First, Helena is jealous of Hermia because Helena's betrothed, Demetrius, is in love with her. She wishes Demetrius would see in her what he sees in Hermia, and she complains about this at some length.
Obsessed over Demetrius, Helena's character emphasizes the capriciousness of love and its excesses. Even though she knows she is making a fool of herself by pursuing Demetrius, Helena cannot stop the chase.
Helena is a young woman in Athens. She is in love with Demetrius but he is not in love with her. Instead, he loves her best friend Hermia. As a way of convincing Demetrius to love her, Helena tells him about Hermia's plan to run away with Lysander and together they go into the forest to find her.
Puck has just introduced what is happening, and he has set the scene for the feud between the Titania and “her jealous Oberon – the king of the fairies. These two have fallen out over a changeling boy that Oberon “wants for his henchman”, but Titania will not surrender him.
Hermia and Helena have enjoyed a close friendship since they were young, but recently their friendship has come under strain due to their entanglement in a knot of desire and jealousy.
Lesson Summary
First, Helena is jealous of Hermia because Helena's betrothed, Demetrius, is in love with her. She wishes Demetrius would see in her what he sees in Hermia, and she complains about this at some length.
HELENA (Act I, Scene 1- jealous of her good friend, Hermia) Call you me fair? that fair again unsay. Demetrius loves your fair: O happy fair! Your eyes are lode-stars; and your tongue's sweet air More tuneable than lark to shepherd's ear, When wheat is green, when hawthorn buds appear.
Helena is jealous because both Lysander and Demetrius love Hermia. Her jealousy hurts her because it makes her selfish wanting Demetrius more. Considering this, Helena also has problems trusting others. Helena does not believe that Hermia will let her have Demetrius.
She says, “Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind,” believing that Demetrius has built up a fantastic notion of Hermia's beauty that prevents him from recognizing Helena's own beauty (I.i.234).
Helena becomes angry with Hermia because she is stealing Demetrius from her. She refuses to believe it because Hermia loves Lysander, not Demtrius.
Of what does Helena accuse Hermia? Helena accuses Hermia of being apart of the "game" being played by Lysander and Demetrius. The "game" is that Lysander and Demetrius supposedly love her.
Demetrius was originally Helena's suitor but he abandoned her when he was given the chance to marry her friend Hermia.
She complains that she is afraid of the dark, but he nonetheless storms off without her. Saying that she is out of breath, Helena remains behind, bemoaning her unrequited love. She sees the sleeping Lysander and wakes him up. The potion takes effect, and Lysander falls deeply in love with Helena.
The marriage of Princess Helena with Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein took place in the Private Chapel at Windsor Castle.
The more you beat me, I will fawn on you. Use me but as your spaniel—spurn me, strike me, Neglect me, lose me.
Helena begins dating one of her clients, Dylan Moreland (see the characters section on supporting characters), but the return of the aggressive Helena I grew to love gets her into a sexual harassment suit. She is then completely cut off financially by her mother.
Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind. Helena utters these lines as she comments on the irrational nature of love.
They did not have sex—in Demetrius and Helena's first conversation he clearly states she is a virgin, specifically that she shouldn't be out in the woods risking the loss of her virginity to rapists. Lysander says Demetrius "made love" to her, which at that time just meant charming someone.
Oberon sees Demetrius and Helena arguing and decides to help her by using the potion on Demetrius. Unfortunately, Puck mistakenly gives it to Lysander who then falls in love with Helena. Puck uses magic to turn Bottom's head into a Donkey head, while he is rehearsing in the forest.
Helena and Hermia are both said to be beautiful, but they look very different from one another. Helena is depicted as being noticeably taller than Hermia and having lighter colored skin and hair. Hermia is depicted as being of a darker complexion.
Helena plans to betray Hermia by turning her into a whore because if Demetrius finds her sleeping with Lysander, Demetrius will declare her unfaithful leaving Hermia as the only faithful woman left, and that will make him love her.
Hermia begins to suspect that Helena has somehow acted to steal Lysander's love from her, and she surmises that, because she is short and Helena is tall, Helena must have used her height to lure Lysander.
Physically, Hermia is short and dark, Helena tall and fair, but both are beautiful, at least according to Helena, who insists that she is just as fair as Hermia, and that her beauty is renowned throughout Athens.
Hermia comes across to Helena as angry and impulsive. Unlike Hermia, Helena deals with conflict in a much different and calm manner. After her big fight with Hermia she thinks to herself: “I have no gift at all in Shrewishness / I am a right maid for my cowardice” (3.2. 316-317).
In this same speech she explains the true nature of their friendship, reminding Hermia of the “counsel that [they] have shared”(3.2. 198). Continuing, the language of Helena changes. She compares their friendship to that of a natural thing—a stem of berries.