A Comparison of Romantic Love in A Midsummer Nights Dream, The Tempest

Romantic Love in A Midsummer Nights Dream, The Tempest, and Twelfth Night In all of Shakespeares plays, there is a definitive style present, a style he perfected. From his very first play (The Comedy of Errors) to his very last (The Tempest), he uses unique symbolism and descriptive poetry to express and explicate the actions and events he writes about. Twelfth Night, The Tempest and A Midsummer Nights Dream are all tragicomedies that epitomise the best use of the themes and ideology that Shakespeare puts forth. Naturally, one of the most reoccurring themes in Shakespeare is romantic love. It is perhaps not a coincidence that he put so much emphasis on this elusive and enigmatic emotion. In the Elizabethan age when he was writing, the arts were being explored more fervently, and thus raw human emotions began to surface in the mainstream culture. In Twelfth Night, love is a enigmatic and fickle thing, as demonstrated in the relationships between Duke Orsino and Olivia Olivia and Viola/Curio Malvolio and Olivia (she certainly has an effect on men doesnt she?) Duke Orsino and Viola/Curio. However, the characters seem to have a love-hate relationship with Cupid. Within the first line of the play, it is glorified If music be the food of love, play on... (Duke Orsino, II). And while Olivia is annoyed with Orsinos affection, she craves Curios. However, Shakespeare also picks on love. not only did Malvolios confusion about his and Olivias relationship prove to add to the comedy, but it rather showed how one can play with love, and use it for anothers harm. Apart from this example, love is portrayed as a light and lovely emotion. In A Midsummer Nights Dream, love is used to cause misch... ...ok. London Macmillan Press Ltd, 1992. 222-43. David, R. W., ed. Shakespeare Loves Labours Lost. London Methuen, 1981. Davidson, Frank. The Tempest An Interpretation. In The Tempest A Casebook. Ed. D.J. Palmer. London Macmillan & Co. Ltd., 1968. 225. Hil lman, Richard The Tempest as Romance and Anti-Romance Shakespeare Quarterly. 34 (1983), 426-432. Palmer, D.J. Shakespeares Later Comedies An Anthology of Modern Criticism. Harmondsworth, Penguin, 1971. Potter, Lois. Twelfth Night Text & Performance. London Macmillan, 1985. Schanzer, Ernest. _A Midsummer-Nights Dream. 26-31 in Kenneth Muir, ed. Shakespeare The Comedies A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs Prentice-Hall, 1965. Shakespeare, William. The Norton Shakespeare. Edited Stephen Greenblatt et al. New York W. W. Norton & Company, 1997.