Blog Post #2 Midsummer Night's Dream

Reid Farber

English 126

 Blog Post #2: Desire to Love

            The point of the first three acts of William Shakespeare’s play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream is that love is an obsession that can dictate one’s emotions, blinding reasonable thought. The persistence of a character, usually a woman, to challenge marriage rights for true love is common in many works of drama. The old English values of strict sexuality and formal acquisition of love are being challenged by Hermia. She is defiant against her father although she will face death if she does not marry Demetrius, the man Hermia’s father has assigned her to marry. Furthermore, Shakespeare condones this madness of sexual desire between the characters of a younger generation but is also partially highlighting this lust in a satirical way.

            Helena’s actions throughout the first three acts of the play are very similar to the entire point of the first three acts. Helena is always second to Hermia. Although Helena is friendly with Hermia and happy with Hermia and Lysander’s whimsical decision to leave Athens and live happily together, it does not take long for jealousy to grow within Helena. Helena’s jealousness is driven by her desire for Demetrius to fall in love with her. Helena begins to devalue herself as an independent woman trying to convince, basically begging Demetrius to see it in his heart to love her. Once Demetrius and Lysander are cast under the spell by Puck and profess their love to Helena, she cannot accept it and believes they are mocking her; the love is blinding. Although Shakespeare is depicting the madness of true love coinciding with Helena’s actions, his attitude about the desire to find true love is far less serious than Helena. Shakespeare is demonstrating the irony of Helana’s true love. Helena adores Demetrius for his true love but once he professes it along with Lysander, she denies it. Shakespeare includes this irony as a form of entertainment and amusement. It is evident in Puck’s remark, “Lord, what fools these mortals be!” highlighting the absurdity of this blinding love (202).

(226-241)

Helena: How happy some o’er other some can be!

Through Athens I am thought as fair as she.

But what of that? Demetrius thinks not so;

He will not know what all but he do know;

And as he errs, doting on Hermia’s eyes,

So I, admiring of his qualities.

Things base and vile, holding no quantity,

Love can transpose to form and dignity.

Love looks not with the eyes but with the mind;

And therefore is wing’d Cupid painted blind.

Nor hath Love’s mind of any judgment taste;

Wings, and no eyes, figure unheedy haste;

And therefore is Love said to be a child,

Because in choice he is so oft beguil’d

As waggish boys in game themselves forswear,

So the boy Love is perjur’d every where;

This passage shows the absurdity that love can produce among people. Helena is talking about how she wishes that Demetrius would love her like he loves Hermia. After these lines, Helena concludes that she will go find Demetrius and persuade him to love her. This desire is what eventually drives Helena insane in her quest for love. Furthermore, this passage develops Helena’s initial envy to be like Hermia and have Demetrius’ love, which is an unique characteristic of Helena and not of the entire play. Lastly, Shakespeare includes this passage to continue his theme of blinding love throughout the play.