Marriages in A Midsummer Night's Dream

Examining the Marriage Convention in Shakespeare’s Romantic Comedy

Nov 25, 2008

This article considers the dramatic role of the three marriages between humans in A Midsummer Night's Dream, and the realism of each marriage.

Marriages in A Midsummer Night’s Dream are used as a convention to symbolize resolution and closure to the play. This article takes a look at how these marriages contribute to the play.

Thesus and Hippolyta

The marriage of Thesus and Hippolyta provides a frame for the play. It provides a reason for the inclusion of the fairies, ostensibly to bless their marriage. The consummation of their marriage at their end is also extended to include the other characters, when Thesus's train comes across the four lovers sleeping in the glade.

However, given their two short appearances at the beginning and conclusion, there is little proof of a meaningful love here. How Thesus, "won thy love doing thee injuries’"by capturing the Amazonian queen in war is also presented as a dubious reason for marriage at best. This is not only to point out the fictional, ‘feel-good’ quality of their marriage, but also a character flaw showing a chauvanistic quality that Thesus possesses. This goes against the typical structure where a marriage comes at the end of character development or growth, such as for Olivia in Twelfth Night.

Lysander, Helena, Hermia, and Demetrius

The struggles of their love affairs in the woods form a large part of the play’s humour. The physical movement from the Athenian Court to the mysterious Woods is a device which moves the characters from a world of rigidity and order to one where transformation and disorder can occur, and finally result in the eventual marriages.

A Dark View of Manipulation and Savagery

The characters might be seen as being manipulated by the playwright, through the actions of the fairies, and being mere "mindless comic puppets", in the words of Stephen Greenblatt. The general harmony and peace in this comedy is also strained as sexual politics ensue between the characters, with a general exhibition of emotional violence by the characters, indicating a troubling, darker nature beneath the comedy’s apparent cheerfulness.

Artificiality in Identity and Marriage

Puck’s inability to differentiate Lysander and Demetrius is part of a greater observation that in Shakespeare comedies, resolution is counted by the number of unions rather than the authenticity of each marriage. Harold Bloom expresses that here, "maritial disasters are as arbitrary as our successes", highlighting the relative unimportance of the details as long as the marriages occur.

Helena Possibly Finds True Love

Although the four characters are admittedly less memorable than perhaps Puck or Bottom, Helena is generally acknowleged to be the best characterized, not only due being the target of the most abuse, but also through her show of emotional affection. It might be possible to see her love as a genuine one, unreciprocated to the very end.

Demetrius’s behaviour might be a clue to this too. although he is ultimately the only character still under the love juice’s influence when he loves Helena, rather than it warping his views, it is actually a return to normalcy, "as in health come to my natural taste". Marjorie Garber’s calls this "a return to sanity through the alembic of madness", and Helena might perhaps be the deserving beneficiary of this love.

‘All Love is Ironical’

The play closes with the fairies’ song and dance to bless the marriages, as Oberon articulates in the final scene:

Marriage here fulfills its role in the comedy genre as a symbol of resolution and closure. The resolution between Oberon and Titania also contributes to this sense of completion. However, to take in mind Harold Bloom’s claim that here, "all love is ironical", the marriages should not be taken only face value, but also a window to examine the complexities of this delightful play.

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The copyright of the article Marriages in A Midsummer Night's Dream in Shakespeare Comedies is owned by Jing Heng Fong. Permission to republish Marriages in A Midsummer Night's Dream in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.