Carmen Guillén Cámara
Renaissance Theatre
Professor: Dra. María Goicoechea de Jorge
Even in the absence of an accurate date and having only taken references from particular events (a wedding in a noble household) A Midsummer night´s dream, is undeniably William Shakespeare´s brilliant work whose pen grazes perfection. In order to take cognizance of the magnitude of this work, this paper will try to penetrate, the recesses of the author by analysing Helena´s first soliloquy. To begin with, it is essential not to keep this monologue in isolation while it is being discussed. Especially because Helena´s soliloquy bears the weight of the character who, as it will be seen in further scenes, repudiates herself and remains longing for that unrequited love.
This soliloquy is composed by thirteen rhyming couplets, also called heroic couplets e.g. flight-night; pain-again. The usual method used by Shakespeare regarding meter is iambic pentameter. With all those perfectly structured elements, the writer brings Helena´s sorrow closer to the reader “How happy some o´er other some can be (…) But what of that? Demetrius thinks not so”.
Let us get into the question of the chosen or the rejected love inside this frame of devastated Helena´s speech, which is one of the aims of this work. In spite of the fact that A midsummer night´s Dream is considered a Romantic comedy, it gives off everything but comedy itself, if it was not because of the quartet of young lovers involved in a conflict