Hermia And Lysander's Love Analysis

Improved Essays
Register to read the introduction… Additional struggles resulting from true love include jealousy among lovers. At times, Helena is a bit jealous of Hermia and Lysander’s love. Included in the consequences of true love is a possible loss of friendship due to jealousy: “Call you me ‘fair’? That ‘fair’ again unsay. Demetrius loves your fair. O happy fair!” (1.1.184-185). At this point in the play, Demetrius is still doting over Hermia. Although this is the “way it should be” according to Egeus, sadly, Helena is blindly in love with Demetrius. Jealousy is unavoidable because Helena is envious of Demetrius’ affection towards Hermia. When lovers compete for the same people, complications arise. When this jealousy escalates, entire friendships can be lost. At the climax of the play, “Injurious Hermia, most ungrateful maid, / have you conspired, have you with these contrived, / to bait me with this foul derision” (3.2.200-202), Helena falsely accuses Hermia. Helena accuses Hermia of mocking her for her inferior beauty. In addition, Helena believes that Demetrius and Lysander are feigning love in order to ridicule her. Of course, these are just additional misconceptions that arrive as a result of true love. As conflicts arise in true love relationships, tensions can build and lead up to a loss of …show more content…
Decisions made under the influence of love can sometimes be skewed or irrational. Helena makes assumptions that are false because she is blinded by the effects of love, “Lo, she is one of this confederacy! / Now I perceive they have conjoined all three / to fashion this false sport in spite of me” (3.2.197-199). Helena falsely accuses Hermia of conspiring against her because she is blinded by her love for Demetrius and feels betrayed when he “mocks” her. Also, the references to Cupid also provide evidence for the fact that love is blind: “Love looks not with the eyes but with the mind; / and therefore is winged Cupid painted

Related Documents

  • Great Essays

    Throughout the course of history, the human race has loved. Love, some might argue, is a waste of time, while others might say that love is powerful and helpful. True love is defined as love for each other through hardship, which is controlled by a divine being. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the author, Shakespeare, makes it clear that there is true love in the piece, since Oberon and his court of fairies serve as divine beings that meddle with mortal lives. Shakespeare’s connecting to the classics includes the fact that the people believed in these divine beings.…

    • 1602 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Therefore Helena decides that the best way to gain Demetrius love is by telling him of Lysander and Hermia’s decision to escape. Because of her action, the audience discovers that Helena is so blinded on love, she will do whatever she needs to achieve it. Although Hermia tries to assure Helena that she has never encouraged Demetrius ' affections and does not want it, Helena is still jealous of Hermia 's beauty. Although she and Hermia has been close friends, her jealousy of Hermia clouds her reason, and she blames her friend for the situation. “Lo, she is one of this confederacy!/Now…

    • 1577 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The insecurity caused by jealousy is present in Hermia and Helena’s friendship. The first example of insecurity is when Helena does not accept Hermia’s compliment when she calls her fair, instead Helena replies with “Call you me “fair”? That “fair” again unsay. / Demetrius loves…

    • 1483 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In A Midsummer Night’s Dream Helena is baffled at the fact Hermia has just called her fair. She continues to go on about how her beauty could never measure up to the perfect nature of Hermia. Helena also wishes that Hermia would her how to win Demetrius’ heart (1.1.185-97). Any young girl, or boy, could sympathize with Helena. The young reader may be able to understand what the young, distraught, lover is…

    • 608 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This is shown by them running trying to run away. “From Athens is her house remote seven leagues; And she respects me as her only son. There, gentle Hermia, may I marry thee; And to that place the sharp Athenian law Cannot pursue us. ”(Shakespeare,17) Hermia and Helena show friendship love. They have been friends since childhood and it is the introduction of Demetrius and Lysander in their lives that test their love for each other.…

    • 347 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Helena loves Demetrius but he does not love her back. This then leads to having an imbalance of love; one women has no man to love her while the other has too many. Also, the developed and balanced love shared between Theseus and Hippolyte displays contrast when compared to the relationship of Oberon and Titania, whose love is a quarrel and leaves the world around them in shambles. A Midsummer Night’s Dream claims that marriage shows the true and utter fulfillment of romantic love. Shakespeare has a way of pulling the audience out of the emotional aspects of this play and instead uses the characters to poke fun at the agony and annoyances of those who are in love.…

    • 1242 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Demetrius has disrupted his relationship with Helena so he could try to win the love of Hermia. Later in the play, Puck finds out that he has made mistake. He uses the potion again to make Demetrius fall in love with Helen but does not take the effect of the potion off of Lysander. This results in both Demetrius and Lysander being in love with Helena and causing Helena to think that she is being mocked by them as well as by Hermia. She cannot comprehend the sudden shift of love towards her and she “perceive[s] they have conjoin’d all three/ to bait [her] with this foul derision” (III.ii.193-194).…

    • 1013 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Helena yearns for Demetrius love and is constantly comparing herself to Hermia. She consistently wishes for Hermia 's height and brains. She states, ”O, that my prayers could such affection move” (1.1. 202). The difficulty in love with beauty here is the very important theme of the play. Helena wants to look and behave any way Demetrius will like just to grab his affections.…

    • 1905 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Your vows to her and me, put in two scales, will weigh, and both as light as tales” (3.2.131-33). Even Helena realizes the men’s feelings are irrational; they have no logical evidence to defend their sudden change in emotion. This sudden change in romantic interest has a negative effect on the lifelong friendship of Hermia and Helena. Not only are romantic relationships illogical, the love established in friendship can disappear with one quick word. Hermia and Helena grew up, “with two seeming bodies but one heart, two of the first, like coats in heraldry, due to one and crowned with one crest” (3.2.211-214).…

    • 1384 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    1. After going through the play, my initial expression was that it was full of conflicts. There are a lot of quarrels between the lovers. Hermia and Lysander even ran off to the woods with the hope of starting a future life together. Here there is a presentation of a great personal versus society conflict that would see Hermia executed if she didn’t marry Demetrius as her father wanted.…

    • 1414 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Hermia Diary

    • 475 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Me and Demetrius fight over who loves Helena the most. Poor Helena thinks we are making fun of her and mocking her. Hermia then shows up and I tell her I don’t love her anymore. Hermia was very shocked about my actions and gets mad at Helena. Now Hermia wants to fight Helena.…

    • 475 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Helena no matter what loved Demetrius. Might I say, that Demetrius didn’t show her any affection of any kind what so ever. At one point in their lives, Demetrius did like Helena, but as they both grew up, he started to have feelings for Hermia, Helena’s best friend. That would have been a severe confidence breaker. Yet Helena refused to give up.…

    • 607 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The theme of romantic suffering has been often explored through the motives of love imbalance or romantic situations in which disparities and inequality interfere with the harmony of relationships. The most obvious example of this imbalance is the asymmetric love among four young Athenians: Hermia loves Lysander, Lysander loves Hermia, Helena loves Demetrius, but, instead Helena - Demetrius loves Hermia (“And here am I, and wode within this wood, / Because I cannot meet my Hermia. / Hence, get thee gone, and follow me no more”) - a simple numerical imbalance in which two young men love the same girl, whilst the other girl is left without admirers (Alchin, ed., 2017, Act II, Scene I). In many ways, the play was based on the search for inner…

    • 800 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    When Demetrius is found by Egeus with Helena, he states that: . . . –my love to Hermia, Melted as the snow, seems to me now As the remembrance of an idle gaud Which my childhood I did dote…

    • 1419 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In this case, Helena's experience is the Cyrano Style. Helena is not concerned about Demetrius not loving her, she cares about just having him in her life as her mate. She is satisfied having him in her life even if it he treats her wrong. This document consists of the obstacles a relationship goes through. By using A Midsummer Night's Dream, the situations in the book are used to demonstrate the obstacles and aspects of love.…

    • 2295 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Superior Essays