A Midsummer Night's Dream Research Paper

Midsummer Nights Dream essay
Blind love is common in todays society and culture. Shakespeare, a fifteenth century playwright, wrote “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” where four characters compete for with each other for love. One of the characters, Helena, is like the “fourth point in a triangle”, a love struck friend whose love interest is in love with her friend. Helena desperately loves Demetrius who constantly rejects her. She is the love-struck friend, desperately in love and is insecure about herself, this makes her persistent and foolish.
Helena is the character that no one loves, which makes her insecure and jealous. Throughout the play we see Helena thinks that Hermia is more beautiful than her and wishes that she could be like her. Hermia
is the love interest of both Lysander and Demetrius in the play. Helena is always insecure about her looks and thinks that’s she is not worth being loved. Demetrius had one flirted with her, since she was so insecure about herself she that she wanted Demetrius to continue loving her. For Helena, love is like a drug, once Demetrius made her think he loved her, she completely fell for him. Helena wants Demetrius to love her, but he loves Hermia, which makes Helena envy Hermia. She says “none, but your beauty: would that fault were mine” (1.1, 209) Helena says that Hermia is pretty and that she wishes that she could be like her. She is not comfortable with herself which makes her very easy to control, Demetrius had captured her heart and she wanted him to help her make her feel like she matters. Insecurity is able to harm a person’s life in more ways than one, for Helena it controls her emotions. she thinks that she is not pretty and is jealous of Hermia’s beauty, since she feels inferior to her. Helena She constantly feels lesser than others and it interferes her love life as she always thinks why she isn’t loved, and when she is actually loved, she thinks it was a lie.
HELENA: how came [Hermia’s] eyes so bright? Not with salt tear: if so my eyes are oftener washed than hers. No, no, I am as ugly as a bear; for beasts that meet me run away for fear (2.2.92-95)

Due to Helena’s insecurities she is very persistent and completely devoted to Demetrius.
She is completely blinded by her affection that she ruins her relationships with her friends like Hermia. She knows that Demetrius does not love her but she constantly chases him. She is clingy and will not leave him, no matter what he does to the point were Demetrius is threatening her. Helena’s persistence has been ruining her life but she wont stop, she would have an amazing life if she could let Demetrius go. Persistence is a great thing to have, but to have persistence at the wrong things, can potentially harm a persons life. Helena’s persistence and devotion would have ruined her life if the love fairies had not helped her. Helena’s life falls to pieces as she prevents herself from moving on to other people. She knows that Demetrius refuses to love her and that he could harm her but she wont leave him. He says “I will not stay thy question, let me go” (2.1.235). This shows how rude Demetrius is, and this quote helps make the reader pity Helena for being in love with a man as rude and arrogant as Demetrius. Demetrius tells Helena time and time again how he will not love her but she can never seem to let him go. Her persistence is ruining her life as she only wants to love Demetrius which is stopping her from experiencing love from someone who actually loves
her.
DEMETRIUS: if thou follow me, do not believe but I shall do thee mischief in the woods HELENA: ay, in the temple, in the town, the field, you do me mischief. Fie, Demetrius! Your wrong do set a scandal on my sex: we cannot fight for love, as men do; we should be woo’d and were not made to woo

All of the other love struck characters in the play are fools in their own right but Helena is a different type of fool. None of the characters actually love her (without the help of fairies) which causes her to do incredibly foolish things. She is desperately in love with a man who is rude and arrogant. Throughout the play she is portrayed as the character who is completely blinded by love. She would do anything for Demetrius even if it means she gets harmed. She truly does not want to be hurt but she is so blinded by love that she makes bad decisions. Helena just wants to feel loved and she is such a fool for love that she is willing to get it from Demetrius, she is too persistent to let him go and to devoted to move onto someone else. After Demetrius rejects her she says “and even for that do I love you the more. I am your spaniel; and Demetrius, the more you beat me, I will fawn on you” (2.2.187-189). This quote shows the reader that Helena is a fool that does not make the best decisions. Helena really loves Demetrius and she would love him even if he beats her. She is showing the reader that she would do anything for Demetrius and that it would be a lot smarter to just leave him for another person who loves her. She decides to love a man who could not care less about her. If Helena was less foolish, she would be able to enjoy her life without the stress of trying to love someone who would not return the favor.
HELENA: your virtue is my privilege. For that it is not night when I do see your face. Therefore I think I am not in the night. Nor doth this wood lack worlds of company, for you in my respect are all the world. Then how can it be said I am alone when all the world is here to look on me
DEMETRIUS: I’ll run from thee and hide me in the brakes, and leave thee to the mercy of wild

Helena is the “4th point in a triangle”, she is left out of love and her only love interest loves her friend. She is one of the most “fleshed out” characters in the play as she is insecure, persistent and foolish. She is the character that nobody loves, she has to deal with her love interest not sharing the same feelings as her. Shakespeare was trying to illustrate how those who have love are fools, but those who are kept out of love are a different type of fool.