A Midsummer Nights Dream ACT I

Hippolyta, a young and anxious newely wed to be, is preparing for a large festival for her and her soon to be husband Thesueus. Thesues is the Duke of Athens, and to my suprise got Hippolyta to fall in love with him with violence towards her. "Hippolyta, I wooed thee with my sword /And won thy love doing thee injuries. /But I will wed thee in another key, / With pomp, with triumph, and with reveling."(I.i.16-19) As the play gets going we are introduced by the father of Hermia, who happens to not want the same thing her father wants. It is unfortunate that the man she loves, and the man her dad wants her to marry are not the same. Since Thesues is the Duke, Egeus, Hermia's father goes to him in anger with hopes that Theseus can either make his daughter marry Demetrius or have the power to kill her, because since she does belong to her father the law says that he can. I think this action is far too intense for such an issue. You cant help who you fall in love with, and you cant just be happy with whomever. It's too bad that her dad can't be understanding and give Lysander a chance. Besides Lysander makes his daughter happy and isn't that what every parent wants, besides the fact that they also want the best for them. Here we have another argument, do parents always know whats best for their children? Or do they have to lay off sometimes and let them find out whats best for themselves? I'm one who truly believes in "we live and we learn." So how can she know what's best for her if she doesnt figure it out for herself. Theseus and Hermia have a long talk about her options. She questions what the worst to happen could be by saying, "But I beseech your grace that I may know / The worst that may befall me in this case, / If I refuse to wed Demetrius"(I.i.62-64), Theseus tells her straight forward she has only that of two options, she must marry Demetrius or join a nunnery. Lysander not wanting to give up just yet asks Hermia to sneak into the woods the next night so that they may get married at his aunt's house outside of Athens. Clearly nothing sank in after her talk with the duke because she agrees to the plan. We're now also introduced to Helena who says to love Dometrius far more than Hermia ever could. Lysander tells her to not worry since he and Hermia are sneaking away that night. Helena only wanting one thing decides to tell Demetrius about his sweet Hermia's plans because that might make him start to love her again. This sounds like a typical teen love story, filled with jealousy and back-stabbing. It's not unordinary that the girl will rat out Hermia, because that will make Demetrius get mad and not want Hermia anymore. Also in Act I scene I line 134, it says, "The course of true love never did run smooth," which is so true. Every relationship will run into bumps in the road along the way but true love always overcomes it. For the Duke's wedding a group of men went around figuring out who would be good enough to perform in it. The play is based on Pyramus and Thisbe, and is meant to be a comedy but also a tradgedy all at the same time. One of the actors, Nick Bottom is afraid that if he makes the lion in the play too real, it might be too scary for a wedding night and get them all killed. They all agree to go into the woods that night to rehearse their lines and fix all the little mistakes.