Fools For Love
...re uses great symbolism in portraying the blindness of love. When Puck and Oberon apply the juice of the flower to the eyes of the lovers and to the eyes of Titania, the fairy queen, they are quickly enveloped by a magical love spell. This spell causes them to fall deeply in love with the first living creature that they set eyes on. "The next thing then she waking looks upon, Be it lion, bear, or wolf, or bull, On meddling monkey, or on busy ape, She shall pursue it with the soul of love"(2.1.179-83). Titania serves as a good example of the power of the spell when she falls in love with Nick Bottom, a character who, at the time, has been transformed and given the head of an ass. Titania also falls victim to the spell, and gives the reader a representation of the naivety of love. In her mind, she has no conception that she is in love with a man who has a donkey head. She does not realize that this is not a thing to be desired. All that she knows is that she is in love. "Mine ear is much enamored of thy note; so is mine eye enthralled to thy shape”(3.1.139-40), Titania passionately states. Lysander also demonstrates child-like actions when he tells Hermia, his true love, that he hates her. Before he is under the spell of the flower, he and Hermia are on their way to his aunt's house to be married. However, because of the spell, Lysander cannot be held responsible for his terrible behavior toward Hermia. The spell of the flower also makes the characters lose control of their actions, as is evident through Demetrius. The woman he scorns at the beginning of the play is the woman he loves by the end. This is because when Puck reverses the effects of the spell on the characters, he does not reverse the spell on Demetrius. Helena loved Demetrius from the beginning of the play, so the relationship works out well. Again, Titania not only is oblivi...