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How Does Shakespeare Create Tension In A Midsummer Night's Dream

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A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Act 3, scene 2 of A Midsummer Night’s Dream describes the escalating tension between Helena and Hermia as they both compete for the attention of Lysander and Demetrius. Hermia is presented by Shakespeare as helpless and childish whereas Helena is presented as confused and frustrated.
‘You juggler! You canker blossom! You thief of love!’ spoke Hermia at the beginning of the scene. The repeated use of exclamation marks shows the intensity of the conversation and emphasises the hatred happening between them both. A ‘canker blossom’ means a rotting flower and so Hermia has used a personal attack on Helena’s beauty. Helena’s self-esteem has been low in previous scenes, like when she said ‘I am as ugly as a bear’ this shows that Hermia must have been extremely provoked by Helena; it presents Hermia as aggressive and wanting to inflict the greatest pain to her former friend. …show more content…

‘How low am I, thou painted maypole? Speak; How low am I? I am not yet so low that my nails can reach unto thine eyes’ The repetition of ‘How low am I?’ show us that Hermia is very angry and that she is getting worked up, but the repeated rhetorical questions show us that they are both confused by the chaos of the situation. By saying ‘reach unto thine eyes’ suggests that Hermia wants to fight Helena and gouge her eyes out. This just shows how hostile and childlike Hermia is.
Toward the end of the scene, Hermia is shown to be more content and less helpless. ‘Little again! Nothing but low and little! Why will you suffer her to flout me thus? Let me come to her.’ Shakespeare uses the rule of 3 to emphasise Hermia’s point. It could be said that Hermia has tried to be honest and open but by now has deserted that idea and the only option left is to insult Helena. By saying ‘Let me come to her’ is blunt and fiery meanwhile it suggests that Hermia has calmed down because no exclamation marks are used, so it does not show as much

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