend, Hermia, now. When Helena is first introduced, she demonstrates her jealousy and insecurities by asking Hermia for some of her beauty to win Demetrius back. Hermia and Lysander inform her that they are running away, and that

Read More
1898 Words | 8 Pages

“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.

Read More
895 Words | 4 Pages

/ O, then, what graces in my love do dwell / That he hath turn'd a heaven unto a hell!'” which is a quote stated by Hermia; I think this quote is discussing what she think may happen to her if she follows her heart to marry Lysander she is unsure whether she will go to heaven or hell for the disobedient actions she has taken. So as you can see the love/hate triangle going on is very somewhat “Out of whack” There’s not much good coming out of how they feel about each other, definitely not a kind of relationship that I would enjoy getting deep into reading about, but I have to be honest this is a story filled with very eager and brave women who will go after what they want with no problem or scarce in their hearts(Sounds exactly like me)!

Read More
854 Words | 4 Pages

Helena and Hermia used to have a platonic love, but because of Lysander and Demetrius loving Helena, not Hermia, they feel hatred towards each other. Puck 's confusion over who is Demetrius causes Lysander to fall in love with Helena. Oberon trying to fix Puck 's mistake causes Demetrius to love Helena, and Helena to be distressed. Using the love potion causes Hermia and Helena confusion. Oberon and Puck cause confusion by using the love potion too freely.

Read More
710 Words | 3 Pages

The strong effects of love makes Helena a bit foolish and blind in the ways she reacts to it. In scene one of act one, the readers learn that Helena still loves Demetrius even though he loves her friend, Hermia, now. When Helena is first introduced, she demonstrates her jealousy and insecurities by asking Hermia for some of her beauty to win Demetrius back. Hermia and Lysander inform her that they are running away, and that

Read More
986 Words | 4 Pages

The male characters in this play often feel uncomfortable when their female counterparts break gendered stereotypes. This is the same feeling that drove Theseus to war with the Amazons. An equally important woman is Hermia: Theseus and her father have in mind Demetrius for Hermia’s groom, yet she still refuses even after a small threat from Theseus, “Be advised, fair maid. To you, your father should be as a god” (1.1.47-48). Here in patriarchal Athens, fathers are the head households and hold influence over near-all decisions.

Read More

More about Justice In A Midsummer Night's Dream

Related Topics

Open Document