Bolen

Lea Bolen

Stephen Slimp

EH 422

24 Feb 2008

What is Love?

What is true love? Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night's Dream deals with the nature of love and reality. Though true love seems to be held up as an ideal, false love is mostly what we are shown. Beneath this frantic comedy, Shakespeare asks the questions that all lovers ask in the midst of their confusion: How do we know when love is real? Is it a matter of luck or destiny? In this play, Shakespeare presents the idea that both false love and true love exist, but the reason is a mystery.

        This comedy plays upon the irony of human confusion with love. Hermia and Lysander are in love without the approval of her father. Hermia says, “I would my father looked but with my eyes” (1.1, 56), so that he would see the good in Lysander and accept their love. However, Hermia’s father intends to give her to Demetrius, who is adored by Helena, though her love for him is unreturned. Hermia believes that if she and Lysander are meant to be together it will happen, therefore indicating the possibility that love is a matter of destiny: “If then true lovers have ever been crossed, / It stands as an edict in destiny” (1.1, 150-151). This being so, Puck takes destiny into his own hands when he enters the confusion. His mission is to open Demetrius’ eyes to the one who loves him, but he mistakenly causes Lysander to fall in love with Helena, while Demetrius remains in love with Hermia. Puck’s act of interfering with love shows the possibility of love being a matter of luck. Shakespeare suggests that Puck is the answer to the question, “Is love a matter of luck or destiny?” therefore only raising the question even more and furthering the confusion. Also, Puck is the reason for the disruption among the lovers, but he ends up being the one who makes everything right.

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        Throughout the play, Shakespeare uses the images of sight and vision to symbolize false love versus true love. He constantly refers to the characters’ eyes as objects of desire and bases of attraction. Helena expresses her jealousy of Hermia’s eyes, “Happy is Hermia, wheresoe’er she lies, / For she hath blessed and attractive eyes” (2.2, 63-64), since Demetrius favors Hermia over herself because he finds her beautiful. Demetrius bases his attraction to Hermia on his eyes—he loves her for her looks. Demetrius bases his opinion of Helena on her looks as well. He says to her, “Tempt not too much ...

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