In the play 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' by William Shakespeare, there are three different sets of characters and I am going to be discussing the theme of love and marriage and how each set is affected by this.
The first set of characters within the play are the lords and ladies which consists of four main characters who are all affected by love in different ways.
To begin with, Demetrius is being forced to wed Hermia by her father, Egeus. Hermia does not like this as she has loved Lysander forwhatseems as an eternity in their eyes.
Helena, the one who loves Demetrius, is always pestering him to take her back but he doesn't love her so therefore, he intends to marry Hermia. When Hermia and Lysander decide to run away however, all sorts of adventures take place and create a very enjoyable play within the human's story.
However, there are another three characters involved in the human's story and that is Egeus, Theseus and Hippolyta. Egeus is the overprotective father who wants her daughter, Hermia, to marry another man, Demetrius. Theseus and Hippolyta are the equivalent of the king and queen area and are to marry very soon: 'And she is mine, and all my right of her, I do estate unto Demetrius'.
This shows that Egeus desperately wants his daughter to marry Demetrius as he seriously believes that he is a good, honest nobleman but Hermia still wants to marry Lysander: 'The worst that may befall me in this case, If I refuse to wed Demetrius'.
The worst in this case is the fact that if Hermia does not marry Demetrius, she will be beheaded and she is prepared to take that risk so that she can be with Lysander. The play about how love affects this group in particular and it shows all the different relationships between the four lovers: Hermia, Helena, Lysander and Demetrius. This is one of Shakespeare's more humourous plays and this is showed in the love of these four people.
Puck affects their love in very different ways because the potions he puts into their eyes force them to fall in love with all the wrong people. Puck is the center of most of these deeds and it is because of him that this poem becomes so funny.
Another group of people affected by love are the fairies. One big issue is when the king of the fairies, Oberon and Titania, get mixed up in different relationships. To begin with, Puck who causes a lot of trouble, puts a potion in Titania's eyes on purpose as Oberon has told him to do so, so she will fall in love with him again.
He ends up doing this at the wrong time and she wakes up and sees Bottom (the ass) sitting next to her. Oberon is furious with this and he sends Puck to put another potion in Titania's eyes to reverse it.
This dilemma also happens with the lords and ladies as Puck, again puts a potion in Lysander's eyes and also Demtrius's eyes which means they both fall for Helena and understandably, she thinks that they are trying to make a fool of her: 'But you must join in souls to mock me too?'
At the end of the play, there are three main couples who get married as this is one of Shakespeare's happier plays unlike most of them.
The three couples are Lysander and Hermia, Demetrius and Helena as Demetrius still has the potion in his eyes and Theseus and Hippolyta who are the king and queen of the land. Ultimately, everything works out for the best as all the couples get married and live happily ever after.
The third and final group affected with the issue of love are the Townspeople who are the workers in the town and throughout the play, these people set up a play of their own to signify the wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta, the rulers of the land. There are six main characters in this play: Quince, Bottom, Flute, Snout, Starveling and Snug all with different roles in the play and each with ordinary day jobs. Firstly there is Peter Quince who is like the leader of the pack and tells the others what to do and where to go.
Then there is Nick Bottom who is an ordinary weaver and plays the character Pyramus in the play. Francis Flute is a bellows-mender and plays Pyramus's partner Thisbe as they usually used men for women's parts then. Tom Snout is a tinker and he plays a wall which he isn't too happy about.
The last two characters are Robin Starveling who plays Moonshine and Snug who plays Lion. Altogether, the actors aren't very good as they keep forgeting their lines and getting mixed up: 'Thisbe, the flowers of odious savours sweet-.' Quince:' Odours - 'Odorus'!'
This shows the characters are quite stupid and also add a bit of humour to the story-line. Puck, the fairy is linked with this particular group in many ways aswell as being liked with the other two groups. He plays parts in the play and also does a lot of things to the lords and ladies such as accidently putting potions in their eyes.
Most of the play is linked by Puck as he is the fairy who causes all the trouble and messes with people's lives. A lot of characters rely on Puck to do their deeds for them. Finally, the workers finish their play and all the couples get married. In the end, all is happy and cheerful and Puck ends it by saying a pleasant poem to the audience.
I think that this poem was one of Shakespeare's happiest and best plays and I would recommend it to anyone who likes Shakespeare.
Thank you for taking the time to read my review and hope that you will rate the other reviews I have already written.
