Discuss Demetrius(TM) treatment of Helena in Act Two Scene One, how would an Elizabethan audience react differently to a modern audience?

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A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Discuss Demetrius’ treatment of Helena in Act Two Scene One, how would an Elizabethan audience react differently to a modern audience?

In this essay I will be discussing and exploring Act Two Scene One in one of William Shakespeare’s plays ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. I will be focusing on how Demetrius treats Helena throughout the scene and analyzing how an Elizabethan audience would react differently to a modern audience. Considering the play was written in the 1590’s and set in Legendary Athens William Shakespeare had to be wary about the language he used about love and marriage in the Elizabethan era.

In Act One Scene One, Egeus underlines the fact that he “consents” for his daughter Hermia to marry Demetrius. Even with knowing Hermia and Lysander had fallen for each other, this was going against the Elizabethan law. Egeus is “full of vexation” over this, this outlines the fact of Egeus power over Hermia. An audience within the Elizabethan era would find this perfectly acceptable behavior, as Egeus being a male has a higher status than Hermia being a woman. Where as a modern audience within today’s society would find this completely unacceptable and disagree with what Egeus was doing.  Furthermore Lysander states his background and wealth is equal to Demetrius' “My fortunes every way as fairly ranked”, Egeus still persists on Demetrius to wed Hermia “I do estate unto Demetrius”. In the Elizabethan era, Women were treated by husbands and family as possessions and used for ‘financial gain’ to give the family a higher status in society.

After being potentially sentenced to death by her own father, Hermia meets with Lysander as they agree to runaway into the woods together, where “…the sharp Athenian law cannot pursue us”. Lysander enforces this by telling Hermia that if she runs away with him, the law that her father has threatened her with will not matter. This explores the fact that Lysander’s love for Hermia is true, and that he is willing to take the risk just for her.

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Hermia decides to tell Helena about the plan of her and Lysander running of into the woods together. Helena gets the wrong impression and feels that by telling Demetrius about this, Demetrius may fall for her and love her because of this. However this gives Demetrius the wrong impression and he decides to go into the woods to find Hermia, as he feels she is already his possession, referring to her as “my Hermia” whilst Helena trails behind. An Elizabethan audience would be shocked that Helena is so keen to follow him. Yet a modern audience wouldn’t be “shocked” ...

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