Literary Analysis

It fell upon a little western flower, before, milk-white, now purple with loves wound, and
maidens call it love-in-idleness. (45: Lines 172-174) Oberon said. In the play, A Midsummer
Night Dream, four lovers named Hermia, Demetrius, Helena, and Lysander were forced to
decide who marries who otherwise, they would die. However, a fairy named Oberon was
involved with the decision of this important fate and tried to mend it out somehow. I believe
Oberon is the root of all the problems in the play because Oberon made Puck grab the flower
that contained the potion, made Puck spray the pollen on the two male lovers, and made his
wife in love with a donkey headed bottom.
One problem Oberon created was that he made Puck to grab the flower that contains
the potion inside. For example, it said on page 45, it says,
Fetch me that flower; the herb I showed thee once. The juice of it on sleeping eyelids
laid will make or man or woman madly dote. (45: Lines 175-177)
This quote shows that he made his servant go fetch a flower for him. This flower called
the,Love-in-Idleness, has the pollen that allows anyone to fall in love with anyone they see at
first sight. With the love juice, Oberon has caused every problem that ever occurred in the play.
It has made his wife to fall in love with Bottom and made Demetrius and Lysander to fall with
Helena. These were the main problems in the play. Since Oberon requested the flower to be
brought for his own needs, it shows that Oberon was the root of every problem in the play.
Another problem Oberon created was that he made Puck spray the pollen of the flower
on the lovers. For example on page 53, it says,
Anoint his eyes, but do it when the next thing he espies may be the lady. (53: Lines
269-270)
From this quote, it shows that he wanted his servant to go and make Demetrius fall in
love with Helena so there wouldnt be any more complications. However, this lead to Robin
spraying the onto the wrong person. Instead, he sprayed Lysander with the potion which forced
the sprayed lover to fall in love with Helena. With this mistake, Oberon forces Robin to fix the
mistake by making Puck to fetch Helena while Oberon sprays the potion on Demetrius.
However, this leads to Demetrius to love Helena which means both Demetrius and Lysander
love Helena and there wont be any more affection for Hermia. This causes jealousy between
the two women and violence between Demetrius and Lysander. Since Oberon commanded
Robin to spray the pollen on Lysander and he sprayed the potion on Demetrius, it shows that
Oberon was the cause.
Finally, Oberon made Titania fall in love with a donkey headed Bottom. According to
page 51, it says,
And with the juice of this Ill streak her eyes and make her full of hateful fantasies.
(51: Lines 265-266)
The quote shows that Oberon wants to punish Titania for refusing to give the boy to him.
For his revenge, he commanded Puck to grab the Love-in-Idleness for his schemes that will
torture Titania through love. Through this action, it causes Titania to fall in love with Bottom who
had his head replaced by Puck with a donkey head. Even though Titania didnt know much
about this experience, she still suffered through this experience because Oberon did get a
servant for himself. He was even jealous of Titania for having a boy instead of himself. Since he

couldnt handle his jealousy and punished Titania, Oberon proves himself that he was the
cause.
Oberon was the root of all problems. However, some readers think that Puck is the root
of all the problems in the play. Well, that could be true since it shows that on page 59, lines 7285 that Puck sprayed the potion on the man with Athenian clothing but he sprayed Lysander
instead of Demetrius. However, if Oberon didnt command Robin to make Demetrius fall in love
with Hermia, none of this love confusion wouldnt have happened. Robin was the one who
messed up with the target but Oberon was the one who commanded Robin to do this.
Therefore, it stands to reason that Puck is not the root but Oberon is.
Oberon was the root of all the problems in this story because he commanded Puck to
spray the potion to the male lovers, commanded Puck to grab the Love-in-Idleness, and he
suffered Titania for her refusal. All of this wouldnt have happened if Oberon had kept his
jealousy to himself and dealt with it. But he let his jealousy take over and used the potion for his
schemes which lead to difficult love confusion between the four lovers, Titania, and Bottom.You
can thank Oberon for everything that happened in A Midsummer Nights Dream.