The Appearance of Love in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" by William Shakespeare
Summary:
In William Shakespeare's play "A Midsummer Night's Dream," Demetrius falls in love with Helena after drinking a love potion. Because Demetrius' feelings are concocted through the potion, those feelings do not constitute true love because they lack any foundation, justification, or sense of reality.
What is love? Webster's defines it as a passionate affection for another person. In the play, "A Midsummer Night's Dream," by William Shakespeare, the character Demetrius falls in love with the character Helena, through a love potion. Accordingly, Demetrius' love for Helena is not true love because of the lack of foundation, justification, and unreal nature of the love.
The feeling that Demetrius has for Helena is not love because the foundation that the love is based on is missing. His undying desire for her suddenly appeared in his head and he would not be able to explain why he loves her and give evidence of it, other than the fact that she is beautiful. His love for her can be compared to a tree that has no roots or foundation but is still growing. However, if the magic that created the tree were to disappear, the tree would die. In the same way, Demetrius's love for Helena would die if the love potion were to lose its effectiveness, all because the foundation of the love was not properly planted.
What justifies true love is the way a person feels about another person and the actions someone takes to prove his or her love. These feelings and actions must both be there, because they go hand in hand. For example, if a person were to say, "I love you," but never acknowledge this love through his or her actions, the other person would not know that he or she is loved. Furthermore, if a person always gave gifts and recognized special dates in the other person's life, but never expressed his or her feelings verbally, the object of his or her love would feel as if the love was being bought.
Demetrius's love for Helena is not true love, since the feeling that he thinks is love is illusory because the passionate affection he has for her has no basis in reality. He did not develop the passion for her, it just appeared from nowhere. True love must be acquired, not given. For example, when someone is learning, he or she acquires what is to be learned, rather than being given it, since it is intangible. In other words, love is not something that is tangible, so you cannot receive it from any potion.
In conclusion, Demetrius' love for Helena is false because its foundation is based on an illusion. His affection does not meet the requirements of what constitutes love since he obtained the love through a tangible love potion, Even if Demetrius has a passionate affection for Helena, his basis of devotion is supposititious
This is the complete article, containing 437 words
(approx. 1 page at 300 words per page).
