Examples Of Helena In A Midsummer Night's Dream

Helena is a tall Athenian women who is quite beautiful, based off the opinions of others. She is shy, timid, and very insecure due to the lack of attention she gets from men, more specifically Demetrius. The reason she is so insecure is because the one thing she acquires most in life, to be loved by Demetrius. However this is something she can’t seem to get no matter how hard she tries. As seen in the story, Helena is treated awful by Demetrius who makes it very clear that he wants nothing to do with her, cursing her out, yelling at her, and constantly insulting her, but not matter how much hatred is shown by him, her love for Demetrius continues to grow. This shows that Helena even though she is fragile at times,

Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. She is the emotionally overwhelmed, love disdain Athenian woman whom most can relate. Shakespeare points out unrequited love clearly in this comedy of confusion found in relationships. William Shakespeare’s tortured character fascinates me as she expresses questions and feelings most have felt in unique ways. For instance,

The relationship between Helena and Hermia displays friendship love: "Is all the counsel that we two have shared, The sisters' vows, the hours we have spent" (Act III, Scene II, Ln 188-189). This clearly shows the strong bond between Helena and Hermia. The fact that they confide in each other and have secrets between them shows trust, love and a strong friendship. The last phrase of the quote suggests a deep and long history between them, and this in turn implies the idea of friendship-love to be more long lasting, because the quote gives the idea the friends to be like sisters. Much like when Helena is listing out the comparisons of their closeness:

Helena is first introduced storming past Hermia and Lysander, being quick to accuse Hermia of stealing Demetrius’ love from her. Helena’s lengthy response, use of exclamations, sarcastic and whiney tone, and admitted jealousy, portray her perfectly. In fact, the audience better comes to understand the character in her following monologue containing phrases such as: “…how happy some o’er other some can be! Through Athens I am thought to be as fair as she”; “…he hailed down oaths that he was only mine… heat from Hermia…dissolved, and showers of oaths did melt”; “I will go tell him of fair Hermia’s flight…if I have thanks, it is a dear expense.” This shows that Helena isn’t just a jealous friend, but a hurt girl with low self-esteem; she is desperate to have love and happiness again to extent of giving Demetrius what he wants at the expense of her friends’ wellbeing. Despite the late hours, dangers of the night, and Demetrius’ annoyance with her, Hermia expresses her desperation and relentless love for him by proclaiming “…you [Demetrius] draw me, you hard-hearted adamant”, “I love you the more”, and “… spurn me, strike me…only give me leave… to follow you”. Humorously enough, even when Demetrius does not grant Helena permission, she still devotedly follows him. Due to the constant flow of insults and abuses from Demetrius, Helena’s character is pushed to the point where she wallows in self-pity and despair as well as further compare her darker, less attractive complexion to Hermia’s. When Lysander awakens under a love spell and professes his undying love for her, she runs away in distress believing he is implementing a cruel joke on her. When Demetrius follows in the same love-struck manner, she becomes exasperated and falls further into her self-pity. Helena’s tone even become satirical towards the two men and Hermia which not only offends

In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Helena is greedy and desperate for Demetrius’ love, and she handles this different from what usually happens when someone is experiencing unrequited love. Although Helena is in love with Demetrius, he is in love with her best friend Helena, who was ordered by her father to marry him. To try and make Demetrius love her, she chases after him and tells him how much she is in love with him. This is shown when the two go into the woods, to find Hermia and

Hermia and Helena’s actions are a big part of what makes up their personalities. Helena’s personality throughout the play, is opposite of Hermias. When Helena comes face to face with the reality that nobody loves her, she becomes overwhelmed with self pity. “Through Athens I am thought as fair as she/ But what of that? Demetrius thinks not so” (23) She has no confidence which leads her to constantly believe that no one will ever love her. Even when Lysander and Demetrius have the magic nectar on their eyes, and they both fall in love with Helena, she continues to deny their love because she doesn’t believe them. Throughout the play all she wants is to be loved, yet when Lysander and Demetrius finally love her, she doesn’t believe him. Helena’s personality is not only completely different than Hermias, but so is her appearance.

Helena and Demetrius spend the night together which causes Helena to fall in love with him. Except Demetrius does not return her feeling of love and instead likes her best friend Hermia instead. When Demetrius is under the love potion he says “Lysander, keep thy Hermia. I will none. If e’er I loved her, all that love is gone. My heart to her but as guestwise sojourned And now Helen is it home returned, There to remain.”(Act 3 Scene 2). He pursues Helena and toys with her feelings (even though it wasn’t intentional) showing that love indeed can change and turn on

At one time, Demetrius loved Helena, and then he fell in love with someone else. Initially, Demetrius had given his love to Helena: “He hailed down oaths that he was only mine, / And when this hail some heat from Hermia felt, / So he dissolved, and showers of oaths did melt” (MND 1.1.243-245). Helena loved Demetrius, and he promised to be with her forever. However once he met her friend, Hermia, Demetrius left Helena to chase after her friend. Helena’s jealousy of Demetrius’ love drives her to think about what he really wants. Helena believes that Hermia’s beauty is why Demetrius desires her. She tells Hermia, “Demetrius loves your fair”, and she goes further to say, “Were the world mine, Demetrius being bated, / The rest I’d give to be to you translated” (MND 1.1.182, 190-191). Her jealousy of Demetrius’ love has turned into jealousy of Hermia’s beauty. Helena obsesses over having Demetrius back to the point that she continuously follows him around. Demetrius is tired of Helena chasing him: “Do I entice you? Do I speak you fair?” (MND 2.1.199). Demetrius does not understand why she tries so hard to be with him when he does not even compliment her. Demetrius threatens Helena to leave him alone: “I’ll run from thee, and hide me in the brakes, / And leave thee to the mercy of wild beasts” (MND 2.1.227-228). At this point, he is beyond exhausted with Helena, and he will do anything to get away from her.

Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream can be considered an archetypal comedy due in large part to the ill-defined characters. Part of what makes this play work so well is that rather than becoming too invested in any one character’s hopes and fears or desires and struggles, the audience is simply rooting for things to work out well in general. If the audience became too attached to any one character, they might lose sight of the bigger picture in their concern over, for example, Demetrius remaining drugged at the end of the play, or the disturbing repercussions of Helena marrying a man who only a few acts earlier she had urged to “Use me but as your spaniel…” (2.i.212). The

The text supports that Helena is loyal, determined but not confident. The most evident trait is Helena’s low self-esteem. She points out how ugly she thinks she is and how others are prettier than her several times in the play, even after several characters have told her otherwise. This trait is first revealed when Hermia calls Helena fair in Act 1 Scene 1 Line 80. Helena then responds saying “Call you me “fair”? The “fair” again unsay.” Then she continues, “My ear should catch your voice. My eye, your eye. My tongue should catch your tongue’s sweet melody. Were the world mine, Demetrius being bated. The rest I’d give to be to you translated.” In these lines she is comparing herself to Hermia and she even said that she would give up anything except Demetrius to be her friend Hermia. This alone proves that Helena does not have any confidence in herself and her beauty. Then in Act 2 Scene 2 Lines 67-70, she Helena says, “No, no, I am as ugly as a bear. For beasts that meet me run away for fear. Therefore no marvel though Demetrius. Do, as a monster, fly my presence thus.” This further supports that she does not have confidence because she says that she is as ugly as a bear. Throughout the whole play, she tries to convince herself that the reason why Demetrius does not love her is because she is ugly. Therefore she tirelessly tears herself down because of it. When Demetrius and Lysander finally confess their love to her, she automatically jumps to a conclusion and says, “Can you not hate me, as I know you do, but you must join in souls to mock me too?” (Act 3 Scene 2 Lines 151-153) This provides more evidence to prove that she is not confident because she automatically thinks that they are mocking her rather than they are telling her the

From the first act we see that Demetrius only digs Hermia because she is a girl and because he father is wealthy. Demetrius has a history of leaving his lovers in the dust, but Helena is after him for revenge. Helena was Demetrius’ old girlfriend before he had the idea in his mind that he wanted to get with Hermia. Helena is the one who originally brings up the thought that men and women see love differently. She brings this interesting thought to the minds of audiences in her speech of Act 1.

Throughout the play, Helena practically worships Demetrius, despite his obvious hatred towards her. Demetrius asks Helena, “Or rather, do I not in plainest truth, tell you I do not, nor I cannot, love you?” (Shakespeare 2.1.185-186). in which she responds, “And

Helena follows Demetrius into the forest as she sings with love and kindness. While this does not qualify as soliloquy, it falls under metadrama as the playwright wishes to share Helena’s message with the audience. Her actions are self-contradictory if one refers to her previous soliloquy. She is unable to fathom or accept that Demetrius does not love her. This should be contrasted to her earlier claims that it is not possible to grasp love by the eyes. Shakespeare develops the paradox as an important exemplification of metadrama in A Midsummer Night Dream. Helena’s character is a product of her era such that contradiction is a rarity. Discrepancy between actions and words was seen as egoism and was only accepted in fiction as opposed to the society. Like Shakespeare, many playwrights from the era did not shy away from including such metadramatic devices in their plays. Helena has the social traits of her time making it difficult for the audience to accept her actions toward Demetrius as anything other than dramatic acts. For a Renaissance woman, the audience would expect her to portray a higher level of realism.

but he doth know’” (1.1.232-235). During her piece, Helena ponders why Demetrius loves Hermia over herself “given that their beauty is equal” (Wells). She states that according to “‘Athens’” she and Hermia are thought to be “‘as fair’” as the other. However, Helena is distraught due to the fact that there is but one person who sees past this: her true love, Demetrius.

These pictures Identify the dreams Helena is having for example they explain confusion because now both Lysander and Demetrius are in love with her and she thinks this is a joke. The feeling of being lost is also associated with Helena because she feels she is being played on and not knowing what to do in her life, it is hard for her to find the right path and figure out who truly loves her. The image of feeling upset is highly connected with Helena since she has the feeling that these two men don’t really love her and just messing with her heart which highly makes her feel upset and unwanted. Lastly the feeling of angry in her dreams would connect to Helena because the fact that Lysander and Demetrius were in love with Hermia makes her