Shakespeare was an extraordinary and hilarious author. After all, not many authors manage to achieve what he did. Not even close. He was capable of writing stories of great emotional content and literary value, but he had a secret. If you read Shakespeare's many works carefully, you begin to see something. Something peculiar and surprising. Shakespeare often uses the same basic plot over and over again. Take Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night's Dream for example. There are distinct similarities between Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night's Dream in the first three acts, these are: (1) Act one of both plays, each character is certain of their love for another person, (2) in the second act, someone is trying to make someone forget their love for a certain person, (3) but in the third act of both plays, problems explode everywhere. At the beginning of the first act of both the plays Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night's Dream the characters are sure of their love for a certain person. In Romeo and Juliet this is shown by Romeo. Throughout the act Romeo is melancholy because of the girl he is absolutely sure he loves. Her name is Rosalina. Romeo expresses his love for her in Act 1, Scene 1, Line 200, “In sorrow, cousin, I love a woman.” This proves it, Romeo is sure of his love. But in A Midsummer Night's Dream it's not just one person who is sure of their love, but four. Hermia and Lysander love each other, but another loves Hermia, his name is Demetrius and there is someone who loves him, his name is Helena. Their love triangle, although complex, is shown in Act 1, Scene 1 of A Midsummer Night's Dream. When Hermia's father Aegeus says (page 22, lines 27 and 29), "This man (Demetrius) has my consent to marry her (Hermia). . . . . middle of paper . . . ...g, promising his love to Helena. He really thought he loved her. From there on the problems only increased. Shakespeare likes to use the same basic plot or parallel plot in his writings in both of these plays. It seems like he only writes one and then uses it to write the next play, but each play is still so different and intriguing. After all, they play with their own emotions. Clearly there are notable similarities between Romeo and Juliet A Midsummer Night's Dream These are: (1) In the first act of both plays, each character is certain of their love for another person, (2) in the second act, someone is trying to make someone forget the own love for a certain person, (3) but in the third act of both plays, problems explode everywhere Works Cited Shakespeare Made Easy: A Midsummer Night's Dream. Prentice Hall Literature Volume Two Common Core Edition