A sweet Athenian lady is in love
With a disdainful youth; anoint his eyes,
But do it when the next thing he espies
May be the lady”(Shakespeare, II.i.25).
Oberon demands that Puck must put the flower on the Athenian man’s eyes. Oberon wants Demetrius to fall in love with Helena. But something goes wrong: “What has thou done? Thou hast mistaken quite/ and laid the love juice on some true-love’s sight.”(III.ii.43). Oberon realizes that Puck put the potion on Lysander instead of Demetrius. Now Lysander loves Helena. Oberon decides to make things right and puts the flower on Demetrius. Demetrius is now in love with Helena: “O Helen, goddess, nymph,/ perfect divine!/ To what, my love, shall I compare thine eyne?”(III.ii.44). Demetrius is now calling Helena beautiful when he just recently could not stand her. Demetrius only loves Helena because of a flower. Two young men love the same girl only because of a fairy. The fairies also play this trick on Titania and Bottom.
The flower juice makes Titania, the fairy queen, fall in love with an ass. Oberon gets mad with Titania and wants to get back at her Oberon puts the potion on Titania.: “When thou wak’st it is thy dear:/ wake when some vile is near”(II.ii.27). Oberon wants Titania to wake up with something atrocious is close. Titania is asleep and is suddenly woken by an ass singing: “And thy fair virtue’s force doth move me/ on the first view to say, to swear, I love thee”(III.i.37). Titania wakes up and is instantly in love with Bottom, transformed as an ass. Titania doesn’t have a reason for loving Bottom she just does because of the flower. Oberon and Puck think that the plan is going better than they thought: “And sweet Pyramus translated there;/ when in that moment (so it came to pass)/ Titania wak’d and straight away loved an ass” (III.ii.41). Pyramus fell in love unplanned and Titania fell in love with an ass. When Oberon and Puck realize what they did they try to make it so it never happened.
Oberon and Puck cast a spell on the Athenian lovers, Titania, and Bottom to make everything that just happened seem like a dream. “When they wake, all this derision shall seem a dreamed fruitless vision and back to Athens shall the lovers wend”(III.ii.53). The Athenians wake up having trouble remembering what happened. But they do know whom they love. Demetrius loves Helena and Lysander loves Hermia. The same situation happens to Bottom: “I have had a dream, pass the wit of man to say what dream it was. Man is but an ass, if he go about t’ expound this dream”(IV.ii.66). Bottom is explaining his dream with his friends. Bottom has a different approach on how to deal with the confusion; he wants to make a play out of it. The final speech of the play is spoken by Puck: “ While these visions did appear and this weak and idle theme no more yielding but a dream” (V.i.85). Puck addresses the audience. Puck wants the Audience to pretend the play was a dream if they did not like the play.
Forcing love causes confusion though dreams. The Athenian lovers fall in love with the wrong person because of the love potion Oberon and Puck put on them. Helena loves Demetrius but he doesn’t love her back. Oberon tells Puck to put the flower juice on Demetrius but he accidently puts it on Lysander. Oberon realizes the mistake and put the potion on Demetrius also. Now two guys love the same girl. Oberon gets mad at his wife and puts the love juice on her hoping she that wakes up when something gross is near. When Titania wakes up she see’s bottom transformed as an ass. Titania falls in love with a donkey. The fairies decide to reverse what has happened so they make everything seem like it was a dream, even for the audience.
