Love Stories Never Change: Themes of Shakespeare

Mayeaux, Joseph

Dr Davis

HUMN 142

18 October 2017

Love Stories Never Change: Themes of Shakespeare

Throughout time we note that love stories tend to run along the same path.  Why is that? Part of the reason behind this is that love is an immortal emotion; it has been in existence since humans have been capable of free thought and will continue to endure.  Love also transcends culture and can be displayed in both verbal and non-verbal methods; it is a universal emotion.  One thing that also goes along with it is the struggle of love, the struggle of finding love and the struggle of catching those you do love. One of the timeless tales is that of William Shakespeare and his wonderful tome of prose known as A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Love is at the forefront of this play with the opening act having the Duke Theseus being addressed by one of his nobles, Egeus, about his daughter, Hermia, who is refusing to marry the man she is instructed to marry, Demetrius. Hermia’s objections are not without merit, she is already in love with another, Lysander, and as luck shows he loves her back.  Hermia and Lysander conspire to run off and elope away from her father’s grasp:

And to that place the sharp Athenian law

Cannot pursue us. If thou lovest me, then,

Steal forth thy father’s house tomorrow night;

And in the wood, a league without the town /

There I will stay for thee.

                (1.1.162-65, 68)

Hermia tells her friend, Helena, of this plan but as it happens Helena is in a one-way love relationship with Demetrius, she in turn tells him of this.  We see this as a common theme of the struggle of love throughout literature, as many of us are aware of basic arithmetic we find the humorous situation of one woman with too many suitors and one with too few. As the first two lovers attempt to elope the others give chase, off into the woodlands outside of town, where unbeknownst to them there is a fairy royal court residing for the evening, which we see adds further complications to love.

        The Fairy King Oberon, along with his henchmen are in the woods near the 4 lovers from before, the Fairy Queen Titania and her court is also in the woods.  The king and queen are at point that many relationships hit, another theme of love we can relate, where they are in a disagreement with each other.  This comes from Oberon’s infatuation with a child under the care of Titania “Why should Titania cross her Oberon? I do but beg a little changeling boy. To be my Henchman.” (2.1.118-121). He wants the child to be his page but she has promised to raise the boy as he is the son of one of her followers that died.  This is another common trait in relationships, the concept of jealousy, even though the type of love is different between the queen and the boy, it is perceived to detract from the love of husband and wife.

As the story progresses we see something that many people lusting after another wishes they had, a love potion.  King Oberon directs one of his fairies, Puck, to use a potion derived from a flower that is applied to a person’s sleeping eyes in order to have his wife fall in love with another so that he may steal the child, in addition to this and since they are in close proximity, the king has Puck seek out Demetrius and have him fall in love with Helena by use of the potion.  As it happens Puck has never seen him and only has the description of “Thou shalt know the man by the Athenian garments he hath on.” (2.2.264-65), and mistakenly applies the lotion to Lysander who is sleeping in the woods nearby.  This continues on with chaotic meddling from the fairies where it transforms into a tangled mess of both men lusting after Helena and Queen Titania lusting after a man that has the head of a donkey.  This is reminiscent of a lesson that many of us learn, and is reinforced throughout literature, you cannot force love.  

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