Even fairies struggle with love and romance. Oberon and Titania bicker; because of Puck's potion, Titania even falls in love with an ass. Puck's potion illustrates the fleeting nature of sexual attraction, too. At the opening of a Midsummer Night's Dream, Demetrius is in love with Hermia but Hermia is in love with Lysander. Lysander returns the affection. Hermia's best friend Helena, on the other hand, does love Demetrius and the two were once engaged. Demetrius, interestingly, has a thing for Hermia and so Shakespeare creates a farcical array of love triangles that propel the plot of the play.

Demetrius' injured ego and pride is what compels him to enter into the woods, kick-starting the adventures of all four of the young Athenians. Jealousy is not just a human emotion in a Midsummer Night's Dream, as fairy queen Titania is angry that her husband Oberon has become smitten with a young Indian boy. Oberon is the one who inspires Puck to develop a magic potion, the potion that transforms the lives of almost all the characters in the play.

The woods is the place where all things are possible: the dream-like world where Puck can use magic to make and break romances. Lysander falls in love with Helena and thus the tables are turned: instead of both men being smitten with Hermia they fall in love and chase Helena. Hermia then becomes jealous and threatens her best...

Feeling guilty over the mess he made, Puck intervenes on their behalf. The play's main match-maker, Puck pairs Demetrius and Helena and Lysander and Hermia for good.
Puck realizes how badly his matchmaking went wrong in Act III, scene ii. First Puck tells Oberon that Titania is in love with an ass. Ironically, Oberon is happy. Soon after that, Puck realizes that he could not tell the difference between Lysander and Demetrius, having placed the love potion on the wrong man. Oberon is displeased. As a result of the error, Hermia wakes up and hurts Demetrius by chasing after Lysander and accusing him of murder. Adding to the farce, Helena becomes the unwitting center of attention when both Demetrius and Lysander love her. She believes the two men are making fun of her, and later accuses Hermia of stealing her man. The two men and the two women threaten to fight each other.

The height of the play's hilarity, this scene also encapsulates the spirit and central themes of a Midsummer Night's Dream. Puck's meddling satirizes romantic love, and the effects of the love potion question the idea that human beings have free will. Moreover, the scene builds up to the climax of the play and establishes who will eventually fall in love with whom outside of the forest. Act II, scene ii is also my favorite of the play because it is its most obviously funny and even slapstick.