Midsummer Night's Dream Love

Love does not run smoothly for the lovers in the romantic comedy, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” written between the years 1590–1596 by the prominent, English playwright; William Shakespeare. The play revolves around four lovers that each faces incessant complications for love. Demetrius, Hermia, and Lysander are trapped in a triangle of love in which Demetrius and Lysander both love Hermia, but Hermia’s heart only belongs to Lysander. Helena is not involved in the love triangle, but loves Demetrius, which—traditional to any love predicament—does not love her back. To Demetrius’ avail, Hermia’s father [Egeus] tries to coerce Hermia to marry his choice [Demetrius] or yield to the law of Athens and face the sanction of death or (suggested by Theseus

At the beginning of the play, Theseus is planning their wedding day, which will take place in four days. Theseus himself is exuberant to get married and he is vexed with the moon as the days seem to go by slow: “She [the moon] lingers my desires” (1:1, 4). Hippolyta is not as excited to get married, but she is still grateful to have Theseus as her husband. Everything seems dandy up until the audience learns some background information about their relationship’s origin. Hippolyta is formerly the Queen of the Amazons up until Theseus defeats her army and takes her captive. He says he won Hippolyta’s love with his sword by showing how powerful and dauntless he is: “Hippolyta, I woo’d thee with my sword, / And won thy love, doing thee injuries” (1:1, 17–18). Presumably, Hippolyta acquiesced to Theseus’ proposal merely so she could keep her life. This is not stated directly, but it can be implied as she is not as excited about getting married to Theseus and she always lets Theseus do all the talking when they are together (except when commenting on the mechanical’s play at the end), which shows she acts more submissive towards Theseus. Despite this, they still seem to be a better example of love when compared to the other messed up relationships in the play; however, the audience’s opinion is altered at the end of the play,

When the audience first sees the King and Queen of the fairies appear, they are in discord over a changeling boy. Arguing is a natural aspect of a relationship and people are meant to disagree with each other as everyone is entitled to their own opinions; however, introducing a couple during times of anger is not the best way to express a healthy relationship in a play. In this relationship, Oberon is the one who makes their relationship seem as a horrible example of true love as he is selfish, obstinate, and jealous. These are all poor attributes to have when involved in any sort of relationship. Oberon merely thinks of himself as he does not regard Titiania’s perspective of the changeling boy. Titania is loyal to her friend, who passes away during child birth in which Titania takes her child away to protect it and nurture it as the child’s mother was a part of Titania’s order. Oberon wants the child to become his knight and he does not care what Titania wants. He is jealous of the boy and furious when Titania refuses to give him the changeling boy. At that point, Oberon plans to seek revenge for her disobedience: “Thou shalt not from this grove / Till I torment thee for thus injury” (2:1, 148–149). In a healthy relationship, one should never seek revenge for the other, especially over nugatory matters. Oberon views Titania as more of his slave than his wife as he expects her to do