A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that explores what is universally believed to be one of the most fascinating and recognizable themes present in literature: love and desire. There is something about the notion of love or romance that has the power to captivate audiences, most likely because love is something that most people want and spend much of their lives searching for. Romantic love is a human ideal, and for as long as literature has been written, authors have been writing about it. However, in this play, William Shakespeare uses a variety of characters, plot twists, and symbols to portray love in a different, darker light than typical romances. Instead, he uses tragedy quite comically in many instances throughout the play, bringing light to many darker scenes. A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that takes traditional themes and motifs and presents them to the audience in an unorthodox way, creating a truly compelling story. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Shakespeare was not attempting to write a play about true love, but rather about the confusion and problems that love has the power to induce. Hermia, Lysander, Helena, and Demetrius are not archetypes of romance, but rather simply characters with whom we sympathize. Love is completely unbalanced in this play from the start. Hermia and Lysander are in love and cannot marry because her father, Egeus, wants her to marry Demetrius. Helena has unreciprocated feelings towards Demetrius who, to add insult to injury, loves Hermia and wishes to marry her. The four suffer from romantic passion since the beginning of the show. This serves to make the audience slightly uncomfortable about the situation, which creates a sense of urgency as the audience wants something to happen immediately to remedy this problem. It is natural to want to see love in perfect balance and harmony, as true love is an ideal and beautiful thing to most. Shakespeare plays on this desire by creating a sense of discontent in the early scenes of the play, which, although uncomfortable, is effective in capturing the audience's attention. The plot thickens and feelings of unease intensify with the introduction of fairies into the play. . Fairies are typically small, human-shaped mythical beings who possess magical powers, and a certain alluring mystical image comes to mind for most when they are mentioned. Fairies are generally considered graceful, colorful and enchanting. Shakespeare contrasts this with the mischievous qualities of the fairy characters in A Midsummer Night's Dream. It creates a discrepancy between the benevolent image one typically associates with fairies and the actual personalities and motivations of its fairy characters, particularly Puck and Oberon. When Oberon decides to interfere in the strange love quadrangle introduced at the beginning of the play, things go from bad to worse. It gets to the point where everyone involved is in love with someone who doesn't have the same feelings, Lysander and Demetrius are about to duel, and Helena and Hermia experience a strain in their friendship. Furthermore, the love potion made from the flower is a symbol that Shakespeare uses to create a sort of false sense of security in the audience. When first introduced, it is believed that things have the potential to end well for the four Athenian lovers, but things go wrong and it is quickly established that this is not the case. The potion opens up the potential for fairy damage after initially giving the.