Saturday, November 3, 2012

In what ways does the match between Titania and Bottom mock typical portrayals of romantic love?

In Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Oberon orders Puck to give Titania a love potion that will make her fall in love with the first thing she sees. Unfortunately for Titania, the first thing she sees is Bottom, who has recently been given the head of donkey. So begins a hilarious romance, with the bewitched Titania obsessing over the hideous Bottom, who basks in the (surely unexpected) attention with unconcealed glee. This match mocks stereotypical portrayals of romantic love by revealing the ridiculous nature of obsessive adoration.
To understand this idea a little better, let's compare Titania and Bottom with Romeo and Juliet. The latter couple is commonly revered as the ultimate example of romantic love, as their mutual obsession for one another is delivered in poetic, lyrical fashion. Often, audiences want to put Romeo and Juliet's obsession for one another on a pedestal, calling it the quintessential representation of romance. 
The match between Titania and Bottom invites us to reconsider our idealistic ideas about romantic love. Rather than rendering Titania and Bottom's "relationship" in lyrical terms, Shakespeare treats us to the hilarious image of a dignified fairy queen doting on a bumbling "rude mechanical" with neither good looks nor poetry at his disposal. In doing so, Shakespeare shatters the illusions regarding romantic love supported by idealistic couples like Romeo and Juliet. Romantic love, Shakespeare suggests, often has nothing to with attractive people preaching poetry to one another. Rather, it often involves a misguided obsession that fails to account for the absurd reality of the relationship.       

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