It's as if Shakespeare is ridiculing love and how fickle people can be. Although it is known that during the time period of A Midsummer Night's Dream marriages were always arranged. Love had nothing to do with it. We learn during the first act that Hermia is in love with Lysander, who is not the suitor that Egeus, her father, had chosen for her. Egeus chose Demetrius to wed his daughter. Regardless of Hermia's love for Lysander, her father had made up his mind whether it meant his daughter's happiness was on the line or not. He didn't care. Hermia decided that she could care less what her father wants, which was more than uncommon for a woman of her time period, and she decides that she would run off to marry the one that she believes is her true love. Usually women of this time period would aim to please their parents, but due to the emotional state of things it's not even considered.
We all know that in reality there are no such things as fairies. I think that's where the ridiculing and toying of the idea of love comes in. The King of Fairies, Oberon, wants revenge on Titania, the Queen of fairies, so he had his attendant, Robin, fetch an herb that would be put in Titania's eyes while she slept and make her fall in love with the first thing she sees, whether it be an animal or something else. In my opinion, true love can't be damaged.
To top it off as far as toying with emotions, we have Helena who knew of Hermia and Lysander's get away and who is madly in love with Demetrius. At one point Helena and Demetrius were engaged to be married and apparently she never got over it, so she decides that she's going to do a little toying of her own. She informs Demetrius about Hermia and Lysander's plans to play with his emotions, which makes him go after them. Helena follows knowing that Demetrius hates her and had made it very clear to her that he would not protect her if anything should happen on their journey through the woods. How cruel is he! Helena's toying of his emotions defintely didn't make him want her anymore than before she gave him the news.
An incident that caught my attention as far as Shakespeare's way of ridiculing love and emotions as well as fickleness was when the herb that was placed in the fairy Queen's eyes was also put in Lysander's eyes while he was sleeping during his journey. The joke was actually on Hermia, because when she awoke after her slumber during their getaway she found that her love was gone. Little did she know that his love for her is no longer. He's in love with Helena.
It seems as though everyone's emotions are fair game in this Shakespearen play. Shakespeare pretty much makes a joke out of love when it comes to the unrealities of the fairies and how emotions are toyed with because of them.
3 comments:
I like this idea that Shakespeare is ridiculing the idea of love. I think it's fair to say that there are so many strange things going on with the characters' love lives that the reader can't help but think about how Shakespeare feels about the subject. It will be interesting to see where the plot goes, and what it continues to say about his notion of love.
I found the "toying with emotions" to be one of the most unsettling aspects of the play. Not only does a human being not have control over her destiny, in that she has to bow to the demands of her society, but her very desires are being controlled by an outside force. What she wants is not what she wants (as in the case of Lysander.) What's more, even the faeries, the magical creatures, aren't exempt from this. Titania, who is the female with the most agency in the play, will have her desires determined by Oberon's trick. It reminds me of "Inception," a movie I hated because it was nice to look at but completely morally decrepit: imagine having someone penetrate your mind - which is always the last place of self-hood and defense - and manipulate it. At least in A Midsummer Night's Dream it is manipulated for love; in the movie it was manipulated for corporate greed. It's worse than 1984! Although, when I think about it, the same could go for the play, because Oberon is motivated by greed to possess the Indian boy. It's interesting that things Shakespeare explored (dreams, desire, self determination) in the late sixteenth century can still cause people to spend millions of dollars in the early twenty-first century.
I'm not sure Helena tells Demetrius about Hermia and Lysander's meeting in the forest to "toy with his emotions" and take revenge on him. I think she only does it because she wants him to see that Hermia doesn't love him. Helena hopes that afterward Demetrius will be grateful to her for opening his eyes to the truth and fall in love with her instead. There's nothing wrong with telling a guy you like that his crush is planning to elope with her longtime boyfriend—actually, I thought it was nice of Helena to try to free Demetrius from his delusions. Why she would bother with him is beyond me, since she is equal to Hermia in all regards and could easily find a guy more worthy of her affections, but that's an argument I'm not starting here. -_-;
Post a Comment