The Blessing and Curse of Magic

In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, there are many conflicts between the characters. These

conflicts have a significant impact on the overall importance of the book. These conflicts are

almost always solved in unrealistic ways that seem very quick, easy and convenient. However

these ways of solving problems often create more problems and are unethical. In A Midsummers

Night’s Dream, relationships are filled with conflict that is ultimately solved with magic.

One example of this is the conflict between Oberon and Titania over the changeling boy.

Titania even “forswore [Oberon’s] bed and company”, meaning that she does not want to see

him or sleep with him again (II.i.62). However, Oberon and Puck’s magic ultimately resolve this

conflict. The magic made Titania fall in love with Bottom, a mortal with the face of a donkey.

Titania even says “out of this wood [I] do not desire to go” and eventually sleeps with him

(III.i.126). After Oberon removes the magic from her eyes she realizes what she did and does not

care about the changeling boy, who Oberon takes. As far as we can see in the book, Oberon and

Titania are happy and Titania never asks about the changeling boy. Therefore, this conflict is

ultimately a positive thing for their relationship. However, since Titania promised the child’s

mother that she would take care of the changeling boy while his mother was on his death bed.

Because of this, if Titania finds out that she is being tricked with magic into giving up the

changeling boy she would likely be very mad and have a bigger conflict than the original conflict

at hand.

Another conflict in A Midsummers Night Dream that is ultimately solved with magic is a

complex one involving Hermia, Helena, Lysander and Demetrius. The fairies try to solve the

love triangle by using magic to make Demetrius love Helena but fail and make both Lysander

and Demetrius love Helena, leaving both Hermia and Helena confused and suspicious of each
other. At first, the use of magic ruins all relationships involved because Helena thinks that it is

all a cruel joke on her. Meanwhile, Hermia thinks that Helena betrayed her, and that Demetrius

killed Lysander. Due to this a massive fight between Hermia and Helena and between Lysander

and Demetrius ensued. However, the fairies eventually fixed the problem and made Demetrius

love Helena and Lysander love Hermia again and they are happy, with Hermia getting to marry

Lysander who she loved in the first place and Helena getting to marry Demetrius who she loved

in the first place. Even though the use of magic starts this conflict in the first place, ultimately

the magic worked and resulted in a good outcome for Hermia, Helena and Lysander. However,

though the magic makes Demetrius think that he loves Helena, but before the magic was in

place, he had told Helena “I love thee not therefore pursue me not” (II.i.188). Therefore,

unbeknownst to him, the magic completely changed his views on someone who now wants to

marry him which is extremely unethical.

Although the conflict between Oberon and Titania over the ownership and use of the

changeling boy and between Hermia, and Lysanders love and Helena, and Demetrius’s love

ended with the desired outcome due to the magic being used by the fairies, not all conflict ended

this way. Hermia and her father, Egeus experienced conflict in their relationship when Egeus

refused to allow Hermia to marry Lysander, who she loved and instead tried to force a marriage

between Hermia and Demetrius. Egeus says that since “she is [his]” to do whatever he wants to,

Hermia must marry “spotted and inconsistent” Demetrius and not “beloved” Lysander

(I.i.97,110,104). This conflict has a substantial impact on Egeus and Hermia’s relationship, even

prompting Hermia to run away to marry Lysander in the isolated woods.

The conflict between Hermia and Egeus is never solved. The fact that it is the only conflict in the

book that is not altered by magic and the only conflict that is not solved shows Shakespeare
implementing morals into the story. The lesson of this story is that the magic is an easy and

quick way to mask the conflict in a relationship, but when magic is not involved conflict can be

much harder, or impossible to resolve. The magic was a quicker and easier route to resolving the

conflict but in real life magic is not a viable option to solving conflict in relationships.