Midsummer Night's Dream

2 Pages 542 Words

Shakespeare’s play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, is a humorous and imaginative comedy. One main theme Shakespeare includes in his play is transformation. In order to understand the many transformations, one must have a close following and understanding of the play.
One transformation, which happens to three people, is due to Oberon and Puck’s flower juice. The juice is a love potion, which is applied to a person’s eyelids when he or she is sleeping. When the person awakens, he or she will fall in love with the first person they see. The first love transformation occurs when Lysander awakens to Helena, his soon-to-be wife’s good friend (Act II, scene ii, lines 103-107). The second transformation occurs when Titania awakens to see Bottom, who has undergone a transformation of his own (Act III, scene i, lines 129-224). The third transformation occurs when Demetrius also awakens to see Helena, whom he had earlier claimed to be sickened by (Act III, scene ii, lines 137-144).
Another type of transformation occurs between Hermia and Helena. At the beginning of the play, both Demetrius and Lysander were in love with Hermia, although she was only in love with Lysander (Act I, scene i, lines 22-45). Helena, was in love with Demetrius, but he did not like heart all (Act II, scene i, lines 188-194). By the middle of Act II, because of the love potion, Lysander had fallen in love with Helena. By Act III, Demetrius had also fallen in love with her, for the same reason. Neither Demetrius nor Lysander loved Hermia anymore, but both loved Helena. This is the opposite scenario of what the play opened with.
A physical transformation occurs when the mischievous Puck oversees the craftsmen rehearsing their play. He decides to play a joke and transforms Bottom’s head into that of an ass’s (Act III, scene I, lines 102-105). When the other craftsmen see Bottom’s head, they are scared and run away, leaving puck v...