READING 2 FOR WEEK 6&7

A Midsummer Night's Dream: Theseus as the Voice of Reason

In the play, Theseus begins as the voice of reason when he tries to convince Hermia to accede to Egeus’ request that she be wedded to Demetrius. He attempts to reason with her by advising her that ‘To you your father should be as a god’ (Act1,Sc1, 47) and that she should ‘…with his judgment look.’ (Act1, Sc1, 57). Although he does not eventually manage to convince Hermia to bend to her father’s will, he does ask her to ‘Take time to pause…’(Act1,Sc1, 83) and re-examine her decision to choose a live of enforced chastity as a nun over marriage to Demetrius.

Towards the end of the play however, Shakespeare allows Theseus to assert his authority by having him decree that the lovers are free to marry the ones they love and over-ruling Egeus’ claims of his parental rights. His decision, while brought about by the confused events in the night time in the Athenian forest also bears testimony to the forest as a place where the line between dream and reality blurs within the play.

At the end of the play, Shakespeare also clearly establishes the feelings of Theseus with respect to love. Theseus expresses his doubt in the truth of the lovers’ recount of their night in the forest; he says that "Lovers and madmen have such seething brains, such shaping fantasies, that apprehend more than cool reason ever comprehends" (Act5, Sc1, 5-7). It is evident from what he says that he has no faith in the ravings of lovers- or poets-, as they are as likely as madmen are to be divorced from reason and ‘Sees Helen’s beauty in a brow of Egypt’ (Act5,Sc1, 11). He comes across as a very practical and reasoning man when he further elaborates to HIppolyta his apparent doubt in the lovers’ recollection of events that took place in the dark Athenian forest: ‘Or in the night, imagining some fear, / How easy is a bush supposed a bear?’ (Act5,Sc1, 21-2). Coming, as it does, after the resolution of the lovers' dilemma, this speech of Theseus’ serves to dismiss most of the play a hallucinatory imagining of people in love.

Theseus is also a lover, but his relationship with Hippolyta is based upon the once cold reality of war. As he himself professes, "Hippolyta, I wooed thee with my sword / And won thy love doing thee injuries...’ (Act 1, Sc1, 17-18). He is eager to wed Hippolyta and marriage is perceived as the place where reason and judgment rule. He wins the hand of his bride through action not through flattery, kisses and sighs inspired by her beauty as was the case of the four young lovers. As a man of action it is easy to understand why Theseus may have been quick to dismiss the lovers as being apt to imagine a false reality as being real. Theseus has a firm belief that the eyes of lovers are not to be trusted as they are wont to see things from an imagined perspective while in love.

This is particularly apt if one were to recall how it was precisely by enchanting the eyes of the lovers that Puck and Oberon manage to create so much mayhem: "Flower of this purple dye, / hit with Cupid's archery, / sink in apple of his eye!/ When his love he doth espy, / Let her shine as gloriously / as the Venus of the sky."(Act3, Sc2,102-8) Although no character involved in the lovers’ ‘love-triangle’ had his physical features changed, the lovers still initially fell in love disastrously with the wrong partner, due to the influence of the love-juice. For example, when Demtrius awakes, he beholds the same Helena that he despises earlier in the play and yet suddenly, he is enthralled: ‘O Helen, goddess, nymph, perfect,/ divine!’ (Act3,Sc2, 136-7).

For Theseus, who is a man of reason and for whom decisions are dictated by fact and action, such a situation is merely impulse and in no means grounded in reality. This would explain why Theseus deduces that the lovers, who are at a loss to explain the inexplicable changes of heart they've experienced in the forest, dreamed up possible versions of what had transpired in the night. Theseus reasons with Hippolyta who was more wont to accept the lovers’ narration of events by saying, "And as imagination bodies forth the forms of things unknown, the poet's pen turns them into shapes and gives to airy nothing a local habitation and a name."(Act5, Sc1, 15-18) A trick of the light, an abundance of shadows, lack of sleep, an overactive imagination or any one of these or million other causes are the most likely explanation, according to Theseus. While distrusting the nature of love and its effect on people, Theseus also recognizes the beneficial effect it has, as Demetrius and Lysander, once bitter foes, present themselves to him as friends. He also allows himself to revel in the anticipation of his upcoming nuptials to Hippolyta. By allowing sense and reason to overcome archaic laws and allowing the lovers to marry according to their affections, Theseus betrays his own affection and appreciation for the intoxicating draught called love, "Here come the lovers, full of joy and mirth. Joy, gentle friends, go and fresh days of love accompany your hearts!"(Act5, Sc1,27-29). While he is a man of reason, Theseus too has no issues enjoying the heady sensation of being in love for as long as there is logic to the madness.

Question to consider:
1. Is Theseus merely ruled by his sense of logic and reason or do you suspect there be a deeper motivation to his decision to allow the four lovers to marry at the end of the play?