Love, Lust and their Extremes When a man or woman falls in love, they take on a subconscious responsibility; the vow that they will do and say anything to get the lover back. Today humans are capable of luring, seducing, stealing, stalking, and in the immeasurable love that many feel they may even commit the act of murder. In doing these actions, one devotes himself to the relationship, in the sense that he is proving that he is passionate and cares for his significant other. The feeling that a significant other, or a spouse would do anything to a certain extent can be spine tingling. In the beginning of the play Lysander possibly risks losing Hermia to the wishes of her father, Egeus.
“As she is mine, and I may dispose of her; Which shall be either too marry this gentleman Or to her death, according to our law.” (I. i. 41-43) Hermia risks death from the malevolence of Egeus. She is devoted to Lysander in such a way that never seeing her father again and running away with Lysander to get married is the better alternative than to be put to death or marry Demetrius.
In the play A Midsummer Nights’ Dream, both Hermia and Helena go to certain immoderate acts to keep their love for Lysander and Demetrius. As one starts to read the play, he realizes that Helena is completely fixated on Demetrius, and that Demetrius is in love with Hermia. After Lysander and Hermia flee Athens together, Helena admits to Demetrius that they have run off together. He, Demetrius, without any ado, ran to the woods in search of Lysander and Hermia. Helena, from her own will, trails behind Demetrius watching him with adoration. As they walk in the forest, Demetrius degrades and humiliates Helena, while she answers his spiteful replies, with love and affection.
The Essay on Helena Demetrius Love Hermia
... which she does not love. Instead, she has fallen for Lysander. To agitate further, Helena is madly in love with Demetrius, who treats her as ... me for your merriment? (345). When she finally encounters Demetrius and Hermia, she questions the decency of their motives? Have not set ... ? But fare ye well. ? Tis partly my own fault, which death, or absence, soon shall remedy? (346). Fortunately, as with all ...
“Tempt me not the hatred of my soul, For I am sick when I look on thee.”And I am sick when I look not on thee.” (II. i. 211-213) Helena goes to an extreme, in taking all the flagrant comments imparted by Demetrius. Taking the abuse from another is an extreme that lovers go through even today, while one debases another he or she will in all probability take the verbal exploitation and still love him. As Helena indulges the maltreatment, she still fawns over Demetrius and meets his every whim, except when he asks for her to get lost in the forest. “I’ll run from thee and hide me in the brakes And leave thee to the mercy of the wild beasts.” (II.
i. 227-228) Helena’s understanding of love was most likely derived from the amount of love given to her as a youth, and also the way the love was publicized. Helena felt that it was customary for a woman to be put down and for the women to stand by him through his horrible comments and through his atrocious replies. Hermia has more of a traditional understanding of love. Hermia would be a woman who would put the name of her lover in a circle instead of a heart because hearts can break, but circles go on forever. She did not except the ridicule of a lover because she was not raised in a milieu that educated love to be one-sided.
Hermia knew exactly what she was doing when she flouted against Egeus. She knew what the repercussions would be if she were caught with Lysander in the forest; either death (according to the law of Athens) or she would have to become a nun. .”.. I do beseech your grace that I may know The worst that may befall me in this case, If I refuse to marry Demetrius…
So will I grow, so live, so die my lord, Ere I will yield my virgin patent up Unto his lordship, whose unwished yoke My soul consents not to give sovereignty.” (I. i. 62-82) In act two scene two, after Puck has placed the potion on Lysander, Hermia becomes bewildered at this brash change in his emotions. She does not understand why he had a whole new set of feelings for her best friend Helena. As well as Hermia, Helena is equally mystified at this abrupt demeanor of Lysander.
The Essay on Reason And Love Hermia Helena Lysander
... Lysander and Hermia are in love, but Demetrius also loves Hermia. To make matters worse Helena loves Demetrius. And finally Ege us, Hermia's father, wants her to be with Demetrius, not Lysander. ... see the four lovers in love with all of the wrong people. Lysander and Demetrius not only fall out of love with Hermia, but also act ...
These feelings of Hermia are much like the outlook an individual might have in this day and age. A person today might take his way of behaving one step further, and commit a crime of assault and battery on his lover or the one that changed the lovers’ feelings. Between all of the lovers in the play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Demetrius took his actions the furthest, when he was made aware of the fleeing of Lysander and “his” Hermia, he went into the woods in search of them so he could kill Lysander and bring Hermia back. “Where is Lysander and fair Hermia? The one I’ll slay, and the other slay eth me. Thou told ” st they were stol’n unto this wood.” (II. i.
189-191) When Cupids’ love concoction is positioned on Demetrius and is never removed from him it is an instantaneous love between him and Helena. Demetrius only loved Helena because of the potion that was situated on him by fault of Puck and Oberon. Helena, too amazed over the fact that Demetrius was in awe over her, was too shallow to notice that it was a fictitious emotion of love given from him. As for Lysander, his love for Hermia was authentic. He loved her in such a way that only a immortal love liquid remedy could come between the love he felt for Hermia.
In scene one, act one, Lysander was trying to sway to Egeus to believe that he would have made a better husband for Hermia. “I am, my lord, as well derived as he, As well possessed; my love is more than his; My fortunes every way as fairly ranked [If not with vantage] as Demetrius’… Upon this spotted and inconsistent man.” (I. i. 99-110) Theseus and Egeus have similar ways at looking at love. They both deem the man as the one who owns the woman (which was the case in the Shakespearian times).
Egeus believed that Hermia was his property and it did not matter if he killed her because she was his property. Theseus was not discussed thoroughly in the play, but it did give the hint that he was controlling because he agreed with Egeus, with the “a woman is a man’s property” spiel. Not much else can be said about these two men because; neither were depicted in the play well enough to make assumptions. As humans we have an instinct to tell us that we must do anything to keep the ones we love. Whether it is a child or a parent or a friend or a lover, we have the need to keep them in our lives. In many cases, the more extreme the deed to keep the lover, the more likely that one loses him or her.
The Essay on Patriarchal Society Love Hermia Hippolyta
... father should be as a god-... Demetrius is a worthy Gentleman Hermia. So is Lysander... I do entreat Your Grace to pardon ... her opinion for the man she will love in marriage Helena, the shunned lover of Demetrius, is a quiet, forgiving, and wholehearted ... Williams Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream," many of the play's female characters have strong similarities and differences among one another. ...
In rare antonymic cases, humans use the extremes to get out of love. If the characters in this play heard that, they might ask; why? Why would someone want to escape from love? That is a question that is pondered by many. Throughout this play extremes were used to confine the other person into the game of love. When a person falls in love it should be for the right reasons; not because it was forced upon that person, but because love has developed within. A Midsummer Nights Dream; Shakespere.
