The Course Of True Love Never Did Run Smooth Analysis

Do you think true love can ever be attained? Midsummer Night's Dream is a play written by William Shakespeare about 4 lovers (Hermia, Lysander, Demetrius, and Helena) that face conflicts with each other.  Characters like (Oberon, Puck, and Titania) are involved in those conflicts. Lysander’s quotation “The course of true love never did run smooth” is correct.  Shakespeare shows that True love never does run smoothly because there is always an obstacle preventing it. He also shows that True love never goes according to plan.

A Midsummer Night's Dream shows that an obstacle prevents True love from running smoothly.  Egeus is angry because Hermia is refusing to marry Demetrius (the guy who her dad wants her to marry), but she desires Lysander. : “Consent to marry with Demetrius, I beg the ancient privilege of/ Athens, As she is mine, I may dispose of her:”(1.1. 41-42)  Hermia wants to marry her true love (Lysander), but her dad (Egeus) is threatening to kill her if she does. He is acting as an obstacle between the two lovers, which forces them to run away later on in the scene. 

On the other hand, reading closely and noting the characters, the reader can see that sometimes true love does run smoothly. An example of this is near the end of the book when Oberon is talking about the lovers. “Ever shall be fortunate. So shall all the couples three  Ever true in loving be”(5.1.423-425)1 This shows that at the end of the book, all of the characters were married to the person that they love.  Even though this is an example of true love running smoothly, there are many many more examples of true love not running smoothly. An example of this is when Demetrius abandoned Helena to be with Hermia. 

A Midsummer Night’s Dream also shows that true love never goes according to plan. Puck put the magic flower on Lysander’s eyes when he meant to put it on Demetrius’s eyes. “What hast thou done? thou hast mistaken quite And laid the love-juice on some true-love's sight: Of thy misprision must perforce ensue Some true love turn'd and not a false turn'd true”(3.2.90-93). Puck puts the magic flower in the wrong lovers’ eyes, which leads to the relationships between the lovers breaking. Hermia, Lysander, and Helena all have mixed feelings about what happened. Lysander says “Fair Helena, who more engilds the night... Stay gentle Helena; hear my excuse: My love, my life my soul, fair Helena!”(3.2.191-194) Hermia says “ Why are you grown so rude? What change is this? Sweet love,”(3.2.272-273)Helena says '' Now I perceive they have conjoin'd all three To fashion this false sport, in spite of me. (3.2.198-199).” This shows that the magic flower has been put in effect on Lysander, and now he is in love with Helena. Hermia is confused because she doesn’t know why Lysander is acting this way. Helena feels like they are all making fun of her and mocking her. In conclusion, true love never goes according to plan, which causes it to never run smoothly.

In conclusion, Lysander’s quotation “The course of true love never did run smooth” is correct. The two reasons: True love never does run smoothly because there is always an obstacle preventing it, and True love never goes according to plan prove this claim. Also, most of the conflicts in A Midsummer Night’s Dream are directly related to the course of true love never running smoothly.