Monday, October 7, 2013

Upon whose eyes does Puck apply the potion, and when this person awakens, whom does he see and love?Use evidence from the text to support your...

This question is rather ambiguous since Puck applies the
magic potion to more than one person's eyelids in A Midsummer Night's Dream. 
Of course, the first creature in whose eyes the "liquor" is dropped is
Titania after Oberon devises a plan of revenge against his queen.  As Puck is gathering
this love potion, Demetrius disturbs Oberon as he flees from the pursuing Helena.  When
Puck returns, Oberon says he will "streak her eyes" and make Titania "full of hateful
fantasies."  He also tells Puck to take some of the potion and search the grove for an
Athenian lady who is in love with a "disdainful youth," making him chase her
instead.  So, he instructs Puck to place the liquor upon the Athenian
and



anoint
his eyes;


But do it when the next thing he
espies


May be the lady:  thou shalt know the
man


By the Athenian garments he hath
on.


Effect it with some care that he may
prove


More fond on her than she upon her love;
(2.2.266-271)



When Puck goes
into the woods, he does see Athenian garments; however, they are not worn by Lysander,
but by Demetrius. In Scene 2 of Act II, Puck searches for the
Athenian"


readability="28">

Through the forest have I
gone,


But Athenian found I
none,...


Night and silence.--Who is
here?


Weeds of athens he doth
wear:


This is he, my master
said,


Despised the Athenian
maid;


And here the maiden, sleeping
sound,


On the dank and dirty ground....When thou wakest,
let love forbid


Sleep his seat on thy
eyelid....(2.2.66-81) 



Later
on, of course, Puck restores all the lovers to their rightful partners by getting
Lysander and Demetrius and Helena and Hermia to fall asleep as he reanoints Lysander
while Demetrius is also anointed, positioning them so that they will fall in love with
Helena and Hermia respectively. He even removes the donkey head from Bottom with whom
Titania has been made to fall in love.  All of this supports the irony of Hermia's early
remark, "O hell! To choose love by another's eyes" (1.1.142), and proves what Hermia
tells Lysander in the first act:


readability="5">

The course of true love never did run smooth
(1.1.136)


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