The Timeless Similarity of Shakespeare’s Love Stories Austin Lubetkin
Austin Lubetkin
Lubetkin 1
3 April 2012
The Timeless Similarity of Shakespeare’s Love Stories
For Taylor Swift, it is a “Love Story” but for Shakespeare and his great understanding of human nature it was a play written in the forms of Romeo and Juliet, and A Midsummer Nights Dream. The similarities reach beyond the superficial comparison of Pyrumus and Thisbe’s obvious contribution to the plot of both plays. Both plays additionally show an amazing command of Renaissance science, philosophy, law, and such difficult languages as Latin and Greek (Pineas). In simplest form the same story is told but with contrasting yet timeless endings. Also, both plays exploit obvious contrasts for theatrical effect. Among these are light and dark (or day and night), love and hate and the upper and lower ends of the social scale (Moore). In both plays the same battle is fought with different weapons and scenery but the societal victimization of the lovers successfully conveys a pride the reader endows in the underdogs’ success at achieving their ideal connection at all costs. Both plays extend the understanding of morality as either a life or death commitment or a sheer uncertainty in the reality of the uniting scenario. Shakespeare built upon the success of Romeo and Juliet by exemplifying the potential of a happy ending by the potential of a tragedy resolving itself as a comedy in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Because of their similarities a reader can question the entertainment of foiled plot, but that in turn is the provocative factor that leads the reader to question both plays as separate entities. Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Nights Dream is similar in many respects to Shakespeare’s later tragedy Romeo and Juliet.
Lubetkin 2 One of the clearest similarities is that the lovers must overcome insurmountable environmental obstacles to reach their ideal love. The strength of Shakespeare’s characters’ passion holds true to the end of his stories and indirectly defines the genre of comedy versus tragedy. Shakespeare’s characters acquire individual personalities, and they overshadow the plot in importance (Pineas). In Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure, he evidently defines the thought process the lovers Romeo, Demetrius, and Lysander must undergo to prove to their family and society that their true love holds true. The tempter or the tempted, who sins most? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Corrupt with virtuous season. Can it be That modesty may more betray our sense What is't I dream on? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O cunning enemy, that, to catch a saint, With saints dost bait thy hook! Most dangerous Is that temptation that doth goad us on To sin in loving virtue: never could the strumpet, With all her double vigour, art and nature, Once stir my temper; but this virtuous maid Subdues me quite. Even till now, When men were fond, I smiled and wonder'd how. (937-961)
Lubetkin 3 Still it is hard to justify the similarities in character growth versus the degenerative yet ineffective efforts of society that plant a seed of rebellion within all of the lovers. In A Midsummer Nights Dream the defining factor of the characters’ commitment is marriage; yet in Romeo and Juliet the achievement of marriage combined with the potentially incomplete nature of A Midsummer Nights Dream provide an insight into the motivation of Shakespeare in writing a play so similar. Upon further inspection, the less obvious similarities come to light. The first similarity is the non-related guidance characters with the golden parachute of magic. These characters in Romeo and Juliet are Friar Lawrence and the Nurse who are bound by human boundaries by which the fairies in A Midsummer Nights Dream are unaffected. These characters are an integral aspect of the story because they are non-familial; therefore they are able to do things that shape the story in a way that violates the parental figures. Both sets exist between or rather alongside the two contrasting social orders (Burke). These characters have good intent, the intentions of these characters being to save the lovers, who while not family, acknowledge the importance of their love, but their actions have consequences that add a level of unparalleled entertainment and depth to the stories (Moore). (Ex. Friar Lawrence’s intentions are to end the bloody family feud but create additional bloodshed (Linnea).) The love flower of Puck and Oberon and the herbs of Friar Lawrence contain an avid bit of magic that the stories could not exist without (Moore). But the remarkable thing is that, by first establishing the woodsy dimension before introducing talk of this magic juice, and by surrounding it with such lovely connotations when he does introduce it, the combination of Shakespeare's timing
Lubetkin 4 and his astonishing stylistic grace shifts our attention away from the rudimentary nature of the device itself, as a way of keeping his plot on the move. And instead, we feel it as infused with the spirit of the same fancifulness with which the imagery as a whole levitates. But in this general account of what is going on in the play. (Burke) It is interesting to note that at the time with the illegality of Catholic faith Shakespeare surprisingly portrayed Friar Lawrence with a respect that no other writers of the time devoted (Linnea). These items and characters offer the mystic hope society did not grant the lovers. In both stories, the turning point is the joyous and unusual setting in view of the grand scheme of the story. In A Midsummer Nights Dream, the turning point is the play within the play where the struggle is over and societies acceptance of the forbidden love is complete. In Romeo and Juliet, the struggle has just begun with the turning point of the party where society’s rules begin to be challenged with Romeo’s meeting of Juliet. Though the outcomes and cities of these points are different the overall change in the reader’s view is similar. Lastly, Theseus’ observation of the lovers, “Lovers and madmen have such seething brains,/Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend/More than cool reason ever comprehends.” (5.1.4-6) is equal in value to the perception upon Romeo and Juliet’s relationship’s enchanting yet forbidden effect upon each other. Finally, in both plays the struggle for women’s rights divulges in the common scenario of the heroine’s paternal struggle. In one play we see a father begin by giving his daughter a lot of freedom, and end by removing it from her; in the other, we see a father try to control his
Lubetkin 5 daughter's life for most of the play, but who is reconciled to her near its end (Moore). Perhaps Juliet and Hermia’s struggle with society’s authority roots back to Shakespeare’s father’s struggle. In Romeo and Juliet, Lord Capulet is quite a social climber, and so was Shakespeare's father. John Shakespeare was born to a family of tenant farmers, but he wanted to be rich. He married the daughter of his family's wealthy landlord, and moved into the small city of Stratford to start a business. In Romeo and Juliet, Lord Capulet is determined that Juliet will marry Paris, a wealthy young man from a higher social class while Egeus is accepted as upper class and his struggle is to maintain his social authority by marrying his daughter to Midsummer Nights Dream’s Paris, Demetrius. (Linnea). This similarity in the character profile of Demetrius and Paris strengthen the point that A Midsummer Nights Dream acts as a completing storyline to Romeo and Juliet (A Helena for Paris) while in itself being incomplete. Finally, like Shakespeare’s father, Lysander and Hermia originally attempt to move away (Aunts Location) to marry and Romeo will also run away (Mantua). The above details further emphasize the similarities of the plays and the common lack of original societal empathy. A Midsummer Nights Dream is similar to Romeo and Juliet in a way that is greater than sheer coincidence. The similarities in the struggle against society, the joyous turning point, and the similarities of the characters lead to the assumption of a planned effort on Shakespeare’s behalf. In both plays the father characters decide the societal verdict of non-acceptance, yet, while most apparent, is triumphed in comparison by the similarities of Demetrius to Paris and mainly the non-related influencers who direct the hope of the story with their use of magic. Though one of the greatest of all time, Shakespeare was a single entity and respectfully his ideas and plays will stem from a single mind and set of experiences.
Lubetkin 6 Works Cited Burke, Kenneth. "Why A Midsummer Night's Dream?" Elibrary.bigchalk.com. 10 Jan. 2006. Web. 13 Mar. 2012. <http://elibrary.bigchalk.com/elibweb/curriculum/do/document?set=search&dictionaryCl ick=&secondaryNav=&groupid=1&requestid=lib_standard&resultid=3&edition=&ts=4D E3E1FC18B0AE1EB1F9F689F81EA7F2_1331813828815&start=1&publicationId=&ur n=urn%3Abigchalk%3AUS%3BBCLib%3Bdocument%3B130728848>. Hacht, Anne Marie., ed. Shakespeare for Students: Critical Interpretations of Shakespeare's Plays and Poetry. 2nd ed. Vol. 2. Detroit: Thomson / Gale, 2007. Print. Linnea, Sharon. Romeo and Juliet. Ed. Michael Spring. Literary Cavalcade, Scholastic, 2004. Barron's Booknotes. Web. 27 Mar. 2012. <http://elibrary.bigchalk.com/elibweb/curriculum/do/document?set=search&dictionaryCl ick=&secondaryNav=&groupid=1&requestid=lib_standard&resultid=2&edition=&ts=FC A9B9FF84E2D90B1EBDD92EC3FDD698_1332899250064&start=1&publicationId=& urn=urn%3Abigchalk%3AUS%3BBCLib%3Bdocument%3B100077309>. Moore, Andrew. "Comparing A Midsummer Night's Dream and Romeo and Juliet." Www.universalteacher.org.uk. Web. 19 Mar. 2012. <http://www.universalteacher.org.uk/gcse/mnd.htm>. Pineas, Rainer. "Introduction." Comedies of William Shakespeare. 1 Jan. 1963.
Lubetkin 7 Monarch Notes. ELibrary. Web. 22 Mar. 2012. <http://elibrary.bigchalk.com/elibweb/curriculum/do/document?set=search&dictionaryCl ick=&secondaryNav=&groupid=1&requestid=lib_standard&resultid=4&edition=&ts=48 28A61E4DD6B67B935CC025506216D0_1332887669692&start=1&publicationId=&ur n=urn%3Abigchalk%3AUS%3BBCLib%3Bdocument%3B28047988>. Shakespeare, William, and Richard Hosley. The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. New Haven: Yale UP, 1954. Print. Shakespeare, William, and W. H. Durham. A Midsummer Night's Dream,. New Haven: Yale UP; [etc., 1918. Print. Shakespeare, William. "Measure for Measure: Entire Play." The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. Web. 28 Mar. 2012. <http://shakespeare.mit.edu/measure/full.html>.