A Midsummer Night's Dream Blogpost #2

The point of A Midsummer Night's Dream is that with love come chaos, craziness, and silliness. Love should not be taken as seriously as it is in the play, as everything will fall in its place. While the main characters Hermia, Helena, Lysander and Demetrius are transfixed on the idea of love as the sole reason for life, Shakespeare comically downplays this notion by introducing the craftsmen and the fairies who both contribute to the chaos involved in the play. As the love potion is implemented we see that not even the power of true love can overcome its strength as Lysander and Demetrius both fall deeply in love with Helena against their will.  Even at the end of the play we see that, in order to balance out the love triangle, Demetrius is left under the spell of the love potion. This displays the sense of balance that derives from the chaotic state that is love.

Demetrius is the most changed character of the play. As the play begins he is caught in a love triangle with Lysander and Hermia. While in the end of the play Lysander ends up with Hermia just as was planned in the beginning, Demetrius who was chasing after Hermia ends up with Helena, due to the love potion, who was chasing him from the beginning. As everyone else shakes off the love potion as an illusion or dream from the night before, Demetrius is stuck loving Helena in order to balance out the love scenario. Demetrius’ character does not change much throughout the play even though his sense of love is altered. He was only unfortunate enough to be the only one that remained tainted by the potion. While Shakespeare wanted to show the craziness of love and downplay its seriousness, Demetrius was left changed by the potion against his will and therefore does not let things fall into place for him as they did for everyone else.

For further understanding of Demetrius’ character, the following passage highlights his actions and words as it shows how the love potion altered his life.

           

Lines  162 – 176

Lysander: You are unkind, Demetrius; be not so; For you love Hermia; this you know I know. And here, with all good will, with all my heart, In Hermia’s love I yield you up my part; and yours of Helena to me bequeath, Whom I do love, and will do till my death.

Helena: Never did mockers waste more idle breath.

Demetrius: Lysander, keep thy Hermia; I will none. If e’er I lov’d her, all that love is gone. My heart to her but as guest-wise soujourn’d, and now to Helen is it home return’d, there to remain.

Lysander: Helen, it is not so

Demetrius: Disparage not the faith thou dost not know, Lest, to thy peril, thou aby it dear. Look where thy love comes; yonder is thy dear.

This excerpt displays the effects the love potion had on Demetrius. At this point in the play Demetrius has just been poisoned and is now confessing his love for Helen. Lysander has also fallen for Helen through the love potion and now is in a conflict with Demetrius over who really loves her. From this point outward Demetrius remains under the spell of the love potion and solves the problem of the love triangle by being with Helen. With all the chaos surrounding the play, this is the only change from the beginning. The potion creates the solution to the love triangle problem but fails to let love happen naturally.