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.