Mind And The Mind In A Midsummer Night's Dream

In all modern forms of media (cartoons, movies, books), the distinction between the mind and the heart is always prevalent. Oftentimes, characters have to make a decision that involves choosing what their heart wants, not what their mind wants; or being instructed by antagonists to do the opposite. Humans have always had difficulties making decisions that satisfy themselves, while also doing what those around them want. Through these struggles, the media we are absorbing takes us on a journey through the landscape of a human’s mind, where the battle between primal, subconscious urges are present via struggles of the heart, while the necessity to be severe and follow laws are upheld with the intellectual brain. In William Shakespeare's play

In act I, Egeus bursts into the Duke of Athens’ home with a problem he cannot solve himself. His daughter Hermia is in love with a man named Lysander, but Egeus wants her to marry Demetrius, the man he has chosen for her, who is also in love with her. Duke Theseus refuses to force Hermia to choose her father’s path, but he reminds her that “your father should be as a god,”(1.1.47) and his opinion is his rule over her. In this scene, we learn a lot about the laws of Athens, particularly those that surround the topic of marriage and choice. Due to Egeus’s vexation at the fact that his daughter refuses to follow his orders, he exercises, “the ancient privilege of Athens. 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.” (1.1.41-45). As Hermia’s father he can either force her to do as he says or he can have her killed. In Athens, it is legal to kill your daughter if she does not do as you say. This is the first glimpse we get of how restricting the human world is, Hermia and Lysander cannot follow the will of their hearts, they are prevented by the minds of other people. Later, when Hermia and Lysander are lamenting about their misfortune, Lysander has an epiphany: “I have a widow aunt...From Athens is her house remote seven leagues...There,

While in the forest, Hermia and Lysander, as well as Demetrius and Helena (Hermia’s best friend who is in love with Demetrius) all get wind up in the forest and end up falling in and out of love, as well as getting into fights with each other. Once our main lovers enter the forest, trouble comes upon them almost immediately when Lysander says “Fair love, you faint from wandering in the wood. And to speak troth, I have forgot our way.” (2.2.42-43). The two have spent a day in the forest and they have already gotten lost, which shows the forest’s confusing nature. Meanwhile, Nick Bottom, a member of a theatre troupe who has decided to practice in the forest for privacy, also admits to the confusing nature of the wood: “But if I had wit enough to get out of this wood, I have enough to serve mine own turn.” (3.1. 127-8). He can’t find his way out, and the Queen of the Fairies, Titania, is preventing him from doing so, but the ambiguous character of the forest itself is made up of how it can turn respectable individuals into children who initiate brawls. This is because it brings out the basis of human instinct in a person. For all four, they are in a constant of high energy, at first they are all in love with each other, Lysander and Hermia are running away to get married, Demetrius is chasing after Hermia, and Helena is chasing after Demetrius. Then, Puck accidentally makes both of the