Boundaries In A Midsummer Night's Dream

In comparing herself to Hermia by stating, “Through Athens I am thought as fair” (Shakespeare 1.1.227), Helena appeals to the literal boundaries of Athens in trying to justify her beauty –a quality that finds its basis in a concept that is surely too subjective to be agreed upon in any final manner. Exploring the monologue surrounding this sentiment of Helena’s, the reader can appreciate a greater trend in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (henceforth AMND) of characters trying and failing to force the conceptual onto tangible grounds by means of establishing boundaries. Recognizing this reliance on boundaries thus enables one to examine how Helena’s discourse is characterized by a tension between concepts and forms; an insecurity on her part becomes apparent in the fact that her concepts are upheld through ideas that are contradictory –contradictory insomuch as they stem from her attempts to obey structure in presenting things “ . . . holding no quantity/ [that] can transpose to form and dignity” (Ibid.1.1.232-233). Thus, she indicates her method: an attempt to convey concepts altered by the language and syntax of her discourse, …show more content…
While the rhyming couplet in itself inherently implies clear constructs of meaning and form, these boundaries cannot function in a world that focuses primarily on concept. In fact, when concepts act in contained systems, they degradate. As an example, the reader may observe this when Helena conveys how “ . . . the boy Love is perjured everywhere” (Ibid.1.1.241). The capitalization of “Love” asserts an ideal conceptualized by the mind that is unbound from sense yet dependent on fancy. However, when this ideal is forced to submit, however, to structured and evidence it creates a falsity insofar as desires cannot be naturally contained by the