The nearly whole play is based around the love of the characters. Mature love is shown involving not only raw passion and emotion but also thoughtfulness and forgiveness between the characters. Marriage in the play is shown as loves proper out come and how all relationships should all end up in the end. Where as Oberon's and Titania's relationship how the harmony of the world is effected and upset when their relationship is at a rough time, showing that the spiritual world has powerful purpose of the world, when their relationship is at a good time the world is running smoothly and all is normal, maybe this is why the four nights turn into one because the world and its patterns are disrupted by Titania's and Oberon's arguments. So basically true love results in harmony, but arguments and chaos result when lovers quarrel.
The moon plays an important part in imagery through out the play. Time is measured for all characters by the moon, and its powers on the world, such as how the tides are powered by the moon are stressed through the play. In the play the moon is shown as a mystical object that brings coldness illumination of the earth. Most of the play takes place at night under the moonlight, and to emphasize the mystical element within the play Shakespeare mentions the moon many times, three times as much than in any other of his plays.
Nature within the play is shown as vibrant and bursting with life and activity, even though to the characters within the play and the readers of the play it seems asleep. The fairies are the most powerful element on nature. Their forces are hidden within the natural world. The most beautiful example of this in the play is when Titania's bower is described in 'Act 2, Scene 1' The love poison that Oberon creates plays such an important part within the play, the poison is created from nature and it has the power to make people fall in love at first sight. It is an example of how nature's powers are hidden within. The colours of nature in the play are usually mentioned with birds, fruit and facial features such as eyes and lips.
The action of the play begins with chaos and ends with restoration and order. In Shakespeare time (the Elizabethan era) they saw order through out the world of nature and for them it was an important and respected idea. They believed the order in nature reflected on the order in the world; if their order were unbalanced then nature would also be unbalanced. Without order in the land chaos would reign.
The main characters within the fairy world are Oberon, the king of the fairies, Titania Oberon's queen and Puck Oberon's mischievous servant. Oberon has great magical powers and is the dominant figure in the world of the fairies. Oberon gets jealous easily. For example when Titania refuses to give him her Indian child he gets angry and plays tricks on her, making her fall in love with a donkey. Oberon is also active in the mortal world.
"He steals away from the fairy land"
"The farthest steep in India"
Both quotes from Titania, she also accused him of an affair with Hippolita. Oberon shows the nicer side of him when he releases Titania from under his spell.
Titania the queen of the fairyland, she is described in the play as supremely beautiful, and a woman who is graceful and sensuous. As she makes clear, when she refuses the hand over of the Indian boy to Oberon, as it is a memory of the Indian boy's dead mother. When under her husbands love spell her scenes with bottom, the donkey, are sensual, caring and comic. She too is active in the mortal world. At the end of the play both Oberon and Titania settle their dispute and are reunited as lovers. This gives the play a sense of completeness.
Finally there is Puck Oberon's mischievous servant. He loves to play pranks on humans. He is not very reliable or efficient at carrying out his tasks. For example when he confuses the four lovers and puts the love potion on the wrong lover. Puck never seems to feel regret when he carries out his pranks. His character is based on a traditional folklore figure called Robin Goodfellow. In performance Puck is presented in many different ways. Often a very physical character, with mime as important as speech. He is also often played in a 'naughty school boy' style.
These three characters are some times mirrored into the world of Athens. The actors who play Oberon and Titania also play Theseus and Hippolita. And Puck is mirrored as Theseus's servant.
Shakespeares Love
"The course of true love never did run smooth." (Shakespeare, 1993, pg. 15) Throughout Shakespeare's plays and sonnets, he always seems to describe love as uncontrollable and confusing. In A Midsummer Nights Dream, Shakespeare makes two Athenian youths fight for the love the have for one another. In The Odyssey, Homer portrays an epic about a man who gets lost at sea hoping to one day return to see his love. Both characters fight for their love and do the impossible in order to conquer it. Although in the way, they encounter many bumps in the road, but after that, its all smooth sailing; the course of love, never really could run smoothly.
In A Midsummer Night's dream, Shakespeare really portrays his beliefs in love throughout the mayhem in each of his character's lives. The story of love begins with Hermia, Demetrius, and Lysander. Hermia's father, Egeus, wants her to marry Demetrius who is in love with her, but Hermia's heart belongs to Lysander;she refuses to wed Demetrius. Egeus, wants his daughter forcefully to fall in love with Demetrius, but her heart loves someone else. The course of love her father had for her could never run smoothly because her heart wasn't in agreement with her fathers. "O hell, to choose love by another's eyes!" (Shakespeare, 1993, pg. 17) Hermia expresses her feelings on the situation after her father and the Duke of Athens have come to the agreement that if she does not marry Demetrius, then she is sentences to a nunnery or to death. Hermia loves Lysander but is troubled by the ultimatum her father has descended on her; she then decides to escape into the woods with her love, Lysander. Meanwhile in the woods, another love catastrophe has occurred; Titania, queen of the fairies, gets engaged in a quarrel with Oberon, king of the fairies. Titania has taken a little Indian prince as her attendant which Titania claimed that the boy's mother was a devotee of her before she died. Oberon says that the boy is beautiful and he wants him to make his knight, but Titania won't give up the little boy. Oberon gets furious at this gesture and decides to send his servant, Puck, to put a love spell on Titania so that when she awakens she will fall in love with the first thing she sees; he also advises Puck to put the love spell on an Athenian youth who is in a quarrel of love with the women he is with in the woods. Oberon himself then decides that he will personally go and put the juice from the love flower on Titania's eyes while Puck finishes off his demands. As Titania sleeps, Oberon puts the love spell on her and she falls in love with Bottom, a play writer who was converted into an ass head. "O how I love thee, how I dote thee!" (Shakespeare, 1993, pg. 123) Titania falls in love with a hideous creature, that is only explainable to Oberon and Puck. Once again, the course of love never runs smoothly; Titania is the queen of the fairies, she is beautiful, and then in the path of love, she becomes infatuated with an ass head because to her, love is blind. Oberon and Puck mess up her course or path of love by putting the love spell in her eyes. Once again, Shakespeare demonstrates how love never goes exactly the way you, or others, have planned it. In the other side of the woods, Helena, Hermia's friend, and Demetrius, man in love with Hermia, go into the woods in search for their loved ones. As both couples fall asleep, Puck begins his journey to fulfill his masters desires of making the two Athenian youths fall in love. Puck, thinking Oberon meant Demetrius and Helena, puts the love potion on Demitrius' eyes and when he awoke, he became in love with Helena. After Puck realizes what he did was wrong, he then put the love potion on Lysander's eyes who when awoke also saw Helena at first sight. Now both men were in love with Helena who at the beginning of our story was courted by absolutely nobody. This whole situation is a complexity; everything is going wrong. Once again, Shakespeare uses Puck reflecting the fork in the road of love. Once again love cannot take its course because there is something in the way. Puck messes up all the feelings that each person had for another in the woods; he makes Lysander and Demetrius fall in love with Hermia who loves Lysander. "Why have you grown so rude? What change is this, sweet love?" (Shakespeare, 1993, pg. 101) In this quote, Hermia expresses her confusion towards the whole situation. Lysander begins to act rude towards her because he is now in love with Helena who has always loved him back and is also in disbelief of the whole situation Puck has created. Just as Shakespeare said in his quote,
"The course of true love never did run smooth." (Shakespeare, 1993, pg. 15) nothing is running smoothly in any of these young Athenian youths' love lives.
In sonnet thirty-three, Shakespeare once again describes the odd effects that rise in a mortal when in love by comparing it to different situations in a mortal's life. The sonnet describes an actor forgetting all his lines on stage because he is so infatuated with his maidens love that he cannot remember anything or focus on anything except for the love he is withholding; the actor also becomes tongue-tied in his love's company. In line two, "Who with his fear is put beside his part," the line explains that out of fear, he is distracted from what he is doing and can no longer continue; to put oneself aside and not stand beside oneself, is a state of mental turmoil. Shakespeare also potrays love as a wild beast in a fury thrashing around in futility, unable to achieve anything. In line four, "Whose strength's abundance weakens his own heart," The glut of rage the wild beast has inside gives him a large quantity of strength, but he seems to be lacking sense of direction. Line fourteen truly describes the definition of love in Shakespeare's sonnets, "To hear with eyes belongs to love's fine wit." This line explains how love can make you hear with your eyes what the heart is speaking. Once again we see love as a reverse of everything that is normal to us. We hear with our ears, not our eyes and our heart cannot speak, yet, Shakespeare describes love as a force that is uncontrollable and confusing. Although love is blind, Shakespeare gives the man the ability to hear with his eyes. Love is like a mental turmoil, your body goes into a state of self disagreement because the magnitude for your love is so great.
In The Odyssey, The main character's, Odysseus, love is tested many times to see if his love is still true to his wife which during his journey the course of love never runs smoothly and, he goes through a stage of mental turmoil. When lost at sea, Odysseus encounters many women in which he has love affairs with, yet, After going through all these women, Odysseus still retains Penelope's, his wife, love within him. At the same time, in the palace, Penelope is being courted by many suitors wanting to marry her and takeover the palace believing that Odysseus is already dead. Penelope's love is still strong while she retains the suitors from marrying her and destroying her kingdom. The course of love between these two lovers, didn't run smoothly because the plan was for Odysseus to return home from the Trojan war safe and alive right away, instead, he ended up not coming home until twenty years later. Their love has strong and held together during those years while it was tested many times. The course of love between Penelope and Odysseus ran its course and they ended up together. In this case, their story is exactly what Shakespeare describes in all his sonnets and his plays. Although they have been through some tough times, in the end, they ended up together and in love once again. In the end of A Midsummer Night Dream, Helena ends up with Demetrius, and Hermia with Lysander just as planned. The path love had to take to get there never ran smoothly.
Both Odysseus and the characters Shakespeare creates, have troubles with love and encounter new challenges that may be overcome by love; both succeed. Just as Odysseus and Penelope, Lysander and Hermia had to run away into to woods to keep their love together; Odysseus struggles to stay alive to see his love once again. Both couples of lovers struggle together in order to be able to be together and in love; it was rough, but love got them through it. They realize what love has gotten them thru; and know that their love is true and real. Between Shakespeare and Odysseus, they both send one great message: the road of love has its bumps at first, but after one gets the hang of it, the road becomes smooth.
