Helena In A Midsummer Night's Dream

William Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a collection of two different instances connected to each other by the portrayal of a dream. A Midsummer Night’s Dream connects the fairy world to the human world using several situations which depict a dreamy state. Many of the character in A Midsummer Night’s Dream reveal themselves to the audience without including their fellow characters. One character who is an example of this is Helena, many times she speaks in a soliloquy format. In Act I Scene I lines 232 - 257, Helena has a soliloquy where she furthers the plot of the play dramatically without any characters there to hear her. Some may say Helena’s speech is a monologue because it is a long speech, but it is a soliloquy due
Shakespeare creates a dramatic situation which portrays the theme of the book for further understanding of the dreamy play. “Love can transpose to form and dignity. Love looks not with the eyes but with the mind; And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind. Nor hath Love’s mind of any judgement taste . Wings, and no eyes, figure unheedy haste. And therefore is Love said to be a child Because in choice he is so oft beguiled. As waggish boys in game themselves forswear, So the boy Love is perjured every” (Line 239-247) These lines show Shakespeare personifying Love through Helena’s character. He does this to add a connection to the readers to Helena. Love is being personified in many obvious ways one of them is it being written as a human name using an upper-case letter in the beginning instead of a lower-case letter as a verb or noun should be written. The word love is also being personified to be a human boy and then compared to cupid because she says if love had eyes it would be blind just like Cupid who is usually drawn blind. In addition Helena’s soliloquy extends the personification of the word love to then being compared to the human trait of being heedless and haste in decisions. Shakespeare extends this personification of the word love to show Helena’s idea of love to the
It is true that monologue and soliloquy are synonyms, but they have some different aspects. A monologue generally refers to a long speech, whilst a soliloquy refers to a long speech that no one else is around to hear, but it still furthers the plot of the play. Helena’s speech is identified as a soliloquy because she is alone saying her plans of plotting against her fellow characters. Shakespeare used this to allow the audience to understand what is going on but not allow the other characters to know. Helena’s soliloquy portrays an idea of love, a comparison of her relationship to nature, and also plots against other characters. Shakespeare used these literary elements for Helena’s soliloquy because he wanted the audience to be