A Midsummer Night's Dream
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The idea expressed by Lysander in A Midsummer Night's Dream that "the course of true love never did run smooth" (I.i.134) represents a theme the runs through many of Shakespeare's plays and indeed through much of world literature. The statement itself embodies several ideas. First, it assumes that there is such a thing as true love and that it is a conception based on the idea that two people are literally meant for each other. Second, it states that these two people, though meant for each other, may have to endure a good deal before they can actually achieve the love they feel. Shakespeare works these ideas through in several of his works, and the theme can be seen clearly in Twelfth Night, The Taming of the Shrew, and the Sonnets.The Taming of the Shrew brings the idea of endurance and suffering in love to the fore in a story in which the characters battle their way to a loving relationship. There are two couples in this play, two male suitors pursuing the sisters Bianca and Kate. The matter is complicated in that the development of a relationship between the males and the females depends on more than simple attraction. Lucentio loves Bianca, and even if he can woo her, he will have to wait unless Kate is married first. This conflict is created by the wishes of the father: Gentlemen, importune me no farther, For how I firmly am resolv'd you know; That is, not to bestow my youngest daughter Before I have a husband for the elder. (I.i.55-58
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. True love in this play becomes enmeshed in a series of errors, mistaken identities, misplaced affections, and a general social confusion that actually begins when Sebastian and Viola are separated in a shipwreck. The confusions will be compounded by having Viola dress as a boy, a device often used by Shakespeare and one that creates a particularly rocky road for true love.
Twelfth Night in particular tests the meaning of "true love" and shows that not all love is true and that a rocky road faces anyone who believes himself to be in love, whether it proves to be true love or not. Indeed, then, Lysander might simply say that the course followed by the lover never does run smooth. In this play, Shakespeare satirizes his own theme by having a number of relationships that one member or another believes are true but that are not. Sir Andrew Aguecheek is a foolish knight who has come to woo Olivia, and his passion is not to be taken seriously. His friend Toby Belch does not take it seriously and uses it as a reason for a number of pranks. Another instance of love that can never be true love is the passion Olivia develops for the disguised Viola, not knowing that Viola is a girl and not a boy. The matter is complicated further
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1590
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)
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