Ivy Voong

Period 4
03/18/15

Prompt #4. The love portrayed among the four lovers is similar to love among teens today (the times have
remained unchanged). ex: same problems (give 3 examples)

Love Then, Love Now

Love conquers all. Does this saying apply to every kind of love? William Shakespeare
is known for developing literature involving forbidden romances such as A Midsummer Nights
Dream. These plays involve lovers who go behind their parents back in order to be with one
another. Does this sound familiar? Nowadays, teenagers also rebel against their parents and
set out to be with their partner, claiming they are in love. Times may have changed, but the
practices are still the same. Teens experience drama, betrayal, and other conflicts that have
occurred repeatedly in history. In A Midsummer Nights Dream, four lovers ride on an emotional
rollercoaster. Despite bearing some minor differences, the similarities between lovers then and
lovers now are striking.
First off, the love triangle or shall I say love square portrayed in this tale happens to be
one of the most relatable situations when we are talking about teens. During their teenage
phase, teens experience what is called a crush. It is an attraction to someone, although brief, it
can be intense and cause loads of drama. While the person may be attracted to someone, that
does not necessarily mean the feelings are reciprocated. Due to this, this term can be taken
literal and actually crush a persons feelings. An example of this is the relationship among
Hermia, Lysander, Helena, and Demetrius. The mutual couple, Hermia and Lysander, face
many problems including another man's affection towards Hermia, Demetrius. However, Helena
is in love with Demetrius yet he does not share the same feelings because of his love for
Hermia. This angers Helena, resulting in her angrily expressing her feelings to Hermia.
Demetrius loves your fair. O happy fair! Your eyes are lodestars and your tongues sweet
air...Were the world mine, Demetrius being bated, The rest
Id
give to be to you
translated. O, teach me how you look and with what art You sway the motion of Demetrius
heart! she exclaims. Although this is unfortunate, this is reality. Helena was hurt because her
crush did not return the feelings she had for him. Teenagers face this situation on a daily basis.
Secondly, love can blind a persons true loyalty. Helena and Hermia may not have been
the best of friends, but they were acquainted with each other. Their relationship took a swerve
when Demetrius true feelings were revealed and they were not for Helena. This unleashed
Helenas fury, causing her to go to any extent in order to gain Demetrius love. After finding out
about Hermias plan of escaping, Helena made it her goal to sabotage Demetrius love for
Hermia and turn it into love for her. I will go tell him of fair Hermias flight. Then to the wood will
he tomorrow night Pursue her. And, for this intelligence If I have thanks, it is a dear expense.
But herein mean I to enrich my pain,To have his sight thither and back again. says Helena (Act
1, Scene 1). Whatever chance of forming a friendship between the two was ruined due to

jealousy and betrayal. These days, friendships are shattered the same way. A boy comes in
between two girls and they fight like soldiers in a war. No matter how much time passes,
jealousy is a feeling everyone deals with.
Lastly, Shakespeare demonstrates what I call the lovey-dovey kind of love where new
couples are still in that stage where love excites them. However, most of the time it may not be
love at all, but the feeling of excitement and adventure that is making them believe they are in
love. From reading A Midsummer Nights Dream, it does not seem like Hermia and Lysander
have known each other for a long period of time. When it came to the ages of the characters,
Shakespeare purposefully made it vague and showed it through their actions instead of
informing us. One example is, There, gentle Hermia, may I marry thee; And to that place the
sharp Athenian law Cannot pursue us. If thou lovest me, then Steal forth thy fathers house
tomorrow night, And in the wood a league without the town (Where I did meet thee once with
Helena To do observance to a morn of May), There will I stay for thee. As a result of not having
her fathers consent, Hermia and Lysander had planned on eloping in Athens. If that does not
scream young and immature, frankly, I do not know what does. Whether if it was from a movie,
a book, or experience we have all heard about young couples eloping in Vegas with an Elvis
impersonation. Clich right? Helena and Lysander had it drilled into their minds that what they
had was love. As humans, we all want to find happiness and be content with our lives. This
couple could have been experiencing first-time love which blinded them from reality. Who
knows? Maybe they were in love? However, that does not change the fact that emotions took
over, causing them to make rash, irrational decisions which is what every single teenager has in
common.
To sum this all up, actions due to young love have not changed at all and most likely
never will. We may live in a different generation, but we all share one quality; we are all human.
Humans have emotions that influence their choices. The four lovers experienced love, jealousy,
and betrayal throughout the play. Teenagers these days repeat history by dealing with the same
problems. You know how they say anything that happened today, happened in history? Well, in
this dilemma, it works both ways.