Jealousy is a conflict in its own right. This idea can be seen in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, where most of the tension and fighting he writes about stems from one of the main characters jealous tendencies, longing for someone she cannot have, and paranoia caused by the seemingly everchanging world around her. In A Midsummer Night's Dream, a play by William Shakespeare, one of the four lovers, Helena, proves that jealousy really is the green eyed monster when her delusions about love and friendship lead to great conflict among herself and the rest of her friends featured in this story.
One of the main reasons Helena is the character most at fault for the problems in this play would be her jealous tendencies. Because of her past with Demetrius, who is not only one of the main characters in this play, but the ex-lover who dumped Helena, she shows great envy to Hermia, her best friend and the girl
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Not only does she believe this, but she believes that Hermia is abandoning their friendship to take part in it. While the drama escalates, Helena exclaims, "Lo, she is one of this confederacy! Now, I perceive, they have joined all three to fashion this sport in spite of me." (Shakespeare 51) Helena is taken aback by this notion and does not hesitate to call Hermia out on it. In fact, she scares Hermia with her intimidating and frantic behavior so much that Hermia says to Demetrius and Lysander 'I pray you gentlemen, let her not hurt me." (Shakespeare 55) She says this to try to get them to protect her from Helena's erratic and crude behavior being fueled by the jealousy she is feeling. The fight that ensues from this creates the climax of the story, and would have never happened without Helena triggering the series of