Who Is Helena In A Midsummer Night's Dream

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Recommended: Critical Analysis of A Midsummer Night Dream

“A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” is a play by William Shakespeare. It is about the adventures of four young lovers and a group of amateur actors, their interactions with woodland fairies and a duke and duchess. It takes place in mythical Athens and an enchanted forest. A love quadrangle develops among the young lovers when Puck plays Cupid. In order to understand the characters Helena and Hermia, it is important to analyse characterization and plot.
To understand the character Helena the background of what has happened must be shown. Hermia is in love with Lysander, but her father wants her to marry Demetrius and to escape the arranged marriage she and Lysander elope into the woods. Demetrius follows them and he is pursued by Helena, who has an …show more content…

The abuse does not seem to affect Helena as she still pursues him, referring to herself as his “spaniel” a dog that is known for its loyalty towards their master no matter how bad they are. At the start of this scene Helena is found walking through the forest lost pitying herself. Saying that she is as ugly as a beast and how she is not as beautiful as her friend Hermia. When commenting on how beautiful Hermia’s eyes are she asks how they became so bright; “How came her eyes so bright? Not with salt tears: If so, my eyes are oftener washed than hers. This shows that her envy has been a long problem of her comparing herself to Hermia. However, once she finds Lysander her emotions quickly turn to distrust and she becomes distraught. When Lysander woke up and the love potion took effect, Helena becomes very confused as to why he is suddenly in love with her and comes to the conclusion that he is making a fool out of her. She comments on how she thinks that it is wrong for him to woo her in such a cruel way and how she thought he was much kinder.
The imagery that she uses is mainly in her monologue at the start of the scene when she is talking about how ugly she is. She uses a lot of visual imagery like when she says, “I am as ugly as a bear, for beasts that meet me run away for fear.” this is further proving

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