Analysis Of A Midsummer Night s Dream - 1052 Words

Savannah Dunn Miss Sibbach English IV 10 December, 2014 Endless Love Faults exist when love and law attempt to coincide. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hermia comes head to head with unfairness, the fault which arises after her father disapproves of her marrying who she loves. According to the Athenian Law she must serve a punishment for disobeying her father. By this law, she should treat him like a god or her ruler. What he says goes and he intends for her to marry Demetrius, but she loves Lysander. In the play, if she does not marry who her father has chosen for her, several punishments may occur. Hermia has a few options she must quickly choose by the wedding of Theseus and Hyppolyta. Ultimately, law should not factor into a person’s†¦show more content†¦Although the Athenian law states that death should occur, Theseus takes it upon himself to give her an alternative punishment. â€Å"†¦question your desires, know your youth, examine well your blood, whether if you yield not your father’s choice you can endure th e livery of a nun, for aye to be in shady cloister mewed, to live a barren sister all your life†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Skakespeare4). Theseus gave her the option to move away, so she would not have to die. This decision will also keep Egeus from having to kill his daughter. Although this alternative is not the best thing, it makes for a better punishment than dying. Theseus gives her the safest and smartest choice, marrying Demetrius and obeying her father. It would be the safest due to the fact her father has no problem getting rid of her. â€Å"As she is mine, I may dispose of her, which shall be either to this gentlemen or to her death according to our law immediately provided in that case† (Shakespeare3). Choosing this option would cause a lot less problems and make things easier for everyone, but Hermia loves Lysander too much, so she takes the harder road out and decides to run off with Lysander and get married, putting a big risk on many things in her life. â€Å"She is even prepared to give up her family and way of life to marry Lysander, agreeing to elope with him into the forest† (Hermia). The love she shares with Lysander seems much stronger than the