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Submitted by aligirl on October 31, 2007
Category: English
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Alison Borghi
15 October 2007
Love Stinks
"The course of true love never did run smooth" perfectly describes one of A Midsummer Night's Dreams major themes - the difficulty of love (Shakespeare I.i.134). Though the play is filled with romantic conflict, the tone remains so lighthearted that the audience never questions the certainty of a happy ending. A Midsummer Night's Dream discusses the issues of unbalanced love, unsentimental marriage, and love vs. reason.
Almost everyone has told someone or been told by someone "he/she isn't good enough for you," and that unbalanced love is a major issue in A Midsummer Night's Dream. The most obvious miss-matched love is when Titania, queen of all the fairies, falls in love with ass-headed Bottom. This peculiar relationship represents an imbalance of appearance and nature. Titania is beautiful; Bottom has an ass head. Titania is queen of all the fairies; Bottom lives up to his name as a lowly rude mechanical. It is against their nature to be together, and ironically, this isn't the only way in which Titania is going against nature - Titania and Oberon's quarrelling had been disturbing the seasons, altering the weather, and destroying crops.
Not even the Duke, Theseus, has it easy - he fell in love with Hippolyta from the opposite side of the battlefield, and wooed her with his sword'. It is still unclear whether she was also in love with Theseus, or if she was taken as a trophy - as one of the spoils of war. In European wars it was common practice to take a member of conquered royalty as a wife, so their union may very well have been forced. Hippolyta, being Amazonian, worshiped the goddess Diana and had most likely intended to lead a life of chastity. It is also noteworthy that the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta was to be held on the night of the new moon. Interestingly, Theseus later gave Hermia the choice between marrying Demetrius or living a life of chastity in...
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