Themes of Love and Marriage in Plays of Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream
William Shakespeare is known as the greatest writer of the English language and the best playwright in the world. He is an English playwright, actor, and poet. The Elizabethan age in which Shakespeare had lived, was the age under the reign of Queen Elizabeth. In the Elizabethan age, love was discouraged and a good match was significant. On the other hand, honor was the most important issue. The family structure was quite formal; children could never disobey and be raised by nurses, and women had no legal rights. Shakespeare illustrated the opposite of the family structure in his plays. Children are rebellious, and they disobey in his plays. The issues of love and marriage are at the center of most of his plays. In this paper, I will compare and contrast two plays of Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, under the issues of love and marriage.
Romeo and Juliet are the children of two families who are enemies to each other. These families are Montagues and Capulets. Young men of these two families fight each other in the streets of the city, of Verona. Because of their everlasting fights in the street, The Prince of Italy declares that they will be exiled from Verona if anyone from these clans is caught in the case of fighting. Romeo of the Montagues is a romantic, and he can be considered susceptible. He falls in love with a girl named Rosaline who does not respond to Romeo’s affections. Romeo’s friends Mercutio and Benvolio suggest he to attend the masked ball that is thrown by Capulets in order to come across Rosaline. As Romeo attends the ball, he falls in love with Juliet of Capulets. Thus, the story begins. Because their families are enemies, Romeo and Juliet meet secretly. Romeo comes to Juliet’s garden in night secretly. They decide to marry although their families’ hostility and Friar Laurence wed Juliet to Romeo. Meanwhile, Juliet’s cousin Tybalt learns the fact that Romeo attended the ball. So, he duels Romeo, and Tybalt loses his life in the duel. Because of the death of Tybalt, the Prince exiles Romeo. In the absence of Romeo, her family forces Juliet to marry Count Paris. As she does not want to marry Count Paris, Juliet asks for help from Friar Laurence. The Friar gives her a potion that will convince everyone to Juliet is dead. But their plan does not go well. Romeo hears about the death of Juliet, so poisons himself. In the end, Juliet awakes and finds Romeo dead. Then, she kisses his poisoned lips in order to be with Romeo. The play ends with tragedy.
The other play of Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, has a similar story with Juliet and Romeo. The play begins with the announcement of the wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta. Egeus, who is a nobleman in Athens, interrupts the duke of Athens; Theseus. He tells Theseus that his daughter Hermia denies marrying Demetrius and plans to flee to the woods in order to marry a young man named Lysander. According to Athenian law, a daughter, who refuses to marry the man that is chosen by the father, will be executed or be exiled to a nunnery. Hermia and Lysander decide to elope in order to marry each other. Hermia tells this eloping plan to her confidante, Helena. In parenthesis, Helena loves Demetrius who is chosen by Egeus in order to marry her daughter. As soon as Helena learns their eloping plan, she tells it to Demetrius with the hope of gaining his affection. But she cannot reach her dreams, Demetrius immediately goes to the woods with the intent of catching Hermia. Meanwhile, a group of fairies travels to Athens in order to bless a wedding of Theseus. The fairy King Oberon wants a changeling from her wife Queen Titania. Titania refuses to give, so they argue. King Oberon orders a fairy, named Puck, to place a love potion on the eyes of Titania. Thus, she will fall in love with the human who she sees after awakening. Moreover, Oberon orders the same thing for Demetrius because he disrupts the sleeping King. Puck puts the potion on the eyes of Demetrius, but the fairy mistakes Demetrius with Lysander. So, Puck applies the potion to both of them. When Hermia, awakes, she cannot find Lysander close to her. Both Lysander and Demetrius see Helena after awakening. Due to the potion, both fall in love with Helena. This situation causes chaos, so Oberon orders Puck to make all of Demetrius, Lysander, Hermia, and Helena fall asleep. When they awake, Lysander will love Hermia again but Demetrius’ charm will continue against Helena. Theseus gets satisfied with this arrangement and invites these four young people.
Firstly, both of the stories of the plays seem similar, indeed, they are adapted from the same mythological story; Pyramus and Thisbe. Pyramus and Thisbe are the children of two families who are enemies to each other. Although this hostility, Pyramus falls in love with Thisbe. As a consequence of their love, both of them die. Ovid tells this story in his Metamorphoses. Shakespeare is inspired by the tale of two young lovers; thus, he writes Juliet and Romeo as a tragedy and A Midsummer Night’s Dream as a comedy. The difference in the love and marriage issues comes from the difference between tragedy and comedy. Conveniently to the aspects of tragedy the love and marriage of Juliet and Romeo end tragically while Hermia and Lysander end happily. The most obvious difference between the two plays may be this difference. Additionally, Juliet and Romeo’s love is never approved by families while Hermia’s father approves of their love after Theseus is satisfied. Love and marriage issues are the main theme in both of the plays although the structure of the plays is different.
The love and marriage in the plays have similarities and differences. In both of the plays, the father figures decide their daughters' marriage. Juliet’s father wants her daughter to marry Duke Paris, and Egeus wants Hermia to marry Demetrius. Both Juliet and Hermia do not want to marry the men who are chosen by their fathers. This shows that the main woman figure in the plays of Shakespeare is not proper for the family structure of the era. In the Elizabethan age, women could never disobey the patriarchal order. Contrary to the order, the rebellious woman figure is handled in both of the plays. Both Juliet and Hermia have a duty that they refuse. It is not a welcomed behavior in the Elizabethan public.
Another similarity between the two plays in the sense of love and marriage is the tendency of chaos. There is the chaos that is caused by love in both of the plays. The love of two of couples brings chaos. On the other hand, the chaos that is caused by the love of Romeo and Juliet costs their death while the chaos that is caused by the love of Hermia and Lysander has been solved thanks to the love potion of fairies. The reason for both chaoses is the same, but the solution of it is opposite to each other. Indeed, the solution of the plays gives them the characteristic of comedy and tragedy. In addition, we have love of Helena and Demetrius in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, different from Romeo and Juliet. At the end of the play, Helena eventually obtains Demetrius’s affection. While the ends of the characters are happily in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, it is tragic in Romeo and Juliet; Romeo, Juliet, Tybalt, and the Duke died at the end.
To summarize, the structure of love and marriage is given in both of the plays but not in a proper way. Although it is not good in the eye of the Elizabethan public, Shakespeare tries to change this perspective in the patriarchal society. He shows that love and marriage should not depend on the decision of fathers. He implies the significance of marrying with free will in order to be happy. He endeavors to emphasize this idea to society by handling this social problem in both comedy and tragedy. Although the manner and the end are different in both plays, the problem of patriarchal order is the same in the light of love and marriage.
