Introduction
Shakespeare’s play portrays some events surrounding Theseus and Hippolyta’s marriage. The play’s characters in addition to the first two are Philostrate, Hermia, Egeus, Helena, Demetrius and Lysander. As the night unfolds and surprises are revealed, these characters learned some things about themselves as well as about the world. This play also portrayed ultimate reality and misleading appearance just like Shakespeare claimed.
Theseus learned that even if she injured Hippolyta and defeated her in a battle, she is still willing to marry him, despite her inner feelings. On the other hand, Hippolyta learned that the world and her situation will still end as good after being defeated by Theseus. They both realized that in spite of their early battle, they will both be married as couple. While Egeus learned that even there is a law stating that he will be the one to choose his daughter’s husband to be, it will still not bend Hermia’s, his daughter, feelings toward Lysander. Both Lysander and Hermia learned that their love for each other is strong, despite Demetrius’ presence and advantage to marry her because of Egeus’, Hermia’s father wants.
Meanwhile, Demetrius’ love over Hermia made him learned and realized that it was not forever as he later fell in love truly with Helena. On the other hand, Helena then learned that Demetrius’ love for Hermia could turn over her as she was somehow desperate and obsess to Demetrius.
Shakespeare may have claimed that misleading appearance and ultimate reality were keys to give a difficult determination between the two in his play. An outward appearance was used to hide the reality, which was the true intention of the characters, for example, when Helena told Demetrius about Hermia and Lysander’s plan of escaping from Athena. Helena’s real intention was to win Demetrius’ love by letting aware of Hermia and Lysander’s escape plan. Another example is when Theseus had a battle with Hippolyta, which he even injured her, but the reality is, he really wanted to marry her in contrast to his previous actions.
Conclusion
In this play, Shakespeare was able to depict a perfect distinction between the characters. He used different character attitudes as they were trying to achieve their ultimate goals. Using misleading appearances of the characters, they were able to reveal their real intentions.
Works Cited
Rahn, B J. "Literature: Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream." londongrip.co.uk. N.p., 2 Sept. 2008. Web. 1 Dec. 2013.
