A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare Essay -- Helena, Nick

Being that A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a Shakespearian comedy where passion is a significant theme. It is perceived in a variety of ways such as passion for revenge, recognition, and for love, which have the potential to blur the lines between the levels of social hierarchy. Shakespeare uses a variety of characters such as Helena, Nick Bottom, and Oberon to express the theme of passion and its significance in the play. Helena represents the passion for love in this text, as she runs after Demetrius into a forest seeking love between them, even after Demetrius has told her to stay away. This passion for love is significant to the play, because this play is displaying how love triumphs the social hierarchy, even though magic is a deciding factor. â€Å"The more I love, the more he hateth me† (I.i.199). Helena says this of Demetrius as her love to him is deemed unwanted and repulsive. Her passion for love is so strong that she is willing shed blood for it, â€Å"I am your spaniel. And Demetrius the more you beat me, I will faun on you. Use me as your spaniel, spurn me, strike me, neglect me, lose me† (II.i.204-206). Even to an extent where she would die for Demetrius, â€Å"Stay, thou kill me, sweet Demetrius† (II.ii.84). At one point in the play Helena loses her sight of having a passion for love, when Demetrius and Lysander both fall head over heels for Helena, she can't believ e them. It seems Helena has disbursed so much time rationalizing why she isn't loved that, when the moment comes along whether it is reality or falsehood, she can't embrace it and enjoy it for how it is seen. She develops even more self-pity for herself when she trusts that she has gone from being unloved to a person of pure mockery. As time passes her love for Demetriu... ...caused devastating winds, flooding, and harsh rainfall destroying crops are examples of a leader of power. Depending on the leader’s behaviour and action, it will decide between punitive tornado or a gentle breeze. To conclude, A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a play that displayed its main theme of passion through the various ways mentioned; passion for revenge, recognition and love. This play being one of Shakespeare’s most amusing works helped reveal the key idea as he managed to balance both comedy and passion, showing the audience how the boundaries of social hierarchies can be blurred. Helena, Nick Bottom and Oberon all had passions so powerful and potent that they effect different biospheres of the social hierarchy. Works Cited Shakespeare, William. A Midsummer Night’s Dream. ED. Harriet Law. Toronto, Ontario: Harcourt Canada Ltd., 2000. Print.