Helena is a tall woman but thinks very low of herself and her appearance. It is clear to us that Helena is tall because when she is arguing with Hermia, she is called a “painted maypole.” This seems an appropriate description as maypoles are tall and thin. To Helena her looks are the down point as she is very jealous of Hermia’s looks. This is shown to us when Helena says:
“Call you me fair? That fair again you unsay.” By this statement Helena does not think she has fair skin but compared with Hermia her skin is very fair indeed. She also wants Hermia’s looks as Demetrius is attracted to Hermia and so Helena wishes to have Hermia’s looks to appeal to Demetrius. This is made clear to us when Helena says:
“O teach me how you look, and with what art
You sway the motion of Demetrius’ heart.” Helena thinks that Hermia is beautiful and can capture any man that she wants and so wants her beauty.
Helena is extremely devoted to Demetrius that she would let him treat her like a dog. She says this when Demetrius is wants her out of his sight:
“I am your Spaniel; and Demetrius
The more you beat me, I will fawn on you.” From this statement we can obviously tell that Helena cannot bear to be away from Demetrius whereas Demetrius wants nothing more than to be with Hermia and to never sense Helena.
Helena feels that she is being made fun of by the others. When Lysander, under the influence of ‘love in idleness’ declares his love, she says,
“Wherefore was I to this keen mockery born.” This feeling springs from her own low self esteem and the idea that she is born to be mocked suggests that she feels her life will always be unpleasant. This intervention between the two men and Helena and Hermia broke up their friendship and another quotation for this is,
“You both are rivals, and love Hermia;
And now both rivals, to mock Helena.” Helena obviously doesn’t know about the potion and so is confused.
When Hermia seems to take the same attitude, even though she doesn't know what's going on, Helena accuses her of betraying all women by entering into it.
“Our sex, as well as I, may chide you for it.”
Helena, even though both men like her, still thinks that Hermia is higher than her and if they fought then Hermia would win,
“You perhaps may think,
Because she is something lower than myself.
That I can match her.” As Helena says, she cannot fight with Hermia even though both men are in favour of her. Another reason Helena did not want to fight Hermia was because she was scared, as apparently Hermia is supposedly a very vicious woman. Hermia then soon accuses Helena of stealing her boyfriend.
“You thief of love. What, have you come by night
And stolen my love’s heart from him?” This is where the massive argument starts between them two.
Hermia is very dark skinned and short. She has bright eyes and is quite beautiful. From the time Hermia met Lysander she has been committed to marry him. But her father gave her the choice of marrying demetrius or becoming a nun. In this case she would rather become a nun than marry Demetrius.
“The worst that may befall me in this case,
I refuse to wed Demetrius.” She is adamant in marrying Lysander. Even though she hasn’t got the choice of marrying Lysander, she is devoted to him and will disobey her father in order to get her way. As you can see Hermia is a very stubborn and vicious person. This is because she is used to getting her own way in whatever she wants.
Hermia and Lysander decide to flee into the forest and so she tells her best friend, Helena of what they planned to do, she didn’t realize this but it was a mistake telling her. Hermia also told Helena that she cannot put Demetrius off, we know this as she says,
“I frown upon him, yet he loves me still.” This means that she tries so hard to stop him from following her but he just ignores that and carries on.
After Lysander has had the ‘love in idleness’ flower put in his eyes he sees Helena first and so falls in love with her, leaving Hermia behind. This means that he does not love Hermia anymore but Helena. Hermia is still sleeping and dreaming of a serpent eating her heart while Lysander is standing there smiling and laughing.
“Help me Lysander, help me; do thy best
To pluck this crawling serpent from my breast.”
Their childhood friendship is forgotten in an instant, completely torn apart by the two men. It is not the love potion which has had this effect on the women directly, it is the performance of the two men, arguing over Helena who have caused the break up. This exhibition of feelings upsets and confuses both Helena and Hermia. Hermia feels cheated, and Helena is the first person she can find to blame.
“O me, you juggler, you canker-blossom,” Here Hermia is calling Helena a trickster who basically was planning to take Lysander from her.
Hermia has now found out that Lysander hates her as he says,
“The hate I bear made me leave thee so?” Here he is questioning himself by wondering why he left Hermia.
As Helena is taller than Hermia she calls her a “puppet” to insult her. Hermia takes this insult as though it is the reason why Lysander doesn’t love her anymore.
“Her height, forsooth, she hath prevailed with him.”
Due to this Hermia wishes to fight with Helena because she thinks that she can hurt her. Helena is afraid of what Hermia might do to her, and Hermia is not short of threats in her vicious mood.
“How low am I? I am not yet so low,
But that my nails can reach unto thine eyes.”
Helena regrets fighting with Hermia as they were always friends from a young age and so there was no reason to fight. She wondered how quickly they forgot their past.
“Good Hermia, do not be so bitter with me.
I evermore did love you Hermia,
Did ever keep your counsels, never wronged you.”
As you can see Helena was trying to recover what was left of their friendship but Hermia, however, was feeling hard done by. She insults Helena again by saying that if Helena disappeared then everything would be fine. For the reason of what Hermia said, Helena left.
Helena and Hermia’s relationship has changed completely throughout the story, entirely due to the effects the ‘love in idleness’ flower had on Lysander and Demetrius. The friendship based on trust before the arguments contrasts greatly to the lack of sympathy afterwards. The change has spoilt their relationship and the women’s trust in each other, and all because of the fight between Lysander and Demetrius, which was caused by a playful spirit.
Madhav Manek 3M6
