There are, and always have been, a variety of different types of love, the most prominent and desired is true love, this includes two people who truly love each other, and is often linked with marriage, nowadays. Married love is the love between two more mature lovers where their love for each other is shown in a variety of manners. Young love is seen as true love to the people involved, who are often teenagers, who can be naïve about what they feel love is. This type of love can be applied to Lysander and Hermia at the beginning of the play.
It is shown that even though Egeus is pressuring his daughter into an arranged marriage with someone she doesn’t love, he is affectionate to her, this is considered parental love; between a parent and child. This type of love is unrelated to sexual relations in any way.
Friendship is a kind of love which is primarily linked with affection and loyalty between people who know each other well.
Marriage was seen as very important to ensure financial security; did this make marriage more important than today’s marriage based on love, friendship and caring. Love and marriage are both very significant and important features in people’s lives, then and now. Marriage in our society is just as important but for different reasons. We choose who we want to marry and therefore often have to work to keep a marriage going.
In Act 1 Scene 1 we are introduced to the basic theme of love and enchantment through the love between Hermia and Lysander. Hermia is willing to defy her father at risk of death; this show that they are truly in love. Shakespeare shows in the conversation between Hermia and Helena, who is a better match for Demetrius.
“the more I hate, the more he follows me.”
“the more I love, the more he hateth me.”
(Act 1: Scene 1)(Hermia-Helena)
This introduction outlines the main plot within the play, we are shown that the play is going to be confusing, this reflects the nature of the main theme in the play; love.
When all the lovers, Hermia, Helena, Demetrius and Lysander, are in the woods; the actions of the members of the fairy world are shown. We had been previously informed that the actions and feelings of Oberon and Titania affect the mortal world; their argument made the weather on the mortal world worse.
Lysander is affected by the magic juice, which makes him feel love and affection towards Helena when we all know he is really in love with Hermia. This is due to a mistake by Puck; who was told to.
“thou shalt know the man,
By the Athenian garments he hath on.”
(Act 2: Scene 1)(Oberon)
Puck is unaware that there are four people in the woods, two of them gentlemen wearing Athenian clothes. It is Puck that places the juice in the eyes of the wrong person, Lysander. He is not really in love with Helena, which she believes; but Helena feels that Lysander is mocking her; unaware that he feels he is in love with her; although we know he is not. It was an unfortunate mistake, Puck was meant to put the magic juice in the eyes of Demetrius in order to make him love Helena as this would balance the situation; two couples where each person in the couple loves the other. Balance is what is being strived for throughout by the fairy world and the affect the mortal world in order to achieve this. When Lysander is affected by the drug and shows his affection towards Helena; Hermia is confused that this man who she was willing to defy her father for would act in such a way; openly displaying love for someone else.
In act 3, scene 2, Hermia falls into farther isolation as Demetrius is affected by the drug and falls in love with Helena. We see that the balance has now been changed from two men in love with Hermia, to both men feeling love for Helena. The audience is assured that this will return to normal; we see that this is possible because the situation was caused by magic.
The love between Helena and Demetrius is intriguing; Helena is obsessed, and infatuated with Demetrius, who has had an affair with Hermia and still feels for his old flame. We can see that displayed when Helena informs him of Hermia and Lysander’s plan to meet in the woods; he seems more interested in finding Hermia than he is about the person who told him this information. Helena follows Demetrius as he treks into the woods to find the eloping couple, Hermia and Lysander.
We can see how infatuated Helena is by Demetrius in Act 2, Scene 1 when she claims
“I am your spaniel, and Demetrius,
The more you beat me, I will fawn on you.
Use me but as your spaniel;”
(Act 2: Scene 1)(Helena)
This shows that she is willing to do anything just to be near Demetrius, even though she is aware that he loves Hermia. This is why she is confused, and accuses him of mocking her when he is treated with the love juice, and displays affection for her. She rejects his advances as she feels they are false; which they are n a manner but Demetrius feels that they are real.
“O Helen, goddess, nymph, perfect, divine,
To what my love, shall I compare this eyne?...”
“O spite! O hell! I see you all are bent
To set against me, for your merriment:”
(Act 3: Scene 2)(Demetrius – Helena)
Even though Demetrius displays his love in this manner, Helena still feels that she is the victim of some sick practical joke.
In act 4, scene 1; all disorder is reconciled and explained, the four young lovers are now in love with who they respectively should be. Hermia and Lysander, Helena and Demetrius. They marry at the end, much to Egeus’ dislike as his daughter did not marry the suitor which he chose and believed in.
It is with the subject of the wedding between Theseus and Hippolyta that we are introduced to this play. The Duke of Athens is going to marry Hippolyta due to the fighting of a war between the Amazons and the Athenians, which Theseus won, and had Hippolyta betrothed to him. This couple are the subject of many arguments between Oberon and Titania, king and queen of the fairies. They accuse each other of having affairs with Theseus and Hippolyta. I believe that Oberon and Titania are really in love but they do not show it in its traditional form, they argue yet they always make up.
One more situation which we see an unbalanced view is when Titania falls in love with Bottom (with an asses head). The audience see this as a humorous intervention; and that it will inevitably sort itself out, as balance has to be redressed.
Puck is major character in the play; he is Oberon’s servant and his figure of misrule. He obeys Oberon’s orders to the letter yet he does make mistakes, or do these ‘accidents’ happen on purpose, it is not concluded whether Puck is merely naïve and easily confused, or whether he makes this situation occur due to his mischievous side.
So, throughout this play we can see that Shakespeare focuses on many types of love, and that he displays his use of each kind in a humorous and intriguing way. Hermia and Lysander are truly in love, we can see this by their willingness to defy Egeus. Demetrius and Helena have a love which is much one sided; this love comes from infatuation and obsession on Helena’s part. They are in love but they needed some assistance to help them achieve it. Titania and Oberon have a more complicated love, they continually bicker, but when they have their good times they are very passionate. Love within the fairy world is going to be treated differently to that in the mortal world.
I think that Shakespeare was illustrating the view that love is fickle. The situation of using the juice from a plant as a magical potion shows this to be true; the juice represents all the little things in the mortal world, in Shakespearian times , that would make someone love another person, and that they would easily change their mind when a third person is seen to have more of this quality.
I do believe that this play is still relevant in today’s society, because the small things which attract one person to another still exist, even though they may be different things i.e. If you’re attracted to someone with a car; you mind will be easily changed when someone appears with a better model. I believe that this play will be relevant for all time to come as the subject of love still intrigues many people, and an analysis of it like this one would be helpful to those people.