Similarities Between Romeo And Juliet And A Midsummer Night's Dream

The plays A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Romeo and Juliet are more similar than they appear. Both, written at the same time, deal with forbidden romance and power and control. One play having a comedic end, while the other ends in tragedy, are partly the same tale with a different outcome. While the romances of both Romeo and Juliet, Hermia and Lysander, and Helena and Demetrius were seemingly doomed from the start, there was one key factor that separates the lovers featured in A Midsummer Night’s Dream from Romeo and Juliet. This key factor has the potential to change a lot, the genre, and the effect on readers. Could this one element missing from Romeo and Juliet have saved the namesake’s love…and life?
The happiness of Hermia and Juliet

Though A Midsummer Night’s Dream takes place over the course of a few days, readers learn the complex histories that intertwine the characters even more, histories that preface the play. “Where I did meet thee once with Helena To do observance to a morn in May, There I will stay for thee.” (AMD. 1.1 167-169) Whereas in Romeo and Juliet, that history is the now. “Is Rosaline, that thou didst love so dear, So soon forsaken?” (Rom. 2. 3. 68-69) “The course of true love never did run smooth;” (AMD. 1.1. 136) While Hermia and Lysander’s romance spawned over a sprawling, treacherous course, Romeo and Juliet’s said true love was an instance, a convenience. Here, Friar Lawrence expresses his doubts to Romeo: “Young men’s love then, lies, Not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes.” (Rom. 2.3. 69-70) versus Helena’s take on love, the type of love featured in A Midsummer Night’s Dream: “Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind,” (MND. 1.1. 7) The relationship between Hermia and Lysander was much more meaningful than that of Romeo and Juliet, as readers feel the connection between them, and themselves, the perfect recipe for a relationship that readers will root

Romeo is seen suffering after Rosaline leaves him. “Lo, here upon thy cheek the stain doth sit Of an old tear that is not washed off yet.” (Rom. 2.3. -78) Here, Hermia expresses her love and her unwillingness to give that love up: “And even for that do I love you the more. I am your spaniel; and, Demetrius, The more you beat me, I will fawn on you, Use me but as your spaniel; spurn me, strike me, Neglect me, lose me; only give me leave, Unworthy as I am, to follow you.” (AMD. 2.1. 202-207) Readers know that Rosaline left Romeo to become a nun, what would have happened to Hermia if she had refused to comply with her father’s wishes. Now I can’t help but wonder, is the story of Romeo and Rosaline a parallel to that of Hermia and Lysander? Romeo’s doom could have been Lysander’s if Hermia and he had not fled Athens. Many believe that Romeo and Juliet is a direct parallel to Hermia and Lysander, but for the reasons above, Rosaline could believably be Romeo’s