How Does Shakespeare Present Helena In A Midsummer Night's Dream

Love is an intangible feeling that makes one vulnerable to danger, pain, and suffering. However, love is the foundation of friendship; it brings together and promotes cooperation. However friendship and cooperation is usually contaminated by betrayal and lies. The people we love can easily manipulate our trust. In William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the lovers—Hermia, Lysander, Helena, and Demetrius— each falls susceptible to the witty jokes of the infamous prankster, Puck. During one of his pranks, he makes a crucial mistake, inevitably resulting in both Lysander and Demetrius falling madly in love with Helena, which she did not anticipate; in fact, she thought their sudden admiration derived from them derisively mocking her.

She assumed that “they have conjoined all three” and teased her out of spite. Her utilization of diction—specifically two phrases with negative connotations, “injurious” and “ungrateful maid”—is a deliberate attempt to portray Hermia as insolent and reckless. (Shakespeare 3.2.197-200). By characterizing Hermia in these manners, Helena persuades the audience that she is subjected to cruel mockery; moreover, she is a victim. Subsequently, Helena exclaims, “Have you conspired, have you with these contrived,/To bait me with this foul derision?” (Shakespeare 3.2.201-202). Her rhetorical question symbolizes her cynicism; she doubts Hermia’s motives, even though they had been “like two artificial gods” since their childhood. Instead of considering the honesty of the spontaneous love from Lysander and Demetrius, Helena skeptically presumes that their feelings are not genuine but merely a product of

Helena mentions the “counsel” that the two had shared, where they invariably supported each other. To digress back into her argument, she rhetorically says, “O, is all forgot? All schooldays’ friendship, childhood innocence?”(3.2.206-207). Helena prompts Hermia to ponder whether she still remembers their inseparable past and how they showed no hatred towards each other. She continues reflecting by acknowledging the harmony she had with Hermia when they were children; they did various activities together, such as “sitting on one cushion” and “warbling of one song.” (Shakespeare 3.2.210-211). Helena metaphorically compares their relationship to a double cherry; a “union” but also distinct and in “partition.” (Shakespeare 3.2.214-215). This contrasting comparison reinforces the concept that they were physically individual but ideologically connected. Because no one cherished Hermia any longer, Helena’s envy for her dissolves and is transposes into loathing as a result of a misconception; Helena wants to preserve their relationship, but ironically, holds and justifies her feelings of revulsion towards Hermia, solely because she believes that the lover is unhappy of