Greenwood Lab School

Kelsey Nau

Midsummer Nights Dream

Friendship

Friendship is very valuable. It is something that you cannot buy but it should be protected. It is like treasure that you must keep very safe. It is very easy to lose friends and hard to recover a lost friendship. A good friend is someone who you get along well with and someone you would miss a lot if you lost him or her. A good friend is someone you can go to for advice when needed and stands by you when you have problems. True friends stick together through rough and smooth.

There are many attributes of a good friend. A good friend should be attentive and appreciative. They should appreciate what you have to say and the decisions others make and they should be attentive to others opinions and thoughts. In Midsummer Nights Dream, after they were fighting, they were all sitting around the dinner table and you could tell that they were appreciative of each other and that they took value and admired the good friends that they had.

A good friend should also be caring and dear to you as well as forgiving and helpful.  Helena and Hermia were caring of each other, they were best friends and they told each other everything. Helena even got mad at Hermia and reminded her of their childhood together.

Helena said,

“Injurious Hermia! Most ungrateful maid! Have you conspired, have you with these contrived to bait me with this foul derision? Is all the counsel that we two have shared, the sisters’ vows, the hours that we have spent, when we have chid the hasty-footed time. For parting us — O, is it all forgot? All school days’ friendship, childhood innocence? We, Hermia, like two artificial gods, have with our needles created both one flower, both on one sampler, sitting on one cushion, both warbling of one song, both in one key, as if our hands, our sides, voices and minds, had been incorporate. So we grow together, like to a double cherry, seeming parted, but yet an union in partition; Two lovely berries molded on one stem; So, with two seeming bodies, but one heart; Two of the first, like coats in heraldry, due but to one and crowned with one crest. And will you rent our ancient love asunder, to join with men in scorning your poor friend?”

But when Lysander and Hermia told Helena that they were leaving town, Helena betrayed them and told. This obviously wasn’t a good friend of Helena because she was not being helpful but Hermia was forgiving of Helena later on and a good friend should be able to forgive you if you make a bad choice or if you weren’t as good of a friend to them as they were to you.

A good friend can be intelligent, kind, loyal and open-minded. An open-minded friend would be easy to get along with because they would be receptive to new and different ideas or the opinions of others. All of the friends were intelligent and kind in their own way. Even if they would betray each other and lie, you could still tell that they were all friends, and in the end they did learn to forgive each other. You would never want a friend who was self conceited or didn’t think of others. Helena was self-conceited because she was only thinking of her love, Lysander.

A good friend can have all of these attributes but can betray you as well just like in Midsummer Nights Dream. Helena was originally a very loyal and trustworthy friend towards Hermia but then she became stubborn because she was deeply in love and that is what made her make the choices she did. Even though she wasn’t a good friend, in the end Hermia forgave her and the two love couples got married.

beginning to paper..

Anna Turner
English
Friendship:
Friendship means always being a person to depend on. I think friendship is one of the most important things in life. No matter how many mistakes you make, or how many fights you have, your friends will always be there, at least the really good ones. Loving someone, and being a good friend, means a lot. The most important attributes of a good friend in my opinion are:
• Loyal
• Honest
• Caring
• Loving
• Sincere
• Humorous
• Fun
• Don’t backstab
• Dependable
• Appreciative
• Open-minded

Friends have to be loyal to you and stand by you through all decisions you make. They have to be honest and tell you the hard truth even it it’s difficult. Being caring and loving always makes people feel better, no matter what the situation. Friends are sincere in their actions and aren’t fake. It’s important to have fun and be funny together! You have to appreciate your friends just as much as they appreciate you. No backstabbing allowed. Friends can depend on you to have an open mind.

In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, friendship is a big role in the play. If everyone would have gotten along like best friends, the play would be so boring. In the end, Lysander, Hermia, Hippolyta, Theseus, Helena, Demetrius and all of the fools are very good friend. Throughout the play, it wasn’t like that. Hermia and Helena fought a lot, as well as Demetrius and Lysander and Hippolyta and Theseus. Although in the middle of the play, Hermia and Helena are really fighting, in the beginning, they were best friends. The kind of best friend you’ll only have one of. When Hermia and Lysander leave to go out of town to get married. The only person who knew where they were going was Helena. She told Demetrius, who was in love with Hermia, (for her money) where Lysander and Hermia were going. She betrayed the trust of best friends.

Friends

Nikki Keeter

A Friendship to me means a friendship for life. A friend is someone who never leaves your side when you need them. They let you lay in their lap and stroke your hair to calm you down, they tell you what is right and what is wrong, but never judge you no matter what, they  just forgive. They listen and do not comment on what you say, unless you ask. They make you laugh and drive to your house no matter how late. They cry when you cry to feel your pain and laugh when you laugh so your not the only one laughing. They are always there whenever you need them.

Friends are dependable, Helena and Hermia from Midsummer’s Night Dream were both close friends earlier in life, but once they fell in love with two different men, they were in a love triangle, or in this case, a love rectangle. Helena betrayed Hermia, by falling in love with Demtrius ,Hermia’s boyfriend. They decided not to speak again because they were mad at eachother, but when they fixed this love rectangle, they were by eachothers side and married the men they loved and were friends forever. This shows that even though friends get in a fight or disagreement, they are always there for eachother!

Friends are humorous, “My Oberon, What visions have I seen! Methought I was enamored of an ass”. Puck and Oberon are two friends throughout the play! Puck likes to play jokes and oberon likes to observe.  Puck puts dew in the fairies eyes and made her fall in love with an ass, when she should be in love with Oberon and Oberon found this humorous. They both get along and find the best in situations. Every friend needs someone to make them laugh.

Friends are appreciative, “I evermore did love you, Hermia” Helena pronounced. Hermia and Helena are appreciateive for eachother and they both get married to the men they love and they are no longer in a fight. They share the love for one another and are glad they have one another.

Friends have disagreements, “Swift as a shadow, short as any dream;

Brief as the lightning in the collied night.“ Lysander said to Hermia as they disagreed on how love can be destroyed so easily. Not only are they in love, but they are friends as well!

In conclusion, I believe this attributes of a good friend all fit the 4 young lovers. They may not be considered friends at the time when the play was first written, but when we think of a friend now many characteristics shared between this characters are found. The play was well written to fit modern day attitudes. It was well written and put together and I enjoyed analyzing the similarities.

Student Writing

Fall

By Kelsey Nau

There is nothing around me. Nothing but trees, plants, and grass. I look down to see orange, red and yellow leaves crunching below my feet. There is nothing but the birds chirping and leaves swaying and wind blowing. Nothing but the smell of trees, pine trees. Nothing but fresh air and open spaces. There is nothing but the open world. I can hear water moving down the river as I stop when I see a tree stump. I sit down to take in the open spaces when I see a chipmunk run by my feet. It stops as I move my head to look down at it, then runs off. I turn my head and see a doe. The trees are almost bare because it is now fall. Fall is the best time of year…

Friendship in a Dream

Brianna

There are many types of friendships in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. There is the friendship of Lysander and Demetrius. Helena and Hermia are childhood friends. The friendship of Lysander and Hermia is romantic. Demetrius and Helena have only a hateful; at least until they fall in love. What are the qualities of a good friend?

A good friend is someone that you can count on. They are always there for you. Hermia found Helena to be accountable in the beginning, before their trust in each other was lost and Helena felt the same way. Another part of their friendship was being able to trust each other and be able to keep a promise. Good friends also do things for each other. Hermia had told Helena that she was planning to run away with Lysander and marry him. “Hermia. Take comfort. He no more shall see my face: Lysander and myself will fly this place. Before the time I did Lysander see, Seemed Athens as a paradise to me. O, then, what graces in my love dwell, That he hath turned unto a hell!” This was good news to Helena because now Hermia was not getting married to Demetrius, the man Helena loves. Hermia could have easily married Demetrius and been unhappy. She knew Helena liked Demetrius and she like Lysander, so why not make them both happy and marry the one they want. Jealousy is not a quality of a good friendship. Lysander and Demetrius are a great example of this. They both want Helena after falling under a love spell. Hermia becomes jealous because her best friend is with her husband to be.

Hermia and Helena are great friends and they know a lot about each other. They’ve been that way since they were little. That’s another quality of friendship, knowing the other person well. They are this way through part of the play and then they have a cat fight.  Lysander and Demetrius are both under the love spell and have fallen in loved with Helena. Hermia has no idea what is going on; just her lover is not with her, but her best friend. Helena is so shaken up that she thinks they are making fun of her and that Hermia is just pretending not to know. This creates a disagreement, which leads to the fight. They are both really confused and ruin their friendship.

Lysander and Demetrius hate each other. Before the spell they both want Hermia, one for love the other for money. After the spell they both want Helena. They even got into a fight over Helena. “Lysander. Helen, I love thee; by my life, I do! I swear by that which I will lose for thee, To prove him false that says I love thee not. Demetrius. I say I love thee more than he can do. Lysander. If thou say so, withdraw and prove it too. Demetrius. Quick, come!” These two are not on their way to a very good friendship.

Demetrius and Hermia have kind of a love and hate friendship. Demetrius doesn’t really like Hermia that much he just likes her money. Hermia just dislikes Demetrius all around. The friendship of Lysander and Hermia friendship is romantic. They are in love and think the whole world agrees with it; even they know it’s not true. But they are not always romantic. They do sometimes act like good friends. Like at night, Hermia and Lysander sleep on opposite side of the clearing in the woods. More like friends than people getting married.

In conclusion they’re many forms of friendship A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Some are on their way to last forever and others no so much. Friendship is great, but a good one comes with cat fights. In the end you get a lot in return.

Love- Madison Smith

Love is a very powerful thing. It is demonstrated very often the play  A Midsummer’s Nights Dream.  In the play Hermia’s father Egeus, wants Hermia to marry Demetrius, but Hermia is in love with Lysander. Hermia wants to marry Lysander because she is in love with him, but also doesn’t want to disappoint her father. That is two sides of love. Side one is her love for Lysander, and side two is her love for her father and trusting him that he knows best for her.  I am going to be supporting both sides of this argument.

First I am going to talk about side one, her love for Lysander. I think that Hermia should be able to marry Lysander if she I truly in love with him. If Hermia does not love Demetrius than I think that she should not have to marry him. Even though her father, Egeus thinks that it would be best for Hermia to marry Demetrius, Hermia is not in love with him. I don’t think that Egeus should be able to pick whom Hermia marries. This practice was very popular in the time of Midsummer Night’s Dream. The parents would pick out spouses for their children. The children’s only options were to marry the person the parents pick out, or die.

I think that even though Egeus thinks Demetrius is right for Hermia, he shouldn’t make her marry him. Demetrius isn’t even in love with Hermia, so Hermia, Demetrius, and Lysander are all going to be unhappy.  Egeus thinks that Lysander isn’t right for Hermia, but Hermia insists that they love each other. In the play, Egeus says, “ Stand forth, Demetrius.- My noble lord, this man hath my consent to marry her.- Stand forth, Lysander.- And my gracious duke, This man hath bewitched the bosom of my child… Consent to marry with Demetrius; I beg the ancient privilege of Athens. As she is mine I may dispose of her- which shall be either to this gentleman or to her death- according to our law immediately provided in that case.”  When Egeus says this he means Hermia must marry Demetrius or she will die. Egeus does not like Lysander at all, because he thinks that Lysander put a spell on Hermia.

Then there is side two, Egeus knows best for Hermia. Egeus thinks that Lysander is not a good choice for a spouse for Hermia. Egeus thinks that he knows the best for her, even though she strongly disagrees with her.  In the play Egeus says “ Thou, thou, Lysander, thou hast given her rhymes, and interchanged love tokens with my child. Thou hast by moonlight at her window sung with feigning voice verses of feigning love, and stol’n the impression of her fantasy with bracelets of thy hair, rings, gauds, conceits, knacks, trifles, nosegays, sweetmeats- Messengers of strong prevailment and in unhardened youth.” When he says this he means that he thinks Lysander has not been loyal to Hermia.

Egeus also thinks that since he is Hermia’s father he should be able to pick whom she marries. Egeus does have a reason for not liking Lysander. He thinks that Lysander put a spell on Hermia to make her love him. Egeus also just likes Demetrius more because he appears to be more of a gentleman.

In the end of this book, Egeus finally lets Hermia marry Lysander for two reasons. Hermia was truly in love with him and did not like Demetrius. Also Demetrius is in love with Hermia’s friend Helena. I think that Hermia should be able to marry Lysander because she is truly in love with him. I don’t think that arranged marriages are a good thing because as much as the parent thinks that they know best, they can never get inside of their child’s head and know what they are thinking.  Egeus meant well, but made everybody happy by letting Hermia marry Lysander, her true love.

“Midsummer Night’s Dream Analysis:

Love”

By Seth Copeland

The topic I chose to write about is love.  There are many examples of love in the play, Midsummer Night’s Dream.  Love is shown in many different ways.  I will list as many different examples of love from Midsummer Night’s Dream as I can and I will go into detail and explain some of them.  Here are some examples of love; Egeus has a love for his daughter and he just wants the best for her; Demetrius loves Hermia, but he loved Helena first; Hermia and Lysander are in love with each other throughout the play; Theseus ends up marrying Hipolita in the play; and Nick Bottom has a passionate love for him.  In this play Hermia seems like the most loved character of all in my opinion.

Before I talk about the relationships in the play, I will talk about Puck and the love potions.  “Having once this juice.  I’ll watch Titania when she is a asleep, and drop the liquor of it in her eyes,” said Oberon in the play.  In the play the fairy king, Oberon, wants to play a cruel trick on his wife, Titania.  Him and Titania are fighting in the film because Titania found a human boy and Oberon wants to raise him, but Titania won’t give it to him.  “Give me the boy and I will go with thee,” said Oberon.  Titania replied, “Not for thy fairy kingdom.  Faries, away!  We shall chide downright, if I no longer stay.”  This makes Oberon mad so he decides to take his anger out on Titania by making her fall in love with a donkey.  Puck puts a spell on Nick Bottom that turns his head into the head of an ass.  This is a very cruel trick to play on any person; nobody likes his/her emotions to be played with.

I will talk about the main love story in this play. The main love story is Lysander and Hermia.  Hermia’s father is Egeus; Egeus wants his daughter Hermia to marry Demetrius.  Hermia doesn’t like Demetrius though.  Hermia is between a rock and a hard place in this play.  During the movie Hermia and Lysander decide to run away to Athens.  Helena, Hermia’s friend, finds out and she tells Demetrius (the person she loves in the play) that they are planning to run away.  Demetrius decides to try and stop them.  In the end Egeus accepts that his daughter loves Lysander, and he lets them marry.

I will talk about one more example of love in the play.  I will briefly talk about the love between Oberon and his wife, Titania.  Oberon and Titania are in a constant state of argument throughout the play.  Oberon and Titania are arguing about a little human boy that Titania had found.  Oberon wants to raise the child, but Titania won’t let him.  To get Titania back, Oberon decides to tell his assistant Puck to put a love spell on his where she would fall in love with an ass.  In the end Oberon and Titania settle their differences and they decide to keep the child and raise him together.

There are always differences and arguments in a relationship.  The way you resolve it decides whether or not you will ever be happy with each other in the end.  To solve a disagreement people must be understanding of each other.  A perfect example of this is when Egeus finally understands that it doesn’t matter what he wants for his daughter, it’s what she wants.  These are the examples of love in the play Midsummer Night’s Dream.

THE END

Friendship

Anna M.

Friendships are very important in everyone’s lives.  Friends help you get through the hard times, and they help you have fun and be a better person.  Friends help you with your problems.  They love you, and you love them back.  Good friends would do almost anything for you.

Friends are very important to have in life.  Without friends people would be lonely and miserable.  I trust my friends to always have my back.   I believe that if friends are real friends, they will stick with you no matter what, and will always want the best for you.  Friends do fight, but they will always come back to being friends again.  My friends help me get through the day, by showing me that they care for me as much as I care for them.  They make me feel confident about myself by complimenting me, and they always make me smile.

Everyone thinks of the word “friend” in his or her own way.  When I hear the word “friend”, I think of people who I love.  I think of people that can make me happy when I’m sad, and people that I really care for.  My friends are not perfect, but I love them anyways.  They are always there for me, and I will always be there for them.  I have amazing friends!

The hardest part of making and keeping friends that you have to be a friend to them too.  You have to be there for you friends when they’re sad.  Your friends will look to you to help them to get through the day.  They will expect you to help them with their problems, and help keep them happy.  Friends are great to have, but you have to pay attention to them, which can sometimes be a lot of work.

In the play a Midsummer Night’s Dream by Shakespeare, there are many types of friendships be between the characters. There are friendships between the lovers, because in order to have a good relationship, they must be good friends. There is also a friendship between Hermia and Helena. They do not have a very strong friendship though.

Helena was not a very good friend to Hermia.  For example, when Hermia told Helena that she was going to run away with Lysander, Helena went off and told Demetrius.  Helena says, “I will go tell him of fair Hermia’s flight” to herself after Lysander and Hermia leave. Also, when both men fall in love with Helena because of magic, she automatically assumed that Hermia was playing a mean prank on her, which shows that she believed Hermia would betray her. When Hermia finds out that Lysander is in love with Helena, Helena says, “Now I perceive they have conjoined all three to fashion this false sport, in spite of me…” After this they began to argue, and got into a catfight, which shows they really aren’t good friends.

Another friendship in this story is Hermia and Lysander. They are in love, but they are also great friends.  All good relationships are based off of friendship.  I can tell they are friends because of the love they show for each other.  Hermia says, “If then true loves have ever been crossed…wishes and tears, poor Fancy’s followers.” This shows her love for Lysander, and that they are deeply in love.

Friendship will always be very important in life whether it is between friends or lovers. In a Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hermia’s friendship with Lysander is very important to her. It is so important to her that she runs away, risking being killed. This shows how important friendships can really be.

Friendship comes in many types of levels. There’s the neighbor across the street kinds of friends. There are friends you’ve known since kindergarten. There are student and teacher friendships, husband and wife and finally parents and children. Friendship develops upon how good two people get along with each other. Friends play jokes on each other. They laugh together, and they cry together. They go through rough time’s together and happy times. They are there when you need them giving you advice and supporting your decisions. Friendship is a form of love. Without friendship the world would be miserable. Everyone would be fighting, cursing, swearing, and killing. Without friendship the human race would probably wipe its self out.

In the play, A midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare, four lovers Lysander, Demetrius, Helena, and Hermia battle for true love and friendship. Lysander and Hermia love each other but they are battling against her father for marriage. They love each other and want to spend the rest of their lives together but Hermia’s father Egeus has other ideas. Egeus wants Hermia to marry Demetrius and Demetrius doesn’t really love anybody he just wants to marry Hermia because of her father’s wealth. While Lysander and Hermia are in love with each other and Demetrius is only in love with Egius’s money Helena is love sick. Helena loves Demetrius and would do anything for Demetrius to take her back. She says in the story, “And even for that do I love you more. I am your spaniel; and Demetrius, the more you beat me, I will fawn on you. Use me but as your spaniel, spurn me, strike me, neglect me, lose me; only give me leave, unworthy as I am, to follow you. What worser place can I beg in your love-and yet a place of high respect with me- then to be used as your dog.”Demetrius though does not want to marry Helena. He wants to marry somebody who has money and wealth. And the only thing that can change that is magic.

To marry there true love Lysander and Hermia go off into the woods to find their way out of Athens so they can get married in another city where his Aunt lives. Hermia told Helena of their plane. So Helena thought it would be a good idea to tell Demetrius in hope to follow him into the woods and make him fall in love with her. As they go into the woods the fairies notice the struggle for love Helena is having. So to make Demetrius fall in love with her one of the fairies Puck was sent to put a flower on his eye that would make him fall in love with Helena. He ended up putting the flower on Lysander instead of Demetrius on accident. That caused Lysander to fall in love with Helena. When Puck found out what he did he then put another flower on Demetrius to make him fall in love with Helena. But by then Helena and Hermia’s friendship was already falling apart. Helena thinks they are all playing a mean joke on her, “Wherefore was I to this keen mockery born? When at your hands did I deserve this scorn? Isn’t not enough, isn’t not enough, young man, that I did never, no, nor never can, deserve a sweet look from Demetrius’ eye, but you most flout my insufficiency? Good truth, you do me wrong, good sooth, you do, In such disdainful manner me to woo. But fare you well. Perforce I must confess I thought to you lord of more true gentleness. O, that a lady, of one man refused, should of another therefore abused.”Through all that chaos Hermia and Helena are confused thinking that the other one is playing a trick on them that isn’t funny and almost ruin their friendship. Eventually the fairies fix their mistake and make it so Demetrius loves Helena and Lysander loves Hermia. Then they all become friends and get married.

So all together the four lovers were not friends at the beginning yet through all the chaos that the fairies caused and the magic that made Demetrius fall in love with Helena, every one fell in love with the right person and their friendship healed and developed.

Love

In the book a midsummer’s night dream, there are a couple examples of the different types of love. It shows the love you can have for another person, or the love a parent shows for a child. Some types of love that weren’t mentioned or showed in the story are love for a pet, or sibling. There is also the love you can have for your friends and family. Love for friends, family, and pets can begin at any age, the love for another person comes later in life.

            In the days a midsummer’s night dream was made, the man of the house would choose a husband for their daughters, and thy would either marry the man, become a nun, or die. And the daughter had to listen to the father or pay the consequences. I think that the women should have had the right to marry whom they pleased. Parents should never choose a husband for their daughters.

            In the story, Egeus wanted his daughter, Hermia, to marry a man named Demetrius. But she did not love him. She loved Lysander. “Against my child, my daughter Hermia. Stand forth Demetrius. My noble lord, this man hath my consent to marry her,” said Egeus. The whole story is based around the fact that she cannot have Lysander, and her father doesn’t really care. Egeus also said “As she is mine, I may dispose of her, which shall be either to this gentleman or to her death according to our law. Immediately provided in that case.” In other words, she will marry the man he chose for her, or be put to death.

 I think this is very wrong. Many people still believe that their children cannot choose their husband/wife, so they pick one for them. The parents want their child to marry a rich, high-class person so that they could move in with them, or be supported by them. What I don’t think the parent’s think about is that there child might not want to marry the other person, they could have another love. I think that it is wrong for the parents to choose the person their child is to marry.

            The opposing side consists of parents who believe that the children can love who they want to love. They allow their children to go out and meet people, for friendships and fall in love. I believe that these parents are doing the right thing by exposing the child to the world. They set up their children to learn how everything works and how they cant have everything they want. They learn what makes others mad, what makes them cry, or how to get their way.

            Once again, I believe that a person has the right to love who they want to love and should not marry for duty to a parent.