Not with the heart, but with the mind
...lovers see each other and only each other. The rest of the world could be in flames, but they would still be in euphoria. Helena explains this best in Act I Scene I, lines 234-251, when she says, “Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind.” She says that in matters of the heart, the mind loses all judgment. When in love our eyes are no longer useful, because what is seen is controlled by greater forces. Since love alone can alter judgment, what happens when an extra element is added which entirely controls one’s emotions? When given the “love juice,” the lovers of the story completely lose sight of reality. What they see and what their minds think contradict each other. They physically see the same people, and are present in the same situation, before and after being exposed to the potion. But, their perception is altered. Specifically, the lovers do not change, but after the “love juice” is applied, their feelings magically change towards each other. The dramatic effects of the potion is explained by Oberon in Act II Scene I, --“She shall pursue it with the soul of love,/ And ere I take this charm from off her sight.” These lines show that love is the absence of sight. That is, love makes one blind. While emotions, without doubt, color perception, the “love juice” takes this change a step further by changing the perceived world without touching the physical one. Scenery also plays a role in perception. Shakespeare uses this idea by creating two opposing worlds in his story. The first world is present in Athens. The city, more specifically, Theseus’s court, is a home for rationale. This world is revolved around reason and rules. For example, Hermia loves Lysander, but is unable to fulfill her fantasies because she is restrained by a world of order. Her plot to escape the restraints of the city is found in Act I Scene I – “Lysander and myself will fly this place. / … Seemed Athens as a paradise to me. / … That he hath turned a heaven unto a hell!” That is, her father wants her to marry Demetrius and it would not be reasonable to go against him in their society. So, Hermia and Lysander decide to escape from the civility to the woods where they are free from rationality. Fantasy and imagination can easily be constrained in such a world where compliance is so imperative. While Theseus’s court is the domain of reason, the exotic forest is the home of fantasy. This opposition of the familiar world of Athens and the unknown scenery of the woods allows the audience to see a clear shift in the characters’ perceptions. In the woods, all innate instincts and fantasies are no longer withheld. Traveling to the magical woods creates an animalistic view where anything is possible. The journey into the forest is a journey into the depths of the imagination where all things are possible, where the deepest emotions are unleashed. In Act II Scene I Demetrius says “ …To leave the city and commit yourself / into the hands of one that loves you not, / To trust the opportunity of night/ And the ill counsel of a desert place.” In these lines, he is aware that Helena is taking advantage of the “magic” in the woods, hoping that something will happen between them in the darkness of the unknown. Something mysterious happens in the forest. It is apparent that there is a shift in perception of reality when one leaves a well-...