In Shakespeares Famous Comedy, A Midsummer Nights Dream, Love Is An I

In Shakespeare's famous comedy, A Midsummer Night's Dream, love is an important concept. The different characters have different views on love that they express, and throughout the play, Shakespeare portrays a general attitude about it. One character of importance, Helena, is rather cynical about love. Because she has always been turned from, especially by her own love, Dymetrius, she is skeptical when she is loved. Nick Bottom, the amusing weaver also has an interesting take on love. When Titania falls in love with him, he says that "reason and love keep little company with each other nowadays." This comment is different from Bottom's other remarks, in that it is intelligent, so one might think that these words of his are truly those born of Shakespeare's insight. We get little insight into Puck's views on love, though, even though it seems to be his trade. A cupid-like character, he goes around making various people fall in love with the first being they see upon waking. He does make a few scattered comments about love. When Oberon informs him of his error in applying the love nectar to the wrong eyes, Puck says, "then fate o'errules..." Could this mean he believes in true love? Theseus obviously doesn't. he goes so far as to say, "Lovers and madmen have such seething brains." He goes on to equate love with fantasy, separate love from reason, and compare the lover to the lunatic and the poet. However, he does seem to carry a positive attitude about it, especially towards Hippolyta. Through the happenings in the play and the words of the characters, Shakespeare seems to be presenting a comical view of love. He is making a joke of it, with Titania falling in love with a donkey and with the objects of the characters' affection constantly fluctuating. This contrasts with Romeo and Juliet, a Shakespearean tradgedy about true love. Romeo and Juliet are star-crossed lovers, destined to be together. In A Midsummer Night's Dream, love is a token thing dispersed by a sprite.