ipl-logo

Analysis Of Helena In A Midsummer Night's Dream

710 Words3 Pages

Have you ever fallen in love with someone who has no interest in you and doesn’t love you back? Did that person suddenly start loving you out of nowhere? In A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare, Helena’s hunger for love brings out a desperate side in her and takes her through interesting adventures with love. One can infer that Helena is hurt by love when she reacts to love in a foolish manner and remains skeptical about it even near the end of the play. 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 …show more content…

Theseus and Hippolyta wake up Lysander, Hermia, Helena, and Demetrius because Hermia has to make her final decision. With the love juice on his eyelids still, Demetrius confesses that he no longer loves Hermia and wants Helena to be the love of his life. Theseus overrides Egeus’s wishes, and he says the three couples will have a triple wedding. After Theseus, Hippolyta, and Egeus leave, all of them are unclear what exactly happened. Helena even says, “And I have found Demetrius like a jewel,/mine own, and not mine own” (4.1.176-177). She is making an analogy saying that Demetrius is like a diamond that she found. She possesses it because she found it, but someone can easily come and take the diamond away and claim it as their own instead. She only has Demetrius’s love because of the love spell on him, for he doesn’t actually love her without it. Helena isn’t totally bought in with this idea of love because of the mistreatment she received from it earlier in the

Show More
Related

Comparing Bless Me, Ultima And House On Mango Street

1255 Words | 6 Pages

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.

Read More

Examples Of Crazy Love In A Midsummer Night's Dream

735 Words | 3 Pages

he had Puck drug them for his enjoyment and to help out Helena who he takes pity on. He takes pity on her because no one loves her, and because he feels bad about Demetrius brushing her off. Lysander, Demetrius, Helena, and Hermia have a crazy and complicated love square that gets even more complicated throughout the play. Being crazy in love is a major theme of A Midsummer Night’s dream by Shakespeare. This is shown by many characters throughout the play.

Read More

Theme Of Honesty In A Midsummer Night's Dream

776 Words | 4 Pages

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,

Read More

Examples Of Love And Justice In A Midsummer Night's Dream

757 Words | 4 Pages

  Lysander compares himself to Demetrius, saying that he is equal to him in every way.   Lysander then points out that he has something Demetrius will never have, Hermia 's love.   He makes it clear that the couple will do anything to be together.   After Egeus denounces his daughter 's chosen love, Hermia and Lysander,

Read More

Justice In A Midsummer Night's Dream

779 Words | 4 Pages

  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.

Read More

Manipulation In A Midsummer Night's Dream Analysis

523 Words | 3 Pages

Control can get out of hand when given to one single human being and can create major egregious problems to others. An infamous example is how Adolf Hitler attempted and almost succeeded to eliminate the entire Jewish population because he believed they were an inferior race. In Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, the characters constantly try to control each other for the sake of who they love, to gain control over people’s lives, as well as the sole idea of revenge. A vital point in, A Midsummer Night's Dream is using control along with manipulation to gain love.

Read More

Dramatic Irony In A Midsummer Night's Dream

952 Words | 4 Pages

When the fool put the drops of the flower into Lysander and Demetrius eyes they wake up and fall in Helena. In the beginning of the play, Helena wanted nothing more than to be loved by both men. When the men however finally are in love with her she is angry. Helena thinks the men are mocking her because they both wanted nothing to do with her but now they are acting desperate as she was in the beginning of the play.

Read More

How Is Hippolyta Portrayed In A Midsummer Night's Dream

554 Words | 3 Pages

In Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream the sexes are portrayed in many different ways through many different characters. Though the sexes are portrayed in many different ways, there is one view that is repeated twice. This view is that of a dominant male figure. This view is showed through the characters of Theseus and Hippolyta and also through the characters of Hermia and Egeus. Both of these relationships are dynamic, yet they are both still based on the idea of a dominant male figure.

Read More

A Midsummer Night's Dream Love Analysis

958 Words | 4 Pages

The power of true love is evident in the play, the depiction of love reveals its true nature as in its pursuit it causes the characters to become irrational. True love in this play stems conflict from the troubles of romance by the actions of the lovers. The friendship between Hermia and Helena is at stake because of the romantic love that exists between the different parties in the play. Helena mistakes her obsession with Demetrius with love even though he is very rude to her.

Read More

Lysander And Hermia's Relationship

948 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More

Character Analysis Of Hermia In 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'

895 Words | 4 Pages

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) “

Read More

Illusion And Reality In A Midsummer Night's Dream

1780 Words | 8 Pages

Intro Hook If love is magical, can love be created be magic? Is love created through a magical love potion as strong as genuine affection? How powerful is this illusion of magic, and will it withstand the reality of day? In A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream, by William Shakespeare, the lovers of Hermia, Helena, Demetrius and Lysander experience both real love and dream-like infatuation.

Read More

A Midsummer Night's Dream Act 2 Scene 1 Analysis

895 Words | 4 Pages

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

Read More

Helena's Soliloquy Analysis

1157 Words | 5 Pages

Helena, one of the main characters of this Shakespearean comedy, expresses her thoughts on love through a soliloquy. This soliloquy is written in verse and in “iambic pentameter” - five unaccented syllables, each followed by an accented one - as the rest of the play is, but with the characteristic that it rhymes. The soliloquy is composed of “heroic couplets” - rhyming verse in iambic pentameter- in opposition to “blank verse” - unrhymed iambic pentameter- which is the predominant type of verse in the play. Helena’s soliloquy, formed, as mentioned before, by heroic couplets, follows the rhyme scheme AABBCC as can be seen in this extract: “Things base and vile, folding no quantity, (A)
Love can transpose to form and dignity: (A)
Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind; (B)
 And therefore is wing 'd Cupid painted blind: (B)


Read More

Men And Women In A Midsummer Night's Dream

1205 Words | 5 Pages

Today, men and women have equal rights, but that does not mean life has always been simple for both genders. When Shakespeare writes A Midsummer Night’s Dream, there are roles, behaviors, and expectations for the dominant men and submissive women. This literature portrays the major changes in the lives of both sexes throughout the years, which shows the advances women gain with time. The gender issue of men being dominant and women being submissive used in the drama, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, shows the differences in the roles, behaviors, and expectations appropriate for each gender and is an example of an outdated stereotype.

Read More

More about Analysis Of Helena In A Midsummer Night's Dream

Open Document