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William Shakespeare intensifies the emotion of love and foolishness in the
epic tale of four lovers and an enchanted forest in his classic Midsummer
Night’s Dream. Early in this work, we learn of two young maidens, Hermia and
Helena, and their unfulfilled passions. Hermia, the daughter of a gentleman, is
cast into the burden of marrying a suitor, Demetrius, chosen by her father for
which she does not love. Instead, she has fallen for Lysander. To agitate
further, Helena is madly in love with Demetrius, who treats her as if she does
not exist. As a result, Helena’s emotions can be shared by everybody:
infatuation, betrayal, jealousy, and spite.
Therefore, it is Helena’s character
that answers to comedy as a tortured soul among lovers in fairyland. Everywhere
in the play, Helena plays the victim of Demetrius’ apathy. We find pity for poor
Helena when she finally catches up to Demetrius in the forest and says “I’ll
follow thee and make a heaven of hell, to die upon the hand I love so well“
(336). In desperation, Helena cries “we cannot fight for love, as men may do; we
should be woo’d and were not made to woo” (336). So unrequited is her love that
she begs him “Stay, though thou kill me, sweet Demetrius” (340). Helena’s
jealousy of her friend Hermia emerges from her soliloquy “Happy is Hermia,
wheresoe’er she lies, for she hath blessed and attractive eyes” (340). When she
finally receives the attention and affection from Demetrius, she becomes
mortified at the thought that Hermia and Demetrius have plotted to humiliate her
even further by mocking her.
Helena vehemently protests “O spite! O hell! I see
you all are bent to set against me for your merriment” (345). When she finally
encounters Demetrius and Hermia, she questions the decency of their motives
“Have not set Demetrius, who even but now did spurn me with his foot, to call me
goddess, nymph, divine and rare, precious, celestial?” (346). Her torment is so
real that she slowly embraces the fate of her existence. “But fare ye well. ‘Tis
partly my own fault, which death, or absence, soon shall remedy” (346).
Fortunately, as with all comedies during the Elizabethan era, the play ends and
“everything turns out exceptionally well” (327). With the help of the fairies,
Demetrius pairs with Helena and she becomes a tortured soul no more. The only
question left to ponder is the view of humanity as seen in this play a just view
of love or that of infatuation, lust, and merriment?
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