3 Major Themes in a Midsummernight's Dream

In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare heavily uses contrasting to tell this story, by using 3 groups of extremely different characters. The first is a group of Athenian nobles in which the backdrop of the story is set against ancient Rome, more specifically in the city of Athens. The duke of Athens Theseus, is anticipating his wedding to Hippolyta, queen of the amazons. To pass the time, he sends his master of revels to find some entertainment. Not much later Egeus, an athenian nobleman enters the court with a complaint. He wants his daughter Hermia to be wed to a young man named Demetrius, who infact does love Hermia, but she is in love with another man named Lysander. Egeus wants the full penalty of the law enforced on his daughter if she doesnt comply with his demands. Theseus rules on the matter by giving Hermia until his wedding to decide what it is she wants to do. Despite possible repricussions, Hermia and Lysander decide to escape Athens, therefore also leaving Athenian law behind, and be wed at Lysander’s aunts house which is 7 leagues (or roughly 21 miles) from Athens. Lysander and Hermia make note of their plan to Helena a friend, who is also in love wi

In these woods, we meet our second and third groups of characters, the fairies and the commoners. Composing the fairies are Oberon the fairie king, and his queen Titania. Their story begins in the forest, with Oberon and Titania quarreling over the ownership of a young indian prince given to Titania by his mother. Oberon thinks he is extremely beautiful, and so, wants to knight him. Titania would rather have him as an attendant, so she refuses. Oberon, enraged by this sends for his attendant Puck, to seek out a purple and white flower called love-in-idleness, said to have been shot by cupid’s arrow and therefore making the juice of this plant a love potion. If one was to use the potion and put it on the eyelids of a sleeping person, the first thing the person saw when they awoke would fall madly and deeply in love with. Puck finds this flower, and Oberon tells him of his plan for puck; to spread it on Titania’s eyelids while she sleeps, forcing her to fall in love with the first thing she sees. Then Oberon will refuse to reverse the charm until she hands over the young indian prince.

During their clandestine meeting, Oberon notices Demetrius and Helena coming through the woods with Demetrius acting extremely nasty to Helena. Thinking he could remedy that, he orders

Some topics in this essay:
Lysander Hermia, Oberon Titania, Snout Snug, Athens Theseus, Dream Shakespeare, Demetrius Lysander, Lysander Egeus, Hermia Lysander, Helena Thinking, Demetrius Helena, demetrius helena, lysander hermia, love helena, midsummer night’s dream, third characters, indian prince, fall love, blind love, magic juice, night’s dream, midsummer night’s,