A
Midsummer Night’s Dream
William
Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream
features Puck, a wood sprite from English folklore. In fact, Puck is the life
and soul of the play. His actions drives the plot of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and nails the theme of the difficulties
of pursuing true love on its head.
Simply
put, Puck is the primary catalyst of the events depicted in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and
consequently plays a large role in delivering its message concerning true love.
More specifically, Puck sets the plot of the play in action by effectively
unleashing a hurricane of true love/hate relationships by turning said
relationships upon their heads. For example, it is Puck’s mistake that neuters
Lysander’s genuine affection for Hermia by replacing it with an obsessive
infatuation with Helena. He also redirects Demetrius’ feelings, however
wholesome they were, from Hermia to Helena. Indeed, not even Titania was immune
to Puck’s actions, seeing as his acts directly caused the Fairy Queen to fall
in love with a literal jackass, thus temporarily distracting her from her
feelings, whatever they were at the time, for her lover Oberon (although it is
worth pointing out that this was done on Oberon’s orders). In short, Puck’s actions
effectively set up an obstacle course, literally and figuratively, for the
culmination and realization of the genuine affection that the various pairs of
lovers in A Midsummer Night’s Dream
hold for their respective partners.
Just
as Puck set this series of calamitous events (for the lovers, that is, it’s
rather hilarious from the audience’s point of view) in action, it was also up
to Puck, to use Puck’s very own words, “to make amends.” Indeed, Puck did eventually
right each and every single one of his wrongs. He eventually sets the love
triangle between Lysander, Demetrius, and Helena straight by turning Lysander’s
heart back towards Hermia. In doing so, he also calmed an ongoing feud between
Theseus and Hippolyta, which led them reconcile as well. Moreover, Puck also
participated in the blessing of these three couples during the final act of the
play. As such, while Puck was the primary obstacle to the union of these
couples in love, he was also the one who facilitated, watched over, and
ultimately blessed their bonds of love.
Thus, by using Puck’s actions to
literalize the familiar cliché that "the course of true love never did run
smooth," Shakespeare suggests that the realization of true love can be
likened to an obstacle course in that there are many challenges to overcome.
However, by also depicting Puck as the character who ultimately brings about
amends, Shakespeare emphasizes the silver lining of these challenges, which
primarily rests in the possibility to ultimately bring lovers closer together
than they would have otherwise been. As such, it is clear that while the
statement “the course of true love never did run smooth” seems to convey a
somewhat pessimistic (and most definitely realistic) view concerning the
realization of true love, the fact that
the lovers’ were ultimately far more content as a result of Puck’s roughening
of their loves’ courses carries a more
idealistic message. In short, Puck and his actions embody the two-sided nature
of the theme of love in A Midsummer Night’s
Dream.
