How Is Helena Different In A Midsummer Night's Dream

Hermia, originally the Apple of all Athens’ eye, put on an impossible pedestal by both Lysander and Demetrius, seems to trade social standings with the outcast Helena. It seems that Hermia doesn’t fully appreciate the quality of her state. She complains that her father will not allow her to merry her true love Lysander, and pawns her off to the inadequate Demetrius. Never can she accept the flattery of Demetrius’ unrequited love which her best friend would do anything to sincerely receive. Instead she revels in wonderment: “The more I [Hermia] hate, the more he [Demetrius] follows me” (I.i.198). Her unhappiness is far heightened when her two followers are given the love potion, turning them against her and beckoning to Helena. The cruel swap of fates lets the two female characters feel as though in the others’ shoes. It’s Hermia’s karma for being ungrateful at the attention bestowed upon her all these years that leads her to this harsh lesson.

In A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare, Hermia and Lysander’s relationship goes through many complexities. Hermia and Lysander want to get married. Unfortunately, Hermia’s father, Egeus, wants Hermia to marry Demetrius. Oberon, the king of the fairies, has control of a flower which can change who you love. Hermia and Lysander have to deal with many obstacles such as the flower, so they can be together. Hermia and Lysander end up together; however, their love is difficult on behalf of Egeus, the Athenian law, and the love flower.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Shakespeare detailed the story between warring characters. From couple conflicts to love quadrilaterals and the interference of outsiders, the story played out as a comedy, with Helena on the receiving end of a running joke. Introduced in Act One as the jealous friend of Hermia, as she was in love with Demetrius, who decided to marry Hermia despite Hermia’s love for Lysander. Hermia appears rather guilty as she confirms her distaste to Demetrius to her friend. However, her father disapproves of her relationship with Lysander. Despite her co-dependent aspirations, Helena exemplifies progressive ideals that counter the societal norms of Midsummer’s era.

Above all the tensions created by the discussion of marriage, Lysander deliver a quotes to his love Hermia. “The course of true love never did run smooth…” (Act 1, Scene 1, line 134) is a famous quote by Lysander. In the quote he conveys to readers that love is not perfect, it also has its ups and downs and that he and Hermia are going through a tough situation. Hermia and Lysander both love each other and have made a plan to meet in a forest and then escape Athens however the problem arises when Hermia has tells Helena this and she plans to tell Demetrius about this so that he will love her and not Hermia. The King of fairies− Oberon hears all this and decides to settle the dispute between all of them. He instructs his assistant Robin Goodfellow to search for Demetrius and put the love juice on his eyelids so that he is compelled to love Helena, he informs him about the dressing style of Demetrius in "thou shalt know the man by the Athenian garments he hath on" (Act 2, Scene 1, line 263-264). However there is a problem, in the forest there are two Athenian men dressed in Athenian garments and their identities were mistaken; instead of putting the love juice on Demetrius's eyelids Robin Goodfellow put it on Lysander's eyelids. Now Lysander "loves" Helena and wants to get away from Hermia. After discovering Robin Goodfellow's mistake, Oberon tries to correct this mistake by putting the same love juice in Demetrius's so that he loves Helena eyes however

Therefore, no marvel though Demetrius. Do, as a monster, fly my presence thus.” (2.2.110-13). Helena reveals that a beast more fearsome than a bear would run from her tormented self. Her comparison to Demetrius acting as a monster flying from her may represent an underlying and unrecognized disdain felt for him not loving her in return. These are majorly complex emotions running through my favorite afflicted female in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Helena’s comparison to Hermia is particularly relevant. Humans have a tendency of comparing and questioning why they should bother to contend with someone. Helena complains of a “wicked and dissembling glass” which made her compete with Hermia’s beauty (2.2.104-5). In A Midsummer Night's Dream, there is the presence of unrequited love, which is shown by Helena and Demetrius' relationship: "The more I love, the more he hateth me" (1.1.199). This evidently shows Helena's love for Demetrius, and yet her love for him is not returned for he is blinded by his love for Hermia. This unrequited love shows the cruel nature of love which is represented when Demetrius say, “Tell you I do not nor I cannot love you” (2.1.201). “Tempt not too much the hatred of my spirit, for I am sick when I do look on thee” (2.1.211). Demetrius ignores Helena in an attempt to push her away, when she is madly in love with him. However, his plan backfires and only causes her love and desperate desire for him to grow,

Comparing a play to its movie adaptation is something that is hard to do since there is no tangible way a person can capture the original then change it to make the movie version of it up to par to the original. From the original play of A Midsummer’s Night Dream that was created by Shakespeare in the movie version of it created by Michael Hoffman, there are many similarities and differences that are in the movie some are very stark while others are very subtle differences.

Faults exist when love and law attempt to coincide. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hermia comes head to head with unfairness, the fault which arises after her father disapproves of her marrying who she loves. According to the Athenian Law she must serve a punishment for disobeying her father. By this law, she should treat him like a god or her ruler. What he says goes and he intends for her to marry Demetrius, but she loves Lysander. In the play, if she does not marry who her father has chosen for her, several punishments may occur. Hermia has a few options she must quickly choose by the wedding of Theseus and Hyppolyta. Ultimately, law should not factor into a person’s

Once Demetrius and Lysander are bewitched with the love potion, their love for Hermia is entirely tossed aside in favor of singing Helena’s praises. Yes, they are under a spell, but it is worth noting that at no point in the play does any character make reference to any distinguishing features other than the difference in height between the two girls and perhaps a slight difference in their complexions. Their beauty is made much of, but really nothing beyond that is ever referred to. Also notable is that, as little distinction as there seems to be between the women, there is even less between the men. Both are equally determined to have Hermia when the play starts, and both men speak with equal venom to whichever girl happens to be in their way at the time. When Helena pursues Demetrius while he is pursuing Hermia, she meets with threats and retorts very similar to those that Hermia hears from the enchanted Lysander when he is pursuing Helena.

“O, take the sense, sweet, of my innocence! Love takes the meaning in love's conference.” Lysander's quote, “The course of true love never did run smooth,” is proven throughout the play as three couples face challenges and hardships as time goes on, that no love is easy and that anyone would do anything they can to keep the love they have. In “A Midsummer Night's Dream,” there are many examples of rough love, as seen with Hermia and Lysander when Lysander stops loving Hermia, when Helena love Demetrius but he does not love her back and with Titania and Oberon, as they argue over the changeling boy.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream Summative A crucial theme in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is the difficulty of love. Shakespeare explains love is more powerful than the laws of society throughout the book. Lysander once commented “The course of true love never did run smooth” (Act 1 Scene 1). If you truly love somebody, the journey will be rough, but true lover's will find a way to be together. Lysander, Hermia, Helena, and Demetrius find a way to get married because their love was more powerful that the laws of Athens.

The hilarious play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, by William Shakespeare, tells the twisted love story of four Athenians who are caught between love and lust. The main characters: Hermia, Helena, Lysander, and Demetrius are in a ‘love square’. Hermia and Lysander are true love enthusiasts, and love each other greatly. Demetrius is in love with Hermia, and Helena, Hermia’s best friend, is deeply and madly in love with Demetrius. Hermia and Lysander try to elope in the woods because Egeus, Hermia’s father, disapproves of Lysander. Helena, hearing about their plans, tells Demetrius, and all four of them end up in the woods where Lysander’s quotation, “The course of true love never did run smooth”(28), becomes extremely evident due to several

In the play “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” by William Shakespeare, each character has an important part to play in the play that will help determine the course and outcome of the story. One of the most important characters in this play is Helena, Hermia’s best friend. She is a young woman who is not loved by anybody, and who fantasises about love, making her jealous of people who are in love. Helena is a strong-willed young woman who likes to get her own way and feels jealous if someone else has what she wants to have. This is shown in the play, in the first scene with Helena in it.

In Midsummer Night's Dream Helena can be portrayed as needy, persistant and self-conscious which is demenstrated in her pursuit of Demetrius, who disregards and is uninterested in Helena making her insecure about herself. In this desperate pursuit of Demetrius Helena shows she is very needy. This need for Demetrius's affection is obsessive and drives Helena. Her need for Demetrius's love is very important because it drives her decisions through much of the story. This obsession Helena has with Demetrius makes her not want to leave his side.

In the play “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” there are two characters named Lysander and a girl named Hermia they are both in love with each other. There are a lot of things that happen to them that they have to go through like Hermia’s Dad wants her to marry a boy named Demetrius, but Hermia doesn’t want to marry Demetrius she wants to marry Lysander but her Dad doesn't like Lysander. In our time the Dad’s can’t tell their daughters who to marry, they get to choose who they want to marry or not. There are two more lovers in A Midsummer Night‘s Dream their names are Demetrius and Helena she loves Demeautis a lot but he doesn’t love Helena.

Afterwards, Oberon comes and undoes the love spell on her. “My Oberon, what visions have I seen! Methought I was enamored of an ass”(IV.i.77-78). This ties into the idea that true love never did run smooth, as the monarchs of the fairies were fighting over the ownership of a young boy. This parallels a custody battle in real life. This demonstrates that true love can sometimes result in fighting between a couple. The scene where Titania falls in love with Bottom also demonstrates how people can fall in love with very bad choices. The use of the love potion reflects the idea that love is not always logical and is often random. The fact that this is Oberon’s idea shows how people in a relationship can try to undermine each other. Later in the same scene, Theseus and his party encounter Lysander, Hermia, Demetrius and Helena. Lysander states: “My lord, I shall reply amazèdly, Half sleep, half waking. But as yet, I swear, I cannot truly say how I came here. But as I think—for truly would I speak, And now do I bethink me, so it is— I came with Hermia hither. Our intent Was to be gone from Athens, where we might, Without the peril of the Athenian law—”(IV.i.133-140). Here, Lysander explains to Theseus the events that led him and the others in the group to this point. Lysander and Hermia both ran away from their homes in order to escape