A Midsummer Night's Dream, by William Shakespeare, is perceived by most to be a love story. Imagine a fairy queen drooling over a donkey, a fairy king arguing with her over a little Indian boy that they'll raise. Then there are two women, one is alone, looking longingly, and jealously at the other who is standing with one man that she loves dearly, and has another at her feet begging for her love. But off to the side is the second woman's father, in conversation with the king, arms up in anger because of the man his daughter has chosen. These relationships are complex, and could be part of the driving force of the play. But only in first thoughts of the play would a person come to think that the play is driven by love, it is actually, and more likely to be driven by manipulation through the use of the kings power, the flowers magic, and the idea of dreams. The king's power comes into play mainly in the beginning of the play, when Hermia's father, Egeus, is asking for the kings help in choosing who his daughter will marry. Egeus is one of the king's nobleman. He is Hermia's father, and he is complaining to the king that his daughter will not marry Demetrius, whom he has picked for her to marry. Egeus wants to control his daughter quite severely and so he asks Theseus to impose the death penalty on his daughter if she refuses to marry Demetrius. But Theseus reduces the penalty for noncompliance from death, to life as a nun. Meaning she'll be married to God for the rest of her life instead of Lysander or Demetrius. Due to Egeus being one of the king's noblemen, he has the ability to talk to the king and ask for his help in getting his daughter to make a decision, which she is told she has to make before the day Theseus marries Hippolyata. There is a flower in which the fairies know of that was shot by the arrow of cupid which turned it purple, and now is a love-potion. The nectar of the flower can be squeezed onto the eyelids of a human