A Midsummer Night’s Dream is the Original Romantic Reality TV Show

By: Emma Haines

Introduction

Americans have many pastimes. Lots of people will participate in sports (watching or playing), academic activities (like reading), or just enjoying the presence of others. But one of the most popular ways people enjoy spending their free time is by watching TV, specifically, reality TV. There’s something about watching other, real, people in crazy dramatic situations, competing for a prize that piques peoples’ interest. And let’s be honest, humans have a desire for gossip or drama, and as much as we might tell ourselves we don’t, as soon as something particularly juicy comes to light, we eat it up. That was the hope of many producers in Hollywood when they started creating the “Romantic Reality TV” genre. Romance in general is one of life’s most complicated and interesting aspects and this genre of Reality TV started to thrive, probably because we could all relate a little too much to the contestants on these shows. And even if you say you aren’t interested (like my dad), if it’s on the TV in the living room, you’ll just end up standing in the corner secretly listening to the drama (like my dad). 

So how on Earth does the universal guilty pleasure of reality TV relate to Shakespare? The answer lies within the comedic masterpiece by the name of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. This play is a comedy written by William Shakespeare set in Athens, Greece, and centers around the romantic entanglements of two pairs of young lovers, Hermia and Lysander, and Helena and Demetrius. They are tangled in a complicated love quadrangle (see it already sounds like the perfect reality show). Hermia's father insists she marry Demetrius, but she refuses because she loves Lysander. Helena is in love with Demetrius, but he is only interested in Hermia. In the woods close by, a group of fairies led by King Oberon and Queen Titania are also having issues. Oberon enlists the help of his servant Puck to put a spell on Titania to make her fall in love with the first creature she sees when she awakens, and we all know from Disney that love spells never end up well. Puck mistakenly puts the spell on Lysander instead of Demetrius, causing Lysander to fall in love with Helena instead of Hermia. Chaos ensues and the four lovers try to sort out their feelings and their relationships. At the end the lovers are reunited with their “true” partners and all is well. So as you can see, Shakespeare essentially wrote the script to the first Romantic Reality TV show. This paper will analyze the similarities between Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and three of the most popular romantic reality TV shows today: The Bachelor, Love Island (UK), and Too Hot To Handle. 

The Fickleness of Love

One of the things that both A Midsummer Night’s Dream and these reality TV shows highlight is the notion that love can be a very fickle thing. Love is often capricious and unpredictable, changing without warning or explanation. Both Shakespeare’s play and these tv shows suggest that the feelings and emotions associated with love are not necessarily stable or constant, but can fluctuate over time and be influenced by a variety of factors. They also offer the idea that love might be different than what may be the norm, or what’s expected. 

The characters in the play as well as the contestants in these shows often display how feelings can be all over the place. They may find that their feelings towards a particular person can change rapidly or unexpectedly, maybe being caused by a love potion, but nevertheless causing confusion and uncertainty in their relationships. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the characters fall in and out of love with each other quickly. At the very beginning of the play, Helena is in pain over the fact that Demetrius, the man who she loves, is in love with Hermia instead. She goes on to say, "And therefore is love said to be a child,/ Because in choice he is so oft beguiled" (Shakespeare 1.1 249-250). Helena is explaining that love is often compared to a child because like a child, love is easily misled or deceived, especially when it comes to making choices. The idea of love being like a child also implies that love is unpredictable and impulsive, much like a child's behavior is. This is in the very first scene and act of the play, telling the audience right away that feelings are going to be all over the place in the duration of the play. Similarly, many of the contestants on reality TV shows change who they like almost every day. The show Love Island (UK) is a good example of that. On this show, a group of singles, referred to as "islanders" live together in a fancy house somewhere tropical and romantic. The end goal of the show is for the singles to find love within the group and form romantic relationships with one another. Throughout the show, new islanders are added and the existing islanders can be voted off. With the continuous cycle of who’s on the island and who isn’t, it makes sense that these people would change up who they like very often. During season 3, Sam Gowland stated, "Love is a fickle thing, it can be here today and gone tomorrow" (Love Island, Season 3), implying that he’s aware of the fickleness of love on the show, similar to how Helena was aware of it at the beginning of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. 

Along with the ever changing feelings in both reality tv and Shakespeare’s play, they both offer up new ideas of what love can be, coinciding with the fickleness of it all. Shakespeare is known for challenging the audience on their views of love. In many of his plays, he portrays love as complex, multifaceted, and often contradictory, rather than as a simple and idealized emotion, which was often what was (and still is) portrayed in the media. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, he challenges the idea that love is a stable and rational emotion. With the added magical aspects of this particular play, Shakespeare suggests that love might be seen as an illusion or even madness. During Act 5, Theseus helps continue that notion by saying, “The lunatic, the lover and the poet/ Are of imagination all compact:” (Shakespeare 5.1 8-9). He’s implying that love, similar to poetry and madness, is a product of the imagination rather than a rational or logical emotion. And they all share a common trait: they are driven by their imaginations. By challenging the audience’s preconceived notion of love, Shakespeare forced them to confront the realities of love in all its forms, differing from the norm at the time. The same goes with reality tv shows in modern times. Shows like Love Island (UK) portray a highly curated and somewhat artificial version of love, rather than the romanticized and traditional versions audiences may be used to and can be seen as a challenge to those views. These shows also often display the disposable nature of modern dating culture, exposing the fickleness of it all. In Love Island (UK), people are often quick to move on to the next potential partner when someone new and exciting comes on the island, rather than staying with the original partner they had their eyes on. Love tends to be seen as more temporary, like Dani Dyer said, "Love on this island is like a summer fling, it burns bright but it doesn't last long" (Love Island, Season 4). Both the modern reality tv shows and Shakespeare challenge the audience's preconceived views and expose them to what love really is: fickle. 

It’s ALL About the Drama

Let’s all be honest with ourselves: humans love drama. Not necessarily being involved in the drama, but who doesn’t like a little gossip here and there? There’s something about getting to sit back, relax, and watch other people fight, fall in love, and gossip that just fascinates humans. Obviously one of the main ways to do that in modern day is by watching reality tv, specifically romantic reality tv. There’s drama, there’s attractive people, and there’s enjoyment of not being in their shoes. But what did people do in the 1500’s? Well they probably watched a rendition of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. It’s full of dramatic moments that get people invested in the storyline of the play. While analyzing both reality tv and Shakespeare’s play, I noticed two common themes of drama: 1) female vs. female and 2) irrational behavior. Let’s explore both. 

Female vs. female (or girl on girl) drama has been a fascination of the media forever. It can be compelling for a number of reasons, like the complexities of female relationships, or universal themes such as gender roles and expectations. All of which get seen in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and too many reality tv shows to count. But the most common form of girl on girl drama in all of these is jealousy. The green eyed monster so to speak. We’ve all seen it, we’ve all experienced it, which is why it’s so interesting to watch or read about it. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, there are a couple instances of jealousy and envy that result in some dramatic fights between Hermia and Helena. One of the main scenes that this drama comes to light in is during Act 3, Scene 2. In this scene, the main conflict between Hermia and Helena reaches its climax. Helena is expressing her frustration and despair over her unrequited love for Demetrius when Hermia and Lysander then enter. Helena tells Hermia about Demetrius' plan to follow her and Lysander into the forest and hopes that he will be grateful and finally return her love. But instead, Hermia sees this as a betrayal of their friendship and accuses Helena of mocking her leading to a chaotic and heated argument. The two girls start throwing insults at each other, like when Hermia said, “O me! you juggler! you canker-blossom!/ You thief of love! what, have you come by night/ And stolen my love's heart from him?” (Shakespeare 3.2 282-84). The insult "juggler" is used to suggest that trickery or deceit is being used. There are many other examples of insults that either Hermia or Helena throw at each other due to jealousy over a man/relationship, highlighting a common theme in human nature and female vs. female drama. 

Girl on girl drama is also one of the main attractions reality tv promotes. One of the main tv shows that essentially uses this whole theme as the show is The Bachelor. This show is about one, single guy who is “the bachelor” for the season, dating many girls at a time to find a wife. So all these girls are dating the same guy and fighting for his attention. This show is built on female vs. female drama. It’s an entire competition between female contestants, and the prize is a husband. This easily creates tension and drama. Did I mention all the girls are living together in the same house too? Like Nick Viall said, "It's a house full of women. There's gonna be drama." (The Bachelor, Season 21). The structure of the show often fosters drama between the women as well, like the whole concept of “group dates”. This is when the bachelor takes up to 15 women to do some sort of activity, forcing the women to fight and compete for his attention and time. It’s unfortunate for the women, but it’s impossible to say it’s not entertaining to watch because at the end of the day, it’s drama. Just like in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, girl on girl drama gets people interested. 

The second way that both Shakespeare and reality tv shows foster dramatic moments is through irrational behavior by the characters or contestants. Love leads people to do some crazy things, like Helena said best, “And therefore is wing'd Cupid painted blind:” (Shakespeare 1.1 235). Love can make people act blindly. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, there’s many moments where the characters don’t act like their normal, rational selves because they are affected by their love. Because of this, irrational behavior ensues. An example is when Helena continues to pursue Demetrius even though he has made it clear that he doesn't love her. Her persistence could be seen as foolish, but it's also a reflection of the power that love can hold over an individual. This behavior can also be seen in many of the reality tv shows today. One that specifically punishes for irrational behavior though, is Too Hot To Handle. The premise of the show is to bring together attractive, young singles and put them on an island together and allow them to pursue romantic relationships with each other. Sounds sort of like Love Island (UK), but the difference is that on this show, no sexual behavior is allowed. Any of that activity (including kissing, touching, or sexual intercourse) results in a deduction from the prize money, for everyone. The goal of the show is to test the contestants' ability to form deeper connections with each other without relying on physical intimacy, like they’ve previously done. But of course, many of the contestants break this rule because they are so caught up in their feelings for each other, aka, irrational behavior due to love. This irrational behavior puts the prize money at risk and leads to tension and drama between the contestants. In the first season of the show, Francesca said, "I feel like an idiot because I broke the rules for you" (Too Hot To Handle, Season 1), admitting her regret towards her irrational behavior. But this show does a good job of highlighting Helena’s quote about blind Cupid. Love makes you do some crazy things. 

Agents of Chaos

In any good entertainment, there’s some form of outside influence. For better or for worse. Both A Midsummer Night’s Dream and reality tv shows have these influences involved in the romantic relationships formed. But these interferences tend to be more of the chaotic side of things, I think they would best be referred to as “agents of chaos”. Let’s look at A Midsummer Night’s Dream first. The play is formed around the romantic entanglements of four Athenians and their journey to love with each other. But Shakespeare adds a little spice to this play in the form of magic. Magic always adds an interesting flare to any media due to its unpredictability and unknown elements. That’s why other novels such as Harry Potter have such a grip on society. This magical influence in Shakespeare’s play comes in the form of fairies. Specifically Puck and Oberon.  Puck is a mischievous fairy who serves as the jester of the fairy court and Oberon is the king of the fairy world as well as Puck's master. During the play, they use their magical abilities to create a love potion of sorts, to influence the young lovers’ feelings. But love potions and magic never work the way they are supposed to. Puck mistakenly applies the love potion to the wrong Athenian lover, causing Lysander to fall out of love with Hermia and in love with Helena. But instead of feeling resentful of his actions, Puck seems to revel in them. He says, “Lord, what fools these mortals be!” (Shakespeare 3.2 115), referring to the  foolish antics of the four lovers, highlighting how he basks in the chaos and confusion caused by the magical potion. This is exactly what an agent of chaos looks like. Someone who purposely interferes with someone's life for the entertainment of it all. It’s almost confirmed at the end of the play as well, with Shakespeare’s direction of Puck sweeping up the stage. This odd stage direction may be Puck symbolically cleaning up the chaos that he has caused. 

As far as reality tv shows go, the producers want you to think that there’s no outside influence involved in the antics going on, but that’s far from the truth. In the case of these shows, the agents of chaos tend to be the producers themselves. Reason being, they have the power. They are responsible for shaping the narrative of the show a lot of the time, deciding which moments to highlight, and editing footage in a way that creates tension and conflict, where there might not have been in reality. In a lot of cases too, the producers may even encourage or manipulate cast members into behaving in certain ways or saying certain things in the hopes of creating drama or increasing ratings. The producers on these shows act very similarly to Puck and Oberon. They use their higher power to manipulate romantic settings. Let’s look at Love Island (UK). The producers on this show have significant influence over the show's content, structure, and narrative. They create a lot of behind-the-scenes manipulation, which contestants have come forward about. In an interview with The Guardian (2019), Love Island contestant Amber Davies stated, “They would tell us what to do, like, 'Can you go and have a conversation with him about this?' or 'Can you go and speak to her about that?' They definitely do guide you in certain directions.” On this show too, the producers create challenges and tasks that are designed to create drama and stir up emotions among the contestants and encourage or discourage certain relationships, depending on what they believe will make for compelling television. All this to say that any reality tv you might be watching definitely has outside influence. Which gives the title “reality tv” a sort of irony. The producers might be looking up Puck and Oberon’s love potion recipe as we speak. 

Conclusion

Love is complicated. Love can be both passionate and fickle, with feelings that ebb and flow over time. It can be difficult to predict or control, and even the strongest relationships can be tested by its fickle nature. It can also foster an environment perfect for drama in all forms. Shakespeare’s comedy, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, highlights all of those aspects with the added chaos from outside influence. The audience gets to see four Athenian lovers fall in and out of love with each other due to magical influences, creating juicy drama. It captivates you in a way that is eerily similar to the intentions of modern romantic reality tv shows. While both forms of entertainment come from wildly different times and industries, they are really not that different. They both seem to highlight some of the complexities of human behavior and relationships, while entertaining an audience as well. There’s beauty in being able to connect old literature with modern entertainment. It allows us to celebrate past authors while also looking at what encapsulates the modern person, and can help to create a deeper and more profound appreciation for both.