A Midsummer Night's Dream

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.