Literature

Fiction, whether it is a movie, play or a story depicts an assortment of human emotions. Although humans experience a variety of emotions, the most influential among them is the feeling of love. Love has varied forms, it can be the tenderly love of a mother, the affectionate love of a friend or the passionate love of a young person for hisher lover. Numerous stories and plays have been written depicting this passionate love. One such play which depicts the theme of passionate love is A Midsummer Nights Dream by William Shakespeare. The play revolves around a pair of lovers and the confusion in their lives, which is created by the magical juice of a flower. As these lovers commit foolish acts under the influence of the magical juice of a flower, it becomes apparent that love makes an individual to believe in the existence of an illusory world and behave in a manner which defies reasoning. Even though the actions of the lovers are induced by magic, the behavior of the lovers point towards the notion that illusion is an inseparable part of love.

Illusion
The plot of the play A Midsummer Nights Dream is driven by the notion that love and illusion exist side by side. Hermias father compels her to marry Demetrius but as she is in love with Lysander, Hermia decides to flee to the forest with Lysander. Demetrius and Helena also follow them, as Demetrius loves Hermia whereas Helena loves Demetrius. In the same forest, a group of fairies with their King Oberon and Queen Titania are living. As King Oberon is enraged at Titania owing to her refusal to obey his order, he instructs Puck to bring a flower, whose juice

has a magical effect, so that he can punish Titania. This juice makes a sleeping person to fall in love with the first living being heshe sees upon waking. Oberon also orders Puck to apply the magical juice on the eyelids of sleeping Demetrius, for he has noticed that Demetrius is indifferent towards Helenas feelings. Oberon wanted Demetrius to fall in love with Helena but Puck mistakes Lysander to be Demetrius and applies the magical juice on his eyelids. Lysander sees Helena upon waking and falls in love with her. When Oberon sees Demetrius chasing Hermia, he applies the magical juice on his eyelids. Owing to the effect of magical juice, Lysander and Demetrius fall in love with the same person and fight with each other. The magic creates confusion in the minds of the lovers, as Helena thinks that Demetrius and Lysander are making a mockery of her. Wherefore was I to this keen mockery born When at your hands did I deserve this scorn (Shakespeare 46).  Hermia grows jealous of Helena, as she finds that her lover, Lysander is proposing his love to Helena. As Lysander and Demetrius are overwhelmed by the power of love, they believe that the illusion is real and act foolishly in pursuit of their desires to unite with the person they love.

Although the illusion in the play is created by the magic, the illusion brings forth the effect of love on the belief of an individual regarding the existence of an illusory world. The behavior of Lysander, Demetrius and Titania prove that the world of love is akin to the illusory world where there is lack of reasoning. The magic makes Titania to fall in love with a person who has a head of donkey. And thy fair virtues force perforce doth move me, On the first view, to say, to swear, I love thee. (Shakespeare 66). The characters of Lysander, Demetrius and Titania believe that they are love in with first living being whom they see upon waking owing to the effect of the illusion created by magic. The confusion created by the magic not only causes a

hilarious situation but also makes the lovers to fight with each other. As Lysander, Demetrius and Titania are in love, they fail to notice the flaws in the person they love. Titania dotes on a human with the head of a donkey whereas Demetrius and Lysander love the same woman, Helena in spite of the fact that she comes to regard their love as mockery. It is the feeling of love that makes Lysander, Demetrius and Titania to behave in a manner which may seem unreasonable to an individual who has not yet fallen in love. Helenas comments on love in the earlier part of the play reinforce the notion that love leads to the creation of illusions, owing to which even an ugly person appears to be beautiful to hisher lover. Through Athens I am thought as fair as she. But what of that Demetrius thinks not so. holding no quantity, Love can transpose to form and dignity. Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.  (Shakespeare 23). The illusion created by the magic shows how love makes an individual to believe in the existence of illusions, for the feeling of love takes a person away from the real world and places himher in a world of fantasies.

Conclusion
The play A Midsummer Nights Dream depicts the relationship between love and illusion through the story of a pair of lovers. The characters of Lysander, Demetrius and Titania behave foolishly under the influence of the magical juice of a flower, as they seek to unite with their lovers. Although the illusion in the play is created by magic, the behavior of the lovers during the illusion shows that love makes an individual to believe in fantasies, and thereby proves that illusion is an inseparable part of love.