Meaning Of A Midsummer Night's Dream

“A Midsummer Night’s Dream”

The title suggests an atmosphere of fantasy and imagination, which is a pretty accurate description of the magical woods where characters experience events that seem more like a dream than reality. Shakespeare wanted the audience to capture the feeling of fantasy and reality. What is this word that people use that they call “love?” Love is an intense feeling of deep affection. This word seems like such a small word but in all reality, the word is strong. I think that in today’s age people throw the word around like it means nothing at all. William Shakespeare’s drama A Midsummer Night’s dream I think shows an example of that. It provides us with a love triangle. The love triangle containing Demetrius, Lysander,

Both Lysander and Demetrius love Hermia, but we all wonder how true Demetrius love is for Hermia. Demetrius recently left Helena to be with Hermia. Probably because her father has more power or maybe he just got tired of the same person and decided he wanted something new. Lysander however, wooed Hermia with poems and flowers. Then comes the love triangle that happens when Demetrius and Lysander are drugged. There love suddenly shifts to Helena who thinks that she is getting mocked. “She cannot take advantage of it because she assumes that she is the butt of a joke.” (Garner) “Shakespeare explores how people tend to fall in love with those who appear beautiful to them. People we think we love at one time in our lives can later seem not only unattractive but even repellent. For a time, this attraction to beauty might appear to be love at its most intense, but one of the ideas of the play is that real love is much more than mere physical attraction.”

Love does not come with a flashing warning sign. It is something that just happens without warning. It can be slow but most of all it hits us out of nowhere. I think that Shakespeare is saying that the poison that was given will make the boys fall for the first person that they lay eyes upon. However, that reminds me of cupid and his arrows. Love can you smack you in the face at times whether you are falling in or falling out of love. It is something that you cannot control. It always happens