What Is The Force Of Love In A Midsummer Night's Dream

Rose Sabalvaro

Ms. Check

English 9

04/29/23

The Indomitable Emotion; Love in a Midsummer Night’s Dream

American author Zora Neale Hurston once said, "Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place.” The force of love over any other emotion is consistently exhibited throughout the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream, written by the notorious William Shakespeare. When Titania, queen of the fairies, becomes besotted with commoner Nick Bottom, her affection causes her to disregard her status and completely fawn over him. Helena, a young Athenian woman, and her steadfast devotion to Demetrius, the boy of her affection, causes her to disregard any rationality. She demonstrates that love causes people to act insane and further reinstates love’s powerfulness.

Towards the beginning of the play, we see that despite Helena’s deep devotion to Demetrius, he is betrothed to and in love with her best friend Hermia, who is in love with another man named Lysander. Because Hermia and Lysander cannot be together in their hometown of Athens, they devise a plan to run away to the woods to elope, and when Hermia tells Helena, she decides to tell Demetrius because “if I have thanks, it is a dear expense; But herein mean I to enrich my pain, To have his sight thither, and back again” (I, I, 247). Helena is so desperate to acknowledge Demetrius that she puts only his brief validation before any other relationship. Later, she follows Demetrius when he searches for Lysander and Hermia; when Demetrius brutally attempts to brush Helena off, she responds by telling him, "I am your spaniel; and, Demetrius, The more you beat me, I will fawn on you." (II, I, 204). Helena is so irrevocably in love with Demetrius that she explicitly states that she would welcome him dehumanizing her, showing that she will limitlessly stoop to any level for his attention. Even Demetrius comments on Helena’s irrational patheticness as their conversation persists, implying her foolishness to trust the opportunity of the night, and the ill counsel of a desert place, with the rich worth

Hermia is in love with Lysander and therefore refuses to marry the man chosen for her by her father, Egeon: Demetrius. In response to this, Egeon brings all three of them and themselves before the king of Athens, threatening Hernia by reminding him that “as she is mine, I may dispose of her; Which shall be either to this gentleman Or to her death, according to our law” (I, i. 42). Despite knowing the dire consequences that come with not obeying her father, Hermia willfully disobeys him any way she cares so deeply for Lysander. After that meeting is adjourned, Hermia and Lysander find themselves alone; then, Lysander asks Hermia to run off to the woods with him so they can be married. In response to this request, Hermia says, “My good Lysander, I swear to thee by Cupid’s strongest bow, In that same place thou hast appointed me, Tomorrow truly will I meet with thee” (I.i.169). The woods are unsafe, and if anybody were to catch Hermia alone with Lysander, it would immediately stain her reputation. Additionally, the two of them running away to marry one another breaks every rule, and Hermia consciously disregards every obligation she has; it is a testament to Hermia’s love for Lysander and the power that she accepts his offer. Throughout the play, love potions are used on Demetrius and Lysander to make them