What is love? Aside from being an excellent song by Haddaway, it is a favorite subject and theme of William Shakespeare’s work. In the play A Midsummer’s Night Dream, A tale of four people Lysander, Hermia, Demetrius, and Helena who go into a forest and encounter some fairies and leave ready to marry each other which they do along with Theseus the king of Athens and his beloved Hippolyta queen of the amazons (no not the online shopping company). It also happens to be one of Shakespeare’s most frequently performed comedies, in it Shakespeare shows that he thinks love is something that is completely fake and forced on people. He is of the opinion that lovers are idiots who foam at the mouth and believe all happiness comes from a divine being. Shakespeare lets this anger shine through in Theseus’ act 5 monologue through his use of diction, allusion and character. The first way Shakespeare shows that he is bothered by the idea of love and more specifically lovers is the fact that he thinks in act 5 scene 1 when Theseus, the king of Athens is speaking to his betrothed, Hippolyta, about the story that he heard from the four characters who traveled to the forest and and came back without a clue what happened. He chooses his words carefully for impact and to show his cynicism and doubt that love is nothing more than what people want it to be. He refers to those in love as “madmen” with “seething brains”. He equates “the lunatic”, who by definition is one that is mentally ill due to the changes in the moon’s cycle, with “the lover and the poet.” He goes on to say that they “are of imagination all compact” - essentially that they are victims of their overactive imaginations. Lovers and madmen have such seething brains,/Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend/More than cool reason ever comprehends./The lunatic, the lover and the poet/Are of imagination all compact:/One sees more devils than vast hell can hold,/ That is, the madman: the lover, all as frantic, Midsummer’s Night 5.1.4-10 Theseus does not believe the lover’s story. He is skeptical and refers to their stories as “antique fables” and fairy toys (tales). He refers to them as lunatic by very definition, someone who has mental illness brought on by the changes in the moon’s cycle. He believes that everyone who is a “lover” is incapable of making a rational decision and everything is guided by their heart as opposed
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This allusion to the Greek myth Helen of Troy is one that audience members would have recognized throughout the centuries. Helen of Troy is a famous example of stupidity in love. The story goes that Helen was considered to be one of the most beautiful woman women in the world. She had many suitors and admirers. In some versions of the myth, she was even married to Theseus when she was very young. Paris, the Prince of Troy, kidnaps Helen which leads to the start of the Trojan War, The Greeks fight for ten years to save her. Appearance and beauty were the foundations of their love and devotion to Helen and the cause of saving her. He is saying that lovers find the beauty of Helen in anyone they fall in love with and would be willing to fight a war over them, while some may find that romantic it is in reality, highly
This allusion to the Greek myth Helen of Troy is one that audience members would have recognized throughout the centuries. Helen of Troy is a famous example of stupidity in love. The story goes that Helen was considered to be one of the most beautiful woman women in the world. She had many suitors and admirers. In some versions of the myth, she was even married to Theseus when she was very young. Paris, the Prince of Troy, kidnaps Helen which leads to the start of the Trojan War, The Greeks fight for ten years to save her. Appearance and beauty were the foundations of their love and devotion to Helen and the cause of saving her. He is saying that lovers find the beauty of Helen in anyone they fall in love with and would be willing to fight a war over them, while some may find that romantic it is in reality, highly