Definition essay

Maria 

Mrs. Zurkowski

English 9 Greens

5 February 2013

Conflict in A Midsummer Night’s Dream

            Conflict plays a huge part in the writing of stories, books, movies, etc. The term conflict defined by Salisbury University is, “an expressed struggle between at least two interdependent parties who perceive incompatible goals, scare resources, and interference from others is achieving their goals.” The definition of conflict according to Mariam Webster is, “a competitive or opposing action of incompatibles” and “a fight, battle, war.” An author may add some type of conflict to their story because it adds a little bit of suspense and makes you want to read on. Also, without some type of conflict in the story, there would really be no plot because you have to have events that lead to a conflict. If there is no conflict, it would be boring. Writers from long ago when books were just getting published to now apply conflict to their stories to make them more interesting. William Shakespeare displays conflict in his play A Midsummer Night’s Dream, to make the play suspenseful and exciting for the audience to read.

            Shakespeare uses conflict in a couple of different ways throughout his play. For example, Hermia wants to marry Lysander because they are in love. However, Egeus Hermia’s dad wants her to wed Demetrius (act 1, Scene 1). This causes a problem because if she and Lysander are going to get married they have to escape to Lysander’s aunt’s house because it is only there, they can go, where Egeus won’t have a say in which his daughter has to marry. Demetrius states in (Shakespeare 2.1.195) “I love thee not, therefore pursue me not,” saying if Hermia does not like him that much to stop talking to him. This leads to the next conflict with Hermia. If she does not marry who her father wants her to marry, she is either going to be sent off to the nunnery and live her life unhappy there, or she will not be able to have children in the future. Egeus states “As she is mine, I may dispose of her, which shall be either to this gentleman or to her death” (Shakespeare 1.1.43-45). It is after she says that she would much rather die as a virgin then be married to a guy she does not love then her father begins to realize how much she really does not like Lysander. Hermia says in (Shakespeare 1.1.65) “The worst that may befall in this case if I refuse to marry Demetrius.” Another conflict that happens in the play, that happens to be the climax, is when all four lovers Demetrius, Lysander, Hermia, and Helena all begin to fight. All of the fighting happens because Oberon is using the love-juice which begins to mess the love square up, right when everything was going okay. Originally they would have fought over Hermia, but with the love juice they fight over Helena. This gets resolved when Oberon listens to both the boy’s thoughts, then everything is okay and the lovers fall in love with the correct person again. Without any of this the play would not have been enjoyable to follow along to.

            Today conflict occurs worldwide, in communities or states, and between friends and family. Siblings may argue over whose turn it is to do chores today and that can lead to a yelling battle that takes a parent to resolve. Also, a conflict in our country that is currently trying to be resolved is the issue over gun license. The president and congress are currently working to try to find a way to ban people in danger of committing crimes with guns after all the school shootings that have been happening, especially Sandy Hook Elementary School.  Then, a worldwide conflict is that the United States has a lot of troops over in Iraq, and we want to withdraw them from the area. Since we have begun talking about taking our troops out, Iraq has a lot of religious groups fighting each other because of differences. Lastly, there are countries that have the capability of building and sending out nuclear weapons. One that we know about is Israel, because troops have seen nuclear plants over there, but don’t know if they’re building nuclear weapons inside or not.

            Conflict is found all over. In books, plays, and even everyday life. From Shakespeare conflict with all the lovers, to worldwide problems like nuclear weapons and war, conflict is expressed. Some are positive conflicts where it could benefit you for the better although some can be bad and negative that could have the potential to hurt you. Conflict plays a huge part in our lives, although you may not realize how much it actually affects you.

Works cited:

"ConflictAbout Our Definitions: All Forms of a Word (noun, Verb, Etc.) Are Now Displayed on

            One      Page." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 05 Feb. 2013.

N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Feb. 2013.

Shakespeare, William. A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Ed. Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine.

            New York: Washington Square P, 2003.

            
http://www.conflictdynamics.org/blog/2011/11/anger-and-conflict/