Helena And Demetrius

This sample essay on Helena And Demetrius reveals arguments and important aspects of this topic. Read this essay’s introduction, body paragraphs and the conclusion below.

Just as planned Titania wakes from her ‘flowery bed’. As Oberon had hoped she sees Bottom. As well as being a mortal he also has an ass on his head from a trick previously played on him by Puck. On waking Titania states, ‘On the first view to say, to swear, I love thee. ‘ The potion works and Titania instantly falls in love with Bottom.

Bottom is obviously shocked by this and responds in a naturally somewhat confused manner, ‘Methinks, mistress, you should have little reason for that. And yet, to say the truth, reason and love keep little company together.

‘ Bottom explains that if you are in love then you lack reason and only see what you want. We have already heard this from Helena, ‘Nor hath love’s mind of any judgement taste.

‘ Shakespeare echoes this point because the relationships in the play all have the problem of the characters only seeing what they want to in a person and not what they are really like. Bottom thinks that the queen of the fairies is not likely to fall in love with someone like him however he, like the others, does not know about the potion, unlike the audience who are always one step ahead.

Midsummer Night’s Dream Demetrius And Helena

It was considered an insult to fall in love with a mortal and a beast.

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It is bad enough for Titania being in love with one let alone both, but for Oberon it has turned ‘out better than I could devise. ‘ This is extremely satisfying for Oberon to see his wife in love with a mortal and a beast. Later on in the play we see a different side to Oberon. He sees his wife lying with Bottom, as they are in love, and his emotions change, ‘Her dotage now I do begin to pity. ‘ He feels sorry for Titania and we recognise his guilt creeping in as he realises what he has done to her, ‘And now I have the boy, I will undo.

‘ She has given him the boy so realises it is time to remove the potion from her. Oberon sees this as if he has won the argument by getting revenge but to the audience he is very childish and this represents how deceitful he is. Bottom will think it has all been a ‘Dream’ so he will not have any feelings for Titania. To set up the mistakes that occur when trying to re-unite the other relationships Shakespeare shows his skill as a writer. When Lysander and Hermia are in the woods, just about to go to sleep, Lysander wants to rest next to Hermia, ‘One heart, one bed, two bosoms, and one troth.

‘ Although they are going to get married and are very happy together, Hermia does not want to sleep with Lysander and tells him to ‘not lie so near. ‘ This is because she has high morals, which say that she cannot sleep with him until they are married. Shakespeare cleverly uses her morals to split them apart which then sets up the mistake. This seems a touch ironic because Hermia disobeyed her morals when she ran away with Lysander and the audience may think that there is no point in following her morals as she has already broken them.

Puck, the onlooker, sees this as a couple who have had an argument and therefore thinks Lysander is Demetrius because he is sleeping away from Helena. When Puck realises his mistake after putting the juice onto the wrong person’s eyes he explains to Oberon that he genuinely did not know, ‘Did you not tell me I should know the man / By the Athenian garments he had on? ‘ Although Puck is a very mischievous character and Oberon thinks he is up to his old tricks, he genuinely didn’t realise his error; the two men, Lysander and Demetrius, were both wearing similar clothes.

The audience know this and are once again kept one step ahead of the characters. As we know the first person Lysander sees will be the one he falls in love with and obviously it is not going to turn out all happily at this point. Helena stumbles across Lysander and queries his existence, ‘Dead, or asleep? ‘ Because he is lying there so still, Helena thinks he might be dead but she sees ‘no blood’ and ‘no wound’. Lysander then wakes up and glances upon Helena, claiming, ‘And run through fire I will for thy sake! ‘ Lysander once again is prepared to put his life on the line for a woman, but this time it is Helena.

This shows the contemporary relevance that occurs today. People still commit suicide and commit crimes of passion when in love, especially when it is not running smoothly. Helena is obviously confused about the situation because she has no clue that they are under a spell. Lysander compares Helena to a dove: ‘Who will not change a raven for a dove? ‘ He is metaphorically saying that she is perfect and pure. The use of a metaphor emphasises Lysander’s’ feelings towards Helena. The use of the word ‘raven’ is also significant since a raven was once known as a bird of bad omen.

We now find out what Hermia thinks of this. Upon waking she calls for Lysander because she has had a horrible dream. ‘Lysander! What, removed? ‘ She questions where he has gone because he has not said anything to her that he has left or gone somewhere, ‘If thou hast slain Lysander in his sleep’. In a panic she automatically thinks Demetrius has murdered him. He responds with, ‘So should the murdered look, and so should I. ‘ Demetrius melodramatically claims that Hermia has killed him because she doesn’t love him back and has broken his heart.

However he does reassure Hermia explaining that Lysander is not dead and bribes her to give him something if he tells her where he is. Oberon realises the mistake Puck has caused and tries to correct it. He squeezes the juice onto Demetrius’ eyes so that he will fall in love with Helena, which is what she would want, as she loves him, and their relationship would be running smoothly. As the story gets nearer the end Demetrius does fall in love with Helena and when he awakes he compares her to a goddess.

‘O Helen, goddess, nymph, perfect, divine! ‘ He emphasises how perfect she now is and it seems strange that only a few minutes ago he was saying how much he hated her. Shakespeare uses the metaphors ‘kissing cherries’ and ‘pure congealed white. ‘ He wants to kiss her and emphasises the colour of the lips. He also illustrates that her complexion is like snow and at the time the play was written you were only pretty if you were white. This exaggerated language is amusing for the audience since we are aware of the magic that is involved.

We would expect Helena to be delighted that Demetrius now loves her, but she doesn’t agree, ‘O spite! O hell! I see you all are bent / To set against me for your merriment. ‘ Although both men are in love with her, love is still not running smoothly for her because she thinks they are playing a trick on her. Both men come across as desperate and try to win Helena’s love in many different ways. They explain they will die for her and it nearly results in the friendship between Hermia and Helena being destroyed. The change of mood is marked with the characters now speaking in blank verse.

Helena believes Hermia is in with the joke and explains how their friendship must mean nothing to her, ‘The sisters’ vows, the hours that we have spent. ‘ Helena thinks Hermia should be supporting her because they have been friends for so long and this is also emphasised by the comparison to sisters, ‘To join with men in scorning your poor friend. ‘ Their friendship is almost ruined now, because Helena believes her best friend has chosen to make a mockery out of her with both Lysander and Demetrius. This shows the audience that when love is not running smoothly friendships can be broken.

Eventually all is corrected, with more magic and intervention. Lysander has the potion put on his eyes again so that he will fall in love with Hermia and the relationships will be sorted. Once this is done, at last, love will be running smoothly in the relationships. As we reach the end of the fairy’s role in the play Titania and Oberon are re-united and harmony is restored for the couple. The happy ending for this relationship is important as the play is a comedy and needs a ‘happy ending’. The argument between Titania and Oberon is also resolved so the seasons are back to normal.

Love is now running smoothly for them, ‘Come my queen, take hands with me. ‘ They begin to dance and their relationship has a happy ending, however their marriage is not going to change. They are still both strong characters and we have not seen any sign that in the future they will compromise when in an argument. The audience are therefore left to wonder how many more arguments they are going to have and the circumstances of them. I think that we also speculate what Titania will do if she finds out what Oberon did to her.

By the end of Act 4, Scene 1 we encounter true love running smoothly for the first time with all the characters, ‘And bless it to all fair prosperity. ‘ Titania and Oberon give their blessing to the re-united couples and everyone is married. This is to end the story on a happy note, and is important in the play. The audience will be happy that the seasons are back to normal and therefore Shakespeare ends the play with a traditional ‘fairy tale’ conclusion, where everyone lives happily ever after. Shakespeare also makes the ending feel like a dream, ‘No more yielding but a dream.

‘ Puck has the last speech in the play and explains how it was all a dream. This has been said before when Titania was woken after being in love with Bottom, ‘But as the fierce vexation of a dream. ‘ Oberon made it feel like it never happened and she had never been in love with Bottom. Throughout the story the theme is mainly about love not running smoothly and this is reflected in the sub plot. The play within the play is about two particular characters, Pyramus and Thisbe. They declare their love for each other and agree to meet at ‘Ninny’s tomb’, but as Thisbee arrives at the tomb she is scared off by a lion.

Pyramus enters full of expectation but sees Thisbe’s bloodstained mantle and immediately claims, ‘Thus die I. ‘ He irrationally stabs himself but the audience are one step ahead of the characters and knows that Thisbe is not actually dead. When Thisbee finds the body of Pyramus she does the same and kills herself. This shows one of the extremes of what love can cause you to do when it does not run smoothly and the other characters in ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ all echo this when Lysander, Theseus and Demetrius claim that they will die for the woman they are in love with.

In conclusion, I think Shakespeare balanced this romantic fantasy with the rough humour of Bottom and his friends. Shakespeare also transports the audience from reality to the magical wood of the fairies and involves them in the play. I hope to have shown how Lysander’s claim that ‘true love never did run smooth’ is supported by other events and I think it is clear that love can make people do many irrational things when it does not run smoothly. Theseus and Hippolyta show us that love can run smoothly in the end but each relationship has its problem.

Hermia, Lysander, Demetrius and Helena all reflect the idea of love not running smoothly and show what being in love can make you do. The play remains popular today due to the contemporary relevance of so many of the themes which Shakespeare included and he presents the idea that love is unpredictable and can cause great confusion. Love is something that cannot be explained but only experienced and Shakespeare leaves us to develop our own idea of what love really is.