Demetrius And Helena In A Midsummer Night's Dream By William Shakespeare

At one time, Demetrius loved Helena, and then he fell in love with someone else. Initially, Demetrius had given his love to Helena: “He hailed down oaths that he was only mine, / And when this hail some heat from Hermia felt, / So he dissolved, and showers of oaths did melt” (MND 1.1.243-245). Helena loved Demetrius, and he promised to be with her forever. However once he met her friend, Hermia, Demetrius left Helena to chase after her friend. Helena’s jealousy of Demetrius’ love drives her to think about what he really wants. Helena believes that Hermia’s beauty is why Demetrius desires her. She tells Hermia, “Demetrius loves your fair”, and she goes further to say, “Were the world mine, Demetrius being bated, / The rest I’d give to be to you translated” (MND 1.1.182, 190-191). Her jealousy of Demetrius’ love has turned into jealousy of Hermia’s beauty. Helena obsesses over having Demetrius back to the point that she continuously follows him around. Demetrius is tired of Helena chasing him: “Do I entice you? Do I speak you fair?” (MND 2.1.199). Demetrius does not understand why she tries so hard to be with him when he does not even compliment her. Demetrius threatens Helena to leave him alone: “I’ll run from thee, and hide me in the brakes, / And leave thee to the mercy of wild beasts” (MND 2.1.227-228). At this point, he is beyond exhausted with Helena, and he will do anything to get away from her.

Helena is a tall Athenian women who is quite beautiful, based off the opinions of others. She is shy, timid, and very insecure due to the lack of attention she gets from men, more specifically Demetrius. The reason she is so insecure is because the one thing she acquires most in life, to be loved by Demetrius. However this is something she can’t seem to get no matter how hard she tries. As seen in the story, Helena is treated awful by Demetrius who makes it very clear that he wants nothing to do with her, cursing her out, yelling at her, and constantly insulting her, but not matter how much hatred is shown by him, her love for Demetrius continues to grow. This shows that Helena even though she is fragile at times,

7. What is Lysander’s comment about Demetrius’s previous love affair with Helena? What does this say about

Through Athens I am thought as fair as she. But what of that? Demetrius thinks not so” (1.1.226-228). Demetrius’s obsession for Hermia makes Helena feel ugly and unwanted. By the time the love potion going around causes both Lysander and Demetrius to fall in love with her, Helena is so used to the hate-filled words and full of insecurity she feels they’re playing a trick on her. Before the love potion she couldn’t even compare to Hermia in Demetrius’s eyes. She couldn 't bring herself to see why they would both be in love with her when she couldn 't even get one of them to love her before. She’s spent so long comparing herself to Hermia and trying to be like her she forgets her own self worth.

When Helena and Demetrius were together, she was perfectly content and satisfied with herself. She knew of her magnificent beauty and high potential. Unfortunately, when Demetrius strayed from her, her self-confidence dropped several notches, and she no longer thinks of herself as desirable nor beautiful. Then, after Puck anoints Demetrius’ eyes with the love potion, he falls back in love with Helena. However, she thinks he is mocking her, and in her eyes, it is a very repulsive deed. Love’s misfortunes consequently vanquish all of Helena’s self-confidence and prompt her judgement to become

The biggest obstacle in this play occurs when the power of love is challenged by authority. The play starts with Theseus, duke of Athens, being eager to marry Hippolyta, who he wooed with his sword in combat. Although Theseus promises Hippolyta that he will wed her “with pomp, with triumph, with reveling,” true love between them is questionable. By starting the play with Theseus and Hippolyta, Shakespeare hints the audience of the authority involved in their marriage and leaves the audience wonder if they actually love each other. The focus is then shifted to the four lovers: Hermia, Lysander, Demetrius and Helena - by establishing the story of Hermia being forced by her father, Egeus, to marry Demetrius, when the person she actually wants to marry is Lysander. However, Egeus

Hermia, originally the Apple of all Athens’ eye, put on an impossible pedestal by both Lysander and Demetrius, seems to trade social standings with the outcast Helena. It seems that Hermia doesn’t fully appreciate the quality of her state. She complains that her father will not allow her to merry her true love Lysander, and pawns her off to the inadequate Demetrius. Never can she accept the flattery of Demetrius’ unrequited love which her best friend would do anything to sincerely receive. Instead she revels in wonderment: “The more I [Hermia] hate, the more he [Demetrius] follows me” (I.i.198). Her unhappiness is far heightened when her two followers are given the love potion, turning them against her and beckoning to Helena. The cruel swap of fates lets the two female characters feel as though in the others’ shoes. It’s Hermia’s karma for being ungrateful at the attention bestowed upon her all these years that leads her to this harsh lesson.

She is thought of as less of a woman because of her choice to have sex with Demetrius when they weren’t married. She is constantly insulted and belittled, while Demetrius doesn’t get any negative treatment from the news. She later becomes desperate to be with him because the mistreatment that she often faces has led her to believe that she isn’t good enough for anyone else. Because she was judged for making her own decision to sleep with Demetrius, she thinks that allowing him to control her will be a solution to all of the issues she faced that far. She uses the option to control her as a way to entice Demetrius, and believes that she will be judged less if she dates him. Later on in the story on page 19, LIne 184-197, it is described how internal misogyny and constantly hearing men compare her to other women causes her to do it to herself. She compares herself to Hermia, who is often adored. This causes her to think of herself as less important when she realizes that she isn’t thought of as well as Hermia is. Because Hermia is more loved and adored by men that she is, Helena pictures herself as worse and doesn’t think she is worthy of love unless she hands over all of her self control to another person. She is taught to think that she must compete with other women, and eventually she does. Although she faces many intense gender roles, Helena still remains herself, even though she may not always like

Demetrius has continually proven himself to be of a cruel nature, the potion placed on him to be lovely has caused Helena to be weary of his new role, cursing at him “Can you not hate me as I know you do, But you must join me in souls to mock me too?” Helena makes reference to “join in souls” suggests that Demetrius’ souls are no longer truly his own. His soul, his judgement, has been contrived with the souls of others, to create the consciousness the supernatural wants for Demetrius. Demetrius’ sudden change in love, moving from Hermia to Helena, encapsulates the meaning of what his love is with him. He is a very gullible and superficial man, falling in love with appearances.

Helena and Hermia have this kind of love and would do anything for each other. It happens that Helena is in love with Demetrius who Hermia is being forced to marry. Demetrius does not want Helena but Hermia. Helena loves her friend Hermia but at the same time wants to get her man.

Helena is a very desperate and aroused woman who loves Demetrius with her life. Even though she shows a great passion of love for him, Demetrius rejects this and therefore piles another burden of sorrow onto Helena’s shoulders. She is fed up with Demetrius rejecting her, but Helena is not tempted to give up yet.

He is one of the four Midsummer's Night Dream. Although he is called a lover he is not the type of boyfriend you would want to take home to meet your mom and dad. For example he only wants to marry Hermia to use her so he can have the support of Theseus and Egeus. So even though he does not love her he wants to use her to better himself.

The love for Helena appeared out of nowhere. He did not develop the passion for her, it happened in one day. True love needs true passion, not passion from a potion. Love is not something that is material; it is felt from the heart, not a potion. Demetrius’ and Helena’s love is forged

He treats her as if she is property and not his own flesh and blood. Hermia demonstrates her strength because she repeatedly refuses her father’s pleas and Theseus as well. In this play, Helena, Hermia, and Hippolyta are women residing in the Athenian society. Hermia, is in love with Lysander and runs away. Hippolyta is captured by King Theseus and forced to marry him. Helena is desperately in love with Demetrius, who does not like her back. Hippolyta is to marry Theseus, you can say she represents the leadership in the mortal world. Titania is another leading character who is the queen of the fairy land. Hermia and Helena represent young women who are trying to find the right partner for themselves.

Occurring in Act 2 scene 1, Helena informs Demetrius of Hermia and Lysander’s plans to run away together in hopes of winning Demetrius’s heart. After hearing about their plan, Demetrius is determined to stop Hermia and pursues after her into the woods. Helena isn’t far behind and tries to reason with Demetrius. Once again she expresses her love for him and even offers him to do anything