Though much of the comedy in A Midsummer Night’s Dream comes from the confusion that ensues between the four young lovers, I have to admit that their maturity and conviction at the beginning of the play is quite impressive to me. Hermia and Lysander seem so sure of their love for one another (that Hermia is willing to defy her father and face potential celibacy or death to protect it.)
It is was when Lysander stated “the course of love never did run smooth” that I felt it appropriate to take their characters and their love for each other seriously (as silly as it later becomes). Lysander expresses his understanding that the journey of love is never an easy one, yet he remains committed still. Knowing the hardships they will have to face, Hermia and Lysander make a vow of love to each other.
The next couple we are introduced to is Oberon and Titania who, while committed to each other by marriage, no longer seem a committed couple at all. As Puck explains, “And now they never meet in grove or green.” The two even come from separate entrances and seemingly cannot stand the sight of each other. Oberon even performs cruel tricks and spells on his once love. By comparison the love between Hermia and Lysander seems far stronger than that of Oberon and Titania.
All that being sad, I think that these couples, being at different stages in their lives and at different ages, only reflect a common theme in reality: love is often strongest when it is young .
Marla has done a good job of looking at the play from two different angles by underscoring the seriousness of the opening scene and then noting how later events seems to overturn it. Still, despite the change in tone, the metamorphoses in MND remind us of how vulnerable to chance we always remain.
This post is very well- written and explains a really good interpretation of the relationship between both couples, however I saw Hermia and Lysander’s differently. I think Shakespeare hinted on their love being a bit weaker than it seemed when Puck magically operating on their eyes to make them fall in love with Demetrius and Helena respectively. I felt that if they were truly in love, their love would conquer the magic and the would snap out of it.