The Treatment of the Male/Female Dynamic within the Context of Love and Marriage - Essay Example

The Treatment of the Male/Female Dynamic within the Context of Love and Marriage Any form of art especially theatre and music, seeks to reflect the actual situation of the reference society at the time of performing the art. A play is one of the most significant types of art. This paper will address two plays that include “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and “Twelfth Night” both by William Shakespeare. In analysing the two plays, this paper will focus on the theme of love and sexuality through the topic “treatment of the male/female dynamic within the context of love and marriage.” Indeed, the analysis of the two plays will demonstrate the theme of love and sexuality through the above stated topic and consequently develop an argument. Ideally, numerous relationships in the society form the basis of any piece of art. Nevertheless, the relationship between a male and a female derives an aspect of love and sexuality. Indeed, an address on how the two genders relate, mostly falls in the realms of love. This theme seeks to explain the treatment that either of them derives from the relationship and measures the challenges, extent, and effects of such a relationship. Indeed, many heterosexual relationship ends up in marriage that can equally lead to divorce. As such, the theme of love is very diverse and applies in many pieces of art, as it is the most dominant theme in any society. In both plays, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and “Twelfth Night,” the issue of relationships comes out very clearly. William Shakespeare wrote the play, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” between 1590 and 1596. The play demonstrates the dynamics that surrounded the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and Hippolyta. On the other hand, William Shakespeare also wrote the play, “Twelfth Night” between 1601 and 1602. The play was part of the Twelfth Night's entertainment and the end of Christmas season. The characters in the play, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” entail four young Athenian lovers and a group of six amateur actors who were in an adventure in a forest. On the other hand, the characters in the play, “Twelfth Night” include a young woman called Viola, Sebastian who Viola’s twin brother, and Antonio who is the captain of the wrecked ship. The cast is in a romantic location, the coast of Illyria where the ship wrecked. In the play, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” the treatment of females in the context of love and marriage manifests itself clearly through the various scenes of the play. Indeed, in the play four main puppets dressed in the same clothes represent the four young Athenian lovers. However, after abandoning the four puppets, the four lovers get confused setting the bitter tone of relationships in the play. Actually, the play revolves around four young lovers who get lost in the forest and engages a band of six delightful labourers who are rehearsing for a wedding party. As such, in general, this describes the issue of love and the aspect of marriage in the play. More so, the play ends with a royal wedding between Theseus and Hippolyta after a long love struggle. Ideally, the play manifests the dark side of love where Lysander states that the course of true love never did run smooth. This reflects in the numerous conflicts in the play that originate from the challenges of romance as seen in the play. Moreover, the dark side of love comes out clearly, where there is mistaking of lovers and use of unethical ways to access love like application of a love potion to Tatiana’s eyes to make her fall in love with someone she does not want. The myth behind the love potion is that once applied in the eyes of a sleeping person, the victim falls in love with the first living thing they see awakening. Actually, application of the love potion to Tatiana’s eyes is a mistreatment towards women. In addition, the mistreatment of women also manifests in this play where certain traditions are against women rights. Indeed, an ancient Athenian law recommends that a young woman must marry the man chosen by her father, or else face a death penalty. In this play, we see Hermia refusing to abide by her father’s instruction to marry Demetrius. As a result, her father invokes the ancient Athenian law that forces Hermia to run away since she wanted to marry Lysander. As such, the issue of treating women in the context of love and marriage presents itself. At the same time, we see the couples in the forest facing many problems that relate to love and marriage. The play demonstrates Helena’s desperation to reclaim Demetrius' love where she consistently makes advances towards him with a promise to love him more than Hermia. However, we again see the mistreatment of women where on the contrary Demetrius responds to Helena with cruel insults. Helena, coming across Lysander, wakes him while attempting to determine whether he is dead or asleep. The play continues to depict the problems of Helena where she mistakably wakes up Lysander who had been applied a love portion thereby falling in love with Helena. We see the disappointment in Helena’s new love and Hernia’s accusations on Helena. Again, the mistreatment on women comes out where Lysander and Demetrius decide to fight in order to determine who loves Helena most after a quarrel erupted among the four lovers. A fight between men is definitely not a good measure of love towards women. Nevertheless, the aspect of marriage comes up at the end where Hippolyta and Theseus enjoy their marriage as Helena and Demetrius are seemingly not happy of their love. On the other hand, there is confusion at the rehearsal of the wedding party where Bottom begins to sing for himself as he waits for his friends. The singing awakens Tatiana who had love potion applied on her thus falling in love with Bottom immediately to the surprise of the latter. Indeed, this reflects the mistreatment on women where unwillingly, Tatiana concentrates on Bottom and presumably makes love to him. From the play, we can derive that marriage reflects the achievement of women as men engage in other endeavours to gain societal recognition. This depicts mistreatment, as a marriage should demand the commitment of both men and women. More so, the play manifests substantial male dominance where men seemingly control everything expect during the carnival and festival periods when their power ceases. Notably, the love circles in the play reflect an imbalance and disrespect to women where one woman has many lovers and the other one has few or none. Indeed, Hermia and Lysander love one another while Demetrius also loves Hermia instead of Helena who loves him. In the play, “Twelfth Night” the theme of love and the treatment of women in the society comes out clearly. Notably, the play is in the coast of Illyria where it creates a romantic atmosphere. The play portrays various relationships and setbacks in such relationships. However, the theme of love dominates the play as characters seek passionate relationship. The treatment of both men and women also suffice in the play. Nevertheless, it quite notable that the play relies on the nature of women playing the character of men to run the script thus makes the play a comic. As such, this is a romantic comedy filled with comic and focusses on the dynamics of love. In the play, Shakespeare portrays love as source of pain to both men and women. Seemingly, many characters in the play have bad love and consequently claim to suffer for or because of love. One of the characters, Orsino defines love as a craving he cannot satisfy. Indeed, the play portrays Olivia’s craving for love in hilarious and sweet manner. William uses a rare concept where a female character disguises herself as a man in the play. Actually, after the shipwrecked on the coast of Illyria and an assumption that her twin brother Sebastian is dead, Viola comes ashore with the help of a captain. She however disguises herself as a young man under the name Cesario and enters the service of Duke Orsino. This concept of treating women as men creates a sexual mess where Orsino falls for Viola thinking she is a man and Viola falling in love with Orsino but cannot tell him since she is acting as a man. Indeed, this confusion forms the backbone of the play. However, it is quite clear that the theme of love dominates this play subject to the confusion created by Shakespeare. All characters play their roles very well to structure the theme of relationships, gender, and love in the play. However, Viola dressed in a whiteface, black-dress, and gliding round the stage could not maintain the passion she had for Cesario. This demonstrates the challenges of love. On the other hand, Orsino is certain of his love for Olivia. Notably, Olivia’s father and brother had recently died and she has consistently refuses to engage in a love affair until seven years passes .This complicates the matter, as Olivia is not interested in Orsino. This demonstrates a mistreatment on women as men confirm their love to them without the women’s consent. More so several characters in the play conspire to make Olivia's head servant Malvolio, believe that Olivia has fallen for him. Additionally, this demonstrates a mistreatment of both men and women as people hatch a sinister plan in the assumption of love. At the same time, we encounter women mistreatment where the sinister planners force Maria to write a love letter to Malvolio in disguise of Olivia. Similarly, we experience mistreatment on men where Malvolio falls for this plan to the surprise of Olivia. Indeed, when Malvolio learns of their conspiracy and backs off with a promise to avenge, storms off promising revenge, Orsino sends Fabien to pacify Malvolio. Again, the conspirators presume Malvolio insane and confine him to a dark chamber. This demonstrates the challenges of love and the mistreatments that men experience in the name of love. On the other hand, Olivia falls in love with Viola believing that she is a man while on the other hand Viola falls in love with Orsino who respects her as his confidant. This cycle ensures that nobody is satisfied of his or her romantic needs. Nevertheless, upon Sebastian’s reappearance, Olivia seemingly suffers most as she mistakes Sebastian for Viola and asks him for marriage where they secretly join holy matrimony in a church. In this case, the aspect of marriage comes up as the ultimate reason why people engage in love. However, towards the end of the play, Viola, Olivia Sebastian, and the Duke appear in one scene to add more complications to the love circle. This forces Viola to reveal her true sexuality and her association with Sebastian. Subsequently, this leads to the marriage of Orsino and Viola. However, it was not a happy conclusion for Malvolio and Antonio who despite immense efforts to access love could not get it. Hence, there is a demonstration of men suffering in the realms of love. On the contrary, an aspect of male dominance manifests where Orsino persists on referring to Viola by her male name. Read More