How it all goes down:
In “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” there are four lovers caught in a lover’s quarrel. The love of Lysander and Hermia is in jeopardy because of the laws of the Athenian society, back then the law was based on systems of political and economical traditions not considering the woman’s feelings of love. After the jilting of Helena, Demetrius has also proclaimed his love to Hermia and by approval of Egeus and the law the two are to be wed. Helena is left to sit back and watch to see how the lover’s relationships unfold. Each of the lovers has similar and different issues to resolve to be with the one they truly love.
The similarities between these two couples are love, Lysander and Demetrius also share a common love for the same woman, Hermia. All are faced with the problem that the Athenian law has demanded of them. For Demetrius and Hermia the difference is in that if the law prevails he will be married to the one he loves and the
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Lysander and Demetrius never proclaim friendship. Hermia and Helena’s friendship remains up until Puck intervenes and causes discord between the friendship that allow doubt to set in as to if they are still truly friends or not. In the end, Demetrius is the only character that is still under the effects of the love spell. That is different from the others and in the fact his love for one of the other characters has been altered by an outside force and is not actually his true heart felt feelings.
In conclusion, Puck’s mistake in the play is unfortunately the key to reuniting Demetrius and Helena, which then provides a resolution to Lysander and Hermia’s future relationship allowing all four of the characters to marry their chosen lover and with the approval of Theseus escape the consequences of the Athenian law.
Lysander tells Theseus that Demetrius "Made love to … Helena, And won her soul.” Helena says that before Demetrius looked upon Hermia, "He hail'd down oaths that he was only mine.” In an attempt to win back some of Demetrius's affection, Helena tells him of Hermia's plan to meet in the wood and elope with Lysander.
why Lysander and Demetrius are suddenly both in love with her because she knows Lysander
He sends his jester, Puck, to use a flower that, if its juice is dropped onto someone who’s sleeping’s eyes, will make the person fall madly in love with the first person they lie their eyes on. “Take thou some of it, and seek through this grove; A sweet Athenian lady is in love with a disdainful youth; anoint his eyes; but do it when the next thing he espies may be the lady. Thou shalt know the man by the Athenian garments he hath on. ”(64) Puck, following Oberon’s orders, finds Lysander and Hermia instead of Demetrius and Helena.
This is evident in the quote where Lysander says, “Athenian law cannot pursue us.” This would not of been a trial for them, but fate had something else in store. “Content with Hermia? No, I do repent The tedious minutes I with her have spent. Not Hermia, but Helena I love” (II.i ll. 118-12). Puck, a fairy, put cupid’s love juice into Lysander’s eyes. This is evident in the quote, “Night and silence! Who is here? Weeds of Athens he doth wear. This is he my master said, despised the Athenian maid, and here the maiden, sleeping on the ground. Pretty soul, she durst not lie near this lack-love, this kill-courtesy. Churl, upon thy eyes I throw all the power of this charm doth owe” (II.i ll. 76-85). As it states in the quote, it made him fall in love with the first person he saw, which happened to be Helena. This is proven when Lysander said, “but Helena I love”. Lysander told Hermia he was in love with Helena, not her, so the elopement was off. This is evident when he says, “I repent the minutes I spent with her.” This is difficult for Hermia because she is confused, and does not know what is going on, or why Lysander was acting this way. This is evident when she takes her
An important passion shown in this story is the passion of friendship from Helena. Lysander and demetrius were both deeply in love with Hermia, but suddenly they became slaves for Helena, under the spell of a love potion. This antagonises Helena and she blames it all on Hermia and her cruel joke. She says to Hermia, “The sisters’ vows, the hours that we have spent, when we have chid the hasty-footed time for parting us,-o is all forgot” (III.II.199-201)? Helena asks her if she has forgotten about their friendship, about the vows they took to be like sisters and never leave each other. This shows that although Hermia may have forgotten their friendship, Helena will always remember because friendship is really important to her. Friendship is a bond Helena feels really passionate about and takes very seriously. Another quote that shows Helena’s passion for friendship is “ Both warbling of one song, both in one key, as if our hands, our sides, voices and minds have been incorporated”(III. II. 207-208). This represents that Helena took their friendship sincerely and she believed in them and nothing could break their bond. Her last bit of her anger com...
This quote is one of Puck’s many monologues in the play. In this quote, Puck is talking out loud as he is sprinkling the love potion on Lysander, who he believes to be Demetrius. When Lysander wakens the effects of the love potion creates conflict between him and Demetrius, and also between him and Helena and Hermia. The men are fighting for Helena’s love and attention which causes Hermia to become jealous of Helena. Hermia is also quite confused because when she went into the forest she had two suitors, Demetrius and Lysander. After the love potion is sprinkled ...
Lysander calls Demetrius a?spotted and inconsistent man?, indicating Demetrius? fickleness towards women, that he is flirtatious and flawed. Demetrius is willing to go to any extent to have Hermia marry him, even allowing Hermia to be subject to a life of a nun or death, if she does not marry him. Demetrius. infatuation with Hermia brings out the tyrannical and possessive part of his character, as can be seen when he says?and, Lysander, yield thy crazed title to my certain right?
When Puck mistakenly applies the love potion to Lysander’s eyelids. At this point, both male characters of the main plot have fallen in love with Helena, leaving Hermia out of balance. The struggle of the four lovers is one of the more complicated conflicts in the play. The conflict could have been avoided if Puck had not misused his magic. However, because Puck mistakenly used his magic on Lysander, conflict erupted.
The relationship between Demetrius and Hermia is problematic, in that Demetrius is seeking the affections of Hermia, while she is in love with Lysander. However, Hermia’s father approves of Demetrius and tries to force her to marry him, but Hermia refuses because of her love for Lysander (A Midsummer Night’s Dream 1.1.22-82). Lysander points out the flaw in the situation through this comment, “You have her father 's love, Demetrius –/Let me have Hermia 's. Do you marry him,” (A Midsummer Night’s Dream 1.1.93-94). The second flawed relationship is between Lysander and Helena, as a result of an enchantment put on Lysander that made him fall in love with Helena. Helena does not want the affections of Lysander, but rather the love of Demetrius, and believes that Lysander is taunting her. In addition, this relationship creates tensions because Hermia is in love with Lysander (A Midsummer Night’s Dream 2.2.109-140). Both relationships are not desirable due to a lack of mutual admiration and the creation of non-peaceful and unsatisfying
Presented with many obstacles and complications to overcome, we know that Hermia is the protagonist in the play. She has relations with almost all the characters in the play. The first and most important relationship is her love, Lysander. From the very beginning we see that Hermia loves Lysander with all her heart and soul and he loved her the same. The only tragic flaw in their relationship was when Puck put the magic juice in Lysander's eyes and he fell in love with Helena. Hermia felt sad and rejected when that happened. But when Puck finally realized that he had made a mistake and corrected it, Hermia and Lysander were in their heavenly bliss of love once again.
The funniest part of this play seems to be when Puck, the trickster, keeps mixing up the people who he is assigned to put the love juice on. Even when he did put the love juice into the right people's eyes, they still fell in love with the wrong people sometimes. The first example of this mistake of Puck's is where he puts the love juice in Lysander's eyes, mistaking him for Demetrius. Oberon tells Puck to put the love juice in the eyes of an Athenian man, Demetrius, and to make sure that the first thing he sees after this is the woman whom he hates, but who loves him so much, Helena. Puck ends up finding Lysander and Hermia, lovers, sleeping on the forest floor. He puts the love juice in Lysander's eyes and leaves. Then along come Helena and Demetrius to this spot. They are still arguing and Demetrius leaves her with the sleeping Lysander and Hermia. Helena notices them there and tries to wake Lysander. Lysander wakes and the first thing he sees is Helena. "And run through fire for thy sweat sake. Transparent Helena! Nature shows art, That through thy bosom makes me see thy heart."(2.2.103). This is what Demetrius says to Helena when he sees her. He has fallen in love with her. This is where the comedy of this love mix up begins. Now Helena is confused and thinks that Lysander is playing a trick on her so she runs away. This is a most particularly funny part of the play and these mix ups with whom loves who seem to be the funniest pieces of the play.
Hermia and Helena's relationship has changed greatly after the intervention of Puck with the love potion. Once best friends, they have become each others enemies, and all for the love of Lysander and Demetrius.
In the first part of the play Egeus has asked the Duke of Athens, Theseus, to rule in favor of his parental rights to have his daughter Hermia marry the suitor he has chosen, Demetrius, or for her to be punished. Lysander, who is desperately in love with Hermia, pleads with Egeus and Theseus for the maiden’s hand, but Theseus’, who obviously believes that women do not have a choice in the matter of their own marriage, sides with Egeus, and tells Hermia she must either consent to marrying Demetrius, be killed, or enter a nunnery. In order to escape from the tragic dilemma facing Hermia, Lysander devises a plan for him and his love to meet the next evening and run-off to Lysander’s aunt’s home and be wed, and Hermia agrees to the plan. It is at this point in the story that the plot becomes intriguing, as the reader becomes somewhat emotionally “attached’’ to the young lovers and sympathetic of their plight. However, when the couple enters the forest, en route to Lysander’s aunt’s, it is other mischievous characters that take the story into a whole new realm of humorous entertainment...
Demetrius, Helena, Lysander, and Hermia are the for young teens of the story. At the beginning of the play it is Lysander and Helena who are madly in love, and are planning to to escape from Athens to elope. Helena is in love with Demetrius, and Demetrius cared for Helena and liked her a lot but was not in love with her. As soon as Demetrius sees Hermia he immediately stops having any feelings for Helena whatsoever and is deeply in love with Hermia. Demetrius thought that he had fallen in love at first sight, but Helena was determined to show him differently. Demetrius: ³ Tempt not too much the hatred of my spirit,/ For I am sick when I do look on thee.² Helena: ³And I am sick when I look not on you.² (Act II, sc. i, lines 218-220) This piece of dialogue shows how much Demetrius is now in love with Hermia from just seeing her, and how disgusted he feels when he looks upon Helena who he used to care about. Helena is simply just expressing how much she is love with Demetrius and how bad she feels that he is treating her in such a manner of hatred.
The play shows how the ideal relationship is that in which the affections and the reasonable mind are both in harmony. At the start of the play, both Demetrius and Helena are clearly at fault. Demetrius has allowed his love for Helena to abate; she, by fawning on him, is guilty of doting, which exacerbates his dislike. An honourable man would stand by his promise and try to re-discover his love for Helena, and it is this which draws Lysander's taunt that Demetrius is "spotted and inconstant". In time, perhaps, Demetrius might reconsider Helena's merits, but in the brief ti...