A Midsummer Night's Dream I-III

A Midsummer Night’s Dream shows the confusing and exhilarating nature of love while also pointing out the fact that true love is rare. From the very beginning of the play when Theseus is confronted with the situation between Hermia and Lysander to the scene in the forest with the confusion between the fairies and mortals, we can see that love plays an integral role in the play, providing both comedy and drama. Shakespeare uses the various love triangles to point out that love is not always a clear-cut, black and white matter.

            Throughout A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Puck’s mischievous nature is used to thoroughly confuse many of the other characters. When we first met Puck, a fairy warns us of his reputation for playing jokes on the mortals and Puck willingly confesses to this saying, “I am that merry wanderer of the night. I jest to Oberon to make him smile…” (lines 43-44). Puck does not seem to have a problem toying with the others’ emotions as we can see when he uses the magic potion to make both Lysander and Demetrius fall in love with Helena, although this is a slight mistake that he attempts to correct. Although mischievous and certainly a little careless, Puck does have a serious side to him in that he is obedient to Oberon and carries out the plans that Oberon concocts. Shakespeare also uses Puck to point out that love (and in some aspects, life) should not be taken so seriously. The most obvious example of this is when Puck transforms Bottom’s head and then uses the magic potion to make Titania fall in love with him. Overall, Puck’s actions exemplify how one can be easily blinded by love. This falls in line with part of Shakespeare’s purpose of the play in that love can be incredibly confusing and bewildering. However, Puck’s character does not show any hope for true love. Rather, we are left hopeless of any possibility for true love after we see how easy it is for the mortals to fall in love with ridiculous characters such as Bottom. The significance in these differences again points to the nature of love itself, showing that it is a complicated matter and that it is hard to be certain about what true love looks like.

The following passage shows Puck’s character (Act III, Scene 2, lines 110-121):

Puck: Captain of our fairy band,

Helena is here at hand,

And the youth, mistook by me,

Pleading for a lover’s fee.

Shall we their fond pageant see?

Lord, what fools these mortals be!

Oberon: Stand aside. The noise they make

Will cause Demetrius to awake.

Puck: Then will two at once woo one;

That must needs be sport alone,

And those things do best please me

That befall prepost’rously.

            This passage highlights how foolish people can be when love is involved. Puck does not appear concerned about their feelings, but instead comments that he likes to see how ridiculous some of his pranks turn out. He approaches love with humor, not taking any of the events or mishaps seriously. This attitude serves two purposes for the overall meaning of the play. First, we see that love is confusing and can blind us to the truth. Second, we can understand that it is okay to not take every action in life seriously. Some things are not worth making a big scene over because it only does more harm than good. An example of this in A Midsummer Night’s Dream is how Egeus is outraged by Lysander’s love for Hermia in the opening scene. Overall, Puck’s view of love is less serious and more direct than the rest of the play. Puck has the ability to make one person fall completely in love with another, no questions asked. In other parts of the play, as is the case with Egeus, there is an example of love that is messy because Hermia is supposed to be in love with Demetrius, but finds herself being wooed by Lysander. Shakespeare separates the two by placing Puck in the setting of a forest. The setting is a clear separation between the two different spectrums and interpretations of love.