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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 4 page paper which looks at the different examples of love madness in Shakespeare's play and argues that they are a plot device rather than a representation of human nature. Bibliography lists 4 sources.
Page Count:
4 pages (~225 words per page)
File: JL5_JLmnd09.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
and has been well attested in numerous examples both in literature and real life. However, it could be argued that the love madness which Shakespeare depicts in A Midsummer Nights
Dream is, for the most part, not genuine: it is artificially imposed on the characters by magical means, and cannot therefore be treated as an accurate representation of human nature
and behavior. In Phaedrus, Plato has Lysias explain that a man in love is suffering from a kind of insanity, and should therefore be
avoided: such madness only creates problems in relationships, and one should opt instead for either friendship, or sexual encounters unencumbered by love. Socrates disagrees, on the grounds that madness is
a gift of the gods - the truly inspired poet is driven by the divine madness of his Muse - and so madness in other aspects of human life should
not be rejected. Shakespeare reiterates this concept in Theseus observation that "the lunatic, the lover and the poet / Are of imagination all compact" (V: I: 7).
However, those who inflict love madness on others in the Dream are not gods, despite the influence which they wield over human beings (Titania describes flood and
famine as being the direct manifestation of her conflict with Oberon) and the madness itself is generated by the very human desire of Oberon for revenge, and Pucks equally human
fondness for mischief. It is interesting to note, for example, that Theseus and Hippolyta (whose love is, presumably, genuine) demonstrate a rather rational and sane perspective: Theseus is polite and
restrained in his stated eagerness for the wedding night to arrive, and Hippolyta is equally courtly and civil in her reassurance that the intervening time will soon pass.
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