Lysander And Hermia example essay topic

1,390 words
The story of A Midsummer Night's Dream was mainly about love and its abnormal dealings. In the play, Shakespeare tried to show that love is unpredictable, unreasonable, and at times is blind. The theme of love was constantly used during the play and basically everything that was said and done was related to the concept of love and its unpredictable ness. Shakespeare made all of the characters interact their lives to be based on each other?'s.

At first, everything was very confusing, and the characters were faced with many different problems. In the end, however, they were still able to persevere and win their true love, the love they were searching for in the first place. The four young lovers each developed in their own ways. Hermia, the daughter of Egeus, was in love with Lysander from the beginning of the play.

However, her father wanted her to marry Demetrius, which he thought was? suitable class for her? Hermia was strong-willed and stubborn. She adamantly refused to be forced in to a marriage with Demetrius. A woman was not allowed to be blatant and rebellious in those times, especially against her father will. Still, Hermia did not care. She said that she will marry the man she loves or she will die unwed.

Egeus is a terrible father to leave Hermia at a decision, which makes her choose between Demetrius? hand in marriage and death. Egeus found Hermia's choice of a husband unacceptable and took her in front of Theseus, the Duke of Athens. Theseus told Hermia that she must obey her father or die. Hermia was lucky that Theseus was also in love and ready to get married otherwise he would have put an end to Hermia's behavior right away. Hermia was not going to give up her growing passion and desire for Lysander. She decided to run off into the woods with Lysander and get married.

The two ran in the woods, got lost, and settled down to rest until the morning. Hermia's love was still deep for Lysander, but she was not comfortable sleeping directly next to him. This showed that she still had her morals in tact and she made him sleep further away from her. As morning came, Lysander awoke before Hermia and, abandoned her because he was under the spell. When Hermia woke up and saw that her true love was missing, she quickly went to find him.

Hermia never gave up on her love for Lysander. She only wanted him and nothing was going to stop her. Astonishingly she was able to pass all of the obstacles in her way and still retain the love for Lysander. Lysander on the other hand was not able to hold on to his love for Hermia during the time in the woods. In the beginning he started out madly in love with Hermia and unable to hide his true feelings for her. He was forced by the spell to forget about Hermia and instead he wanted her friend Helena, because of the nectar in his eyes, which made him fall in love with the first person he sees (intervention of supernatural, to change destiny).

Lysander chased Helena and begged for her love. The spell from the nectar caused Lysander to take a totally different view on his life. Now, he wanted Helena and he could not even stand to look at Hermia. When Hermia finally found them all in the woods, Lysander told her that he hated her. She was crushed and did not believe what was happening. Lysander showed no emotion and continued to try to get love from Helena.

This was not the same Lysander that was in the beginning of the play. He used to sing to Hermia and read her poems. Now he could not even look at her or talk to her. She did not know that Lysander was not acting on his own actions; rather he was under a deep spell. Only when the spell was reversed would Lysander be able to reconfirm his love for Hermia. Then Lysander became his old self again.

Demetrius was tied in to this love circle from the start of the play. He was supposed to receive Hermia as his wife. His love for her did not appear to be? solid? It seemed, as if he were more in love with the fact that Egeus wanted him as a son-in-law rather that Lysander.

Demetrius would not give up on Hermia and he went to find her in the woods with Helena chasing at his side. His goal was to find Hermia and? push Lysander out of the picture? Then he could lose Helena in the woods and bring Hermia home with him. Demetrius was successful in finding Hermia and he restated his love for her. She still would not submit to his pleas and cries for love. Instead she accused him of murdering Lysander.

After that accusation, Hermia ran off in the woods and left Demetrius heart broken and depressed again. As he lay asleep in the woods, Puck came and placed the nectar on Demetrius' eyes. When Demetrius woke up he was in love with Helena. The spell made him forget about Hermia and only want Helena. As the play came to a conclusion, Demetrius was able to marry Helena, the woman he loved prior to all the chaos. Helena had the most problems out of the four young lovers.

She was in love with Demetrius from the start, yet she could not get him to love her back. Helena was persistent and aggressive. She followed Demetrius into the woods as he tried to find Lysander and Hermia. Demetrius yelled at her and mocked her, but her love was so strong that she did not give up. Lost alone in the woods, Helena stumbled upon Lysander and woke him up from his sleep. Lysander then fell in love with her.

She was very puzzled and knew that Hermia still loved him. As he continued describing his unconditional love for her, Helena ran away because she thought that he was making fun of her. Then Helena ran in to Demetrius who also was put under a spell. Now all of the sudden he was in love with her too.

Helena lashed out at both of them. She knew that they both were in love with Hermia and she could not understand why they were suddenly both pretending to be in love with her. She automatically thought that they were making fun of her. When Hermia entered in the midst of this, Helena's anger was heightened. Eventually all of the spells were correctly placed because of the fairies (once again supernatural intervention) and Helena got her true love Demetrius. All four lovers returned to Athens, uncertain as to whether the night's events were real or only dream.

This was amusing because Helena, Hermia, Lysander, and Demetrius were all used like pawns in a chess game. The fairies played them all against each other and in the end they each were reunited with the lover of their choice. The play ended with both couples getting married at the wedding of Theseus and Hippolyte. It was ironic that the three weddings all took place at the same time. After they were married, the three couples waited for a night of entertainment before they went up to sleep. The play "Paramus and This by? was performed so poorly that all of the guests and the couples themselves were hysterical with laughter.

This was a much-needed form of comic relief. It lightened the mood and ended the play on a happy note. A Midsummer Night's Dream focused on the common man and the common woman and the predicaments of love. The final resolution to this story proved that no matter what happens, love conquers all..