Love in Plays and Sitcoms

In today's day and age, it is easily said that love is one of the most talked about topics. Love is undefinable, immeasurable and incomprehensible. Romance movies and novels often portray love in a fairytale manner; simple and faultless. However real love, is never perfect. This is something that proves true in Shakespeare's play, "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and American show, "The Office". Loves difficulty is easily seen in Lysander and Hermias relationship as well as Angela and Dwights relationship. Both couples face a variety of hardships, but because of their love for one another, they always come back to each other.

Shakespeare's play and American sitcom "The Office" both demonstrate how real love faces difficulties and hardships.

Obstacles that love faces in Shakespeare's play

The plays protagonists, Hermia and Lysander are an example of how love faces many obstacles. In the first act of the play, the couple encounters their first complication. Theseus, the Duke of Athens, does not permit their marriage.

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He gives Hermia three options; to marry demetrius, the man she does not love, vow to live a chaste life, or to be sentenced to death. Lysander then begins to tell Hermia about his Aunt's house miles from Athens, "there gentle hermia may I marry thee and to that place the sharp athenian law cannot pursue us. if thou lov'st me then steal forth thy father's house tomorrow night and in the wood a league without the town where I met the one with Helena to do observance to a morn of May there I will wait for thee.

". It is seen how the laws of Athens prevents the two lovers from marrying. However, because they are so infatuated with eachother, they are willing to flee their homeland and start a new life if it means they can be together. The couples love is trialed again when Puck, a fairy, confuses Lysander for another Athenian man when using the love potion.

When Lysander wakes he becomes besotted with Helena which causes him to lose all feelings for Hermia, his true love. But this incident still does not strip Hermias hope for their love. Hermia begins to ask Lysander who could make him leave her side, " My beloved's she urges me on the fair Helena who beautifies the night more than the sparkling Stars why do you follow me don't you realize I left you because I hate you." Hearing this from a loved one is enough to break ones heart. But in Hermias case she does not believe Lysander could ever hate her and continues to stand by his side and pray that Lysander be protected if him and Demiterius are to fight. Throughout the whole plot of the story it is easily seen how the both of them take risks to be with each other. Despite the inconveniences that cause them to separate at times, Lysander and Hermia believe they truly belonged together. Their love was pure and real and their story is an example of how love is never easy, nor simple.

Love in American sitcom

Anglea Martin and Dwight Shrute have a very unlikely love story that is never easy for the two of them. The constant up and down drags on for nine seasons and it brings as much joy as it does sorrow. They are a perfect example of how real love is difficult at times. In the beginning of the show Anglea and Dwight hide their happy relationship from their co-workers, but it quickly ends in heartbreak. In season four episode one, Angela tells Dwight to go to her home during lunch to care for her ill cat. With good intentions at heart, Dwight kills Angela's cat because he believes he's better off putting her out of her misery. In the following episode, Angela agrees to go out to dinner with Dwight ti figure things out. During the date Angela tells dwight, "I can't do this, I can't be with you." Anglea is no longer able to look at Dwight without seeing her beloved dead cat.

Due to Angela's inability to forget what Dwight did, the night ultimately ends with heartbreak and the two are no longer together. This is one of the first moments of heartbreak the couple endures on the show and while there are many more, it's worth considering how they never stop coming back to each other. We can see how strong their love is in the second last episode of the final season. When Dwight begins to question his current relationship with Esther Bruegger, it's because he feels he belongs with Angela. We see his love for Angela in action near the end of the episode when he chases her down and tells her to pull over on the road and he professes, "I love you! And I don't care that Philip is not my son. I will raise a hundred children with a hundred of your lovers if it means I can be with you". Although Phillip is both Angela and Dwight's son, Dwight has been led to believe he is not the real father. Regardless, Dwight still wants more than anything to be with Angela because she is what means the most to him. Time and time again the two's paths keep crossing. Despite all the heartbreak they experience throughout the show there is no better example of how complications and heartbreak arise in love.

Shakespeare's play and America sitcom both exhibit how genuine love faces challenges. It is seen how Lysander and Hermia are willing to take risks if it means being together. Even at a point, when Lysander claims he hates Herma and no longer loves her, Hermia refuses to leave his side and give up on him. The same theme is also present in Angela and Dwights relationship. When Dwight makes a very big mistake that tremendously upsets Angela, and ultimately break them up, Angela and him continue to fall in the arms of one another. Dwight's love for her proves true in the last season when he tells her it does not matter if he is not the father of her child because he loves her regardless. Both couples prove that hardships faced along the way are worth the prize of being together. Fairytale romances do not exist in the real world. While at times problems arise in relationships, genuine love will find a way to stay triumphant.