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An Analysis Of Demetrius And Helena In A Midsummer Night's Dream

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There are many times when you like someone who doesn’t like you back, or they have moved on. Demetrius and Helena are an example of this unrequited love. A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare is about falling in and out of love. The play is a grand tale involving falling in love and powerful magic. In rare cases, the love will be returned, and the couple will end up happy. Demetrius and Helena start out in the play with feelings being only one sided. At first, Demetrius wants to marry Hermia, but she wants Lysander. Later, during a scene in the play, it captures Helena following Demetrius around the woods, only for him to reject her again. “I love thee not, therefore pursue me not.” (A2S1, 189), here Demetrius states that he doesn’t …show more content…

After Puck puts a potion on Demetrius’ eyes, he awakens to see Helena. Upon seeing Helena, he immediately falls in love with her, “To what, my love, shall I compare thine eyne? Crystal is muddy. O, how ripe in show Thy lips, those kissing cherries, tempting grow!” (A3S2, 138-140). Helena fears that they are all playing a trick on her and does not act on him admitting his feelings. At this point, the relationship can be connected to real life relationships, because one person might not realize the other is being truthful in their feelings. At the end of the play, Demetrius and Helena are wed and in love. “The object and the pleasure of mine eye, Is only Helena. To her, my lord, Was I betroth 'd ere I saw Hermia.” (A4S1, 167-170), here Demetrius states that he was promised to marry Helena before he saw Hermia. After this, they do marry. Therefore, they can be an example of the many that do end up together, in a happily ever after type of relationship. Love is a wonderful part of life that we get to experience, and it is showcased well in A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare. The unique cases of unrequited love are always the ones that have magnificent stories. When you find the right one, don’t let go of

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In the play A Midsummer’s Night Dream by William Shakespeare, many of the characters relentlessly pursue their goals in the face of illogical decisions, and, while fictional items such as the “love-in-idleness” flower are used to explain the character’s sudden love for each other, the play does illustrate how love and ambition can lead to unforeseen consequences. For example, when Puck accidently anointed Lysander’s eyes with the “love-in-idleness” juice, he started a chain of events leading to Lysander and Demetrius fighting over Helena while Hermia is treated as though she is worthless. Moreover, at one point, Lysander and Demetrius even threatened to duel each other when Lysander awoke after being anointed with the flower 's juice and said, "Where is Demetrius? O, how fit a word is that vile name to perish on my sword" (61). This shows how the character’s love for certain other characters, and their ambition to pursue said love, can lead to the destruction of previous relationships and lead them to make dangerous decisions.

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I know not by what power I am made bold" (1.1.55-56). This quote shows that Hermia is willing to stand up for herself and take control of her own fate, even when it means going against societal expectations. However, despite her agency, Hermia is also subject to the whims of fate and the supernatural. In Act 2, Scene 1, Puck mistakes Lysander for Demetrius and uses a love potion to make Lysander fall in love with Helena.

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Again they are deliriously in love because of the love drug. In the beginning of the play neither of the males want anything to do with Helena, she is blindly chasing after Demetrius desperate for his attention, but he brushes her off. Oberon orders puck to put the spell on Demetrius. “Thou shalt know the man by the Athenian garments he hath on.” (II, i ln 42 & 43)

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The more I hate, the more follows me... His folly, Helena, is no fault of mine"(1.1.193-200). Indeed, it takes time and courage to express ones own feelings in front of others. Plus, it is even harder to express the feelings about someone that his/her best friend loves, while they do not. As in this play, even Demetrius is Helena's beloved, Hermia still expresses all her feeling to Helena,

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  Hermia, much to her father 's dismay, is deeply in a mutual love with a different nobleman, Lysander.   In addition, Hermia 's childhood best friend and Demetrius were in love prior to his sights turning towards Hermia.   This crushed Helena, causing her to lose self-confidence, but still: she yearns for Demetrius 's love.   Hermia and Lysander 's love, Egeus 's harsh rule, and Helena 's unrequited love for Demetrius causes the lovers to leave Athens.

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  In addition, Hermia 's childhood best friend and Demetrius were in love prior to his sights turning towards Hermia.   This crushed Helena, causing her to lose self-confidence, but still: she yearns for Demetrius 's reciprocated love.   Lysander and Hermia are in love with each other.   Egeus does not approve of his daughter 's chosen love.

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Helena attempts to control Demetrius by betraying her friends in hopes that he would fall for her. Routinely, Helena tries to gain Demetrius’s love for instance, when she asserts, “Stay though thou kill me, sweet Demetrius!”(Shakespeare.86.1.70). Demetrius then responds with, “I change thee hence, and do not haunt me thus” (Shakespeare.87.1.70). Despite him being

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The strong effects of love makes Helena a bit foolish and blind in the ways she reacts to it. In scene one of act one, the readers learn that Helena still loves Demetrius even though he loves her friend, Hermia, now. When Helena is first introduced, she demonstrates her jealousy and insecurities by asking Hermia for some of her beauty to win Demetrius back. Hermia and Lysander inform her that they are running away, and that

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In our scene, lines 42-179 of Act One, Scene One, the characters who try to force love upon others are seen antagonistically, while Hermia and Lysander, who strive for true, naturally occurring love, are seen as protagonists whose love should be defended. The overlying message of the play is that love should not and cannot be forced. Theseus, Egeus, and Demetrius use their power, both as nobles and men, to try and force Hermia into marrying Demetrius. Egeus, in an attempt to bully Hermia into marrying Demetrius says, ‘‘‘She is mine, and all my right of her I do estate unto Demetrius’’’ (1.1.97-98). He sees his power as Hermia’s father as a way to force her into a marriage that will benefit him.

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What is Hermia Like? She is described as an independent individual who wants nothing but to follow her heart, but here’s the catch… That is not what her dad wants for her! She is better yet characterized as Feisty;She knows what she wants and does what it takes to get it, she was even prepared to give up on her family and way of life to marry Lysander. In this play she can be Defensive (Compelled to fight for her love and was willing to fight her friend) “

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Unconditional love is a prevalent theme in A Midsummer Night 's Dream, and the blind nature of this love can be a great thing, especially since ignoring a romantic partner’s flaws can lead to a happier relationship. However, in A Midsummer Night 's Dream, Shakespeare takes his characters’ love to an irrational extent - so much so, that a prevalent theme of the play is the foolishness and folly of love. Context After being enchanted by Oberon’s love potion, Titania is awoken by Bottom, who she then falls madly in love with. She starts swearing her to love to him, to which Bottom responds: Analysis

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The strong effects of love makes Helena a bit foolish and blind in the ways she reacts to it. In scene one of act one, the readers learn that Helena still loves Demetrius even though he loves her friend, Hermia, now. When Helena is first introduced, she demonstrates her jealousy and insecurities by asking Hermia for some of her beauty to win Demetrius back. Hermia and Lysander inform her that they are running away, and that

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In William Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream the circumstances surrounding love have been put into question, this occurs when a magical nectar is put in the eyes of three major characters, and changes their feelings towards the people in their lives. Titania, Lysander and Demetrius all have had the nectar put into their eyes, though Demetrius avoids having this done to him in act 2 scene 2 which is the scene that the focus of this paper will be looking at. Throughout the play, we focus largely on the love life of Helena, which unfortunately does not seem to exist. She is in love with Demetrius, whom does not care for her in the same way, he does not cherish her at all before he is under the influence of magic. Once Lysander declares

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