A Midsummer Night's Dream Theme

Of the themes listed in the SparkNotes article, I think Love’s Difficulty best exemplifies the eternal nature of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The difficulty of love in A Midsummer Night’s Dream allows all of its readers to associate themselves with events in the book. I certainly can relate to the theme of Love’s Difficulty. As a young adolescent I had the opportunity to date a girl from school. The problem was my parents frowned upon having relationships at a young age. In a way, my dilemma is similar to the problem Hermia faces in the book. She loves and wants to marry a man named Lysander, but her father, Egeus, is forcing her to marry a man named Demetrius. Another aspect that SparkNotes discusses is the imbalance of love. For example, two men in the play, Lysander and Demetrius love Hermia. The balance of love needed to be achieved, either tragically or peacefully, to resolve the issue. Demetrius claimed he can “love thee (Helena) more than he can,” and Lysander responded, “If thou say so, withdraw and prove it too” (III.II.101). While under the influence of fairy magic, these two characters were prepared to sword fight for Helena’s love, of who they were not truly in love with. Shakespeare wrote this play in the late 1500s and I am almost certain that his audience experienced difficulties in love as well. Forbidden love is the difficulty presented in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and it is a theme that past, present, and future audience members can correspond with.