A Midsummer Night's Dream

 A story filled with chaos and disorder. A story focusing on love and marriage. A Midsummer Night's dream begins with Theseus, The Duke of Athens preparing for is marriage to The Queen of the Amazons. Egeus has gone to Theseus with his daughter Hermia along with two men. Demetrius and Lysander. The conflict falls when Egeus wants his daughter to marry Demetrius however, Hermia refuses as she wants to marry Lysander. Therefore, Egeus goes to The Duke how warns Hermia about her consequences if she refuses to marry under her fathers wishes by  his wedding day. Although it is not as simple as that, instead Hermia decides to rebel even more and run away with Lysander. 

When Hermia tells her friend Helena she uses this to her own advantage. You see, Helena is in love with Demetrius and she believes that by betraying Hermia and telling Demetrius her plan she will gain his love.

When carrying out my research on this play I came across and interesting question which Shakespeare intended his audience to think about. 'Is love more important than friendship?'

Hermia and Helena have been life long friends yet they are sacrificing their friendship for love. Perhaps this is due to society and the way woman treated. At this time women were expected to do what their fathers or husbands told them to and maybe the two female characters felt that they needed husbands in order to feel successful in life. Even though that by the end of the play the two females do marry and follow the rules of married life rather than friendship I personally think that if it was not for society at the time and the pressure women faced to be married Hermia and Helena would not have sacrificed their friendship for the sake of marriage however my opinion may also be based on the fact that it is now 2021 and marriage is not the beyond and end all in life anymore. Linking back to the question 'Is love more important than friendship?' in my eyes, definitely not, within the play yes to some extent it is yet if it was not for society and their morals at the time, the two females would have mot felt as pressured to sacrifice something as important as their life long friendship to marry. 

As mentioned, it was believed that women were to obey their fathers and (or) husbands. Given the fact that Hermia does not obey her fathers wishes in who she should marry is very inspiring. By running away with Lysander she has showed us that it is okay to not follow standards of your family, friends or the standards created by society. Instead, follow your own dreams, your own heart and live the life you want to live. Similar to Hermia, it may not be easy going however, it will always work out in the end and eventually you will be exactly where you have dreamed of being. I am aware that there are many other characters within the play however, I was mainly inspired by Hermia and her story which is why I decided to focus this review on her aspect of the play. 

As I bring this review to an end, I would like to close it with a quote from A Midsummer Night's Dream 'And yet to say the truth, reason and love keep little company together nowdays.'