In A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare, four lovers find their way into quite the story. One of those lovers, named Helena, is characterized as desperate, jealous, disloyal, and self-depricating. She begs Demetrius, her love, to allow her to follow him even when he blatantly refuses and insults her . This shows how desperate she is for his affection. For example, she states, "The more you beat me I will fawn on you" displaying her longing for him (1.2.209-217). Also, she is constantly wishing she was as beautiful and loved as Hermia. For example, she says, "Happy is Hermia, wheresoe'er she lies for she hath blessèd and attractive eyes"(2.2.96-97). Additionally, Helena doesn't keep her promises even to Hermia, her best friend. For example, she tells Demetrius about Lysander and Hermia's plan to elope since she thinks in this way, she will gain Demetrius's love. Lastly, since Demetrius never accepts her, she constantly puts herself down. For example, she says, "I'm ugly as a bear for beasts that meet me run away for fear"(2.2.100-101). Helena's main objective is to receive Demetrius's love. She is so desperate for this that she follows him and does crazy things at all costs. Helena speaks in iambic pentameter, which means she is a part of the higher class. She often repeats the words, "Demetrius"and "love". For example, the sentence, "Love looks not with the eyes but with the mind" she uses the word love and speaks in iambic pentameter. Overall, although Helena seems like a shallow girl, she is just a poor, lovestruck maiden who doesn't know how to deal with her situation.
I really liked the quotes! However, I never really read Helena as disloyal. When Demetrius and Lysander fall in love with her due to the love-in-idleness, the first thing she does is ask Lysander abut Hermia. Maybe I'm just gullible and want to think she did that because she did not want her friend to get hurt, but I definitely saw some loyalty in Helena.
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ReplyDeleteYou answered all the questions pretty throughly, good job on not just doing the bare minumim on the amount of charactistic traits.
Liked how you included how Helena lied to Hermia about not telling Demetrius that she and Lysander where going to the forest, I forgot about that and it gives me a new light on Helena.
The analysis was through and thoughtful. I think you demonstrated Helena's personality accurately and the character summary was spot on with my view Helena. In addition, the claims were all supported in a well written manner. Good job!
ReplyDeleteI think you described the character of Helena very well. She is a desperate girl who lets her obsession with one boy control her life. I also agree she acts as a very jealous person and can not accept the fact that her lover loves someone else. I think she indeed does not know how to handle her situation at all. She needs to stop felling self-pity! Nice job!
ReplyDeleteI think that the analysis you portrayed was a very accurate one about Helena. The traits that you described fit well in the story. She is very wretched and does not know how to handle herself as a lady. Finally the examples from the book were spot on, good job.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what ben said. I also agree that Helena as Zach questioned can be analyzed as both loyal and disloyal depending on the way you read it. Thank you for demonstrating a different way of looking at Helena's personality.
DeleteYou explained every part of Hermia's character very well. I agree with you that she is completely desperate and will do any thing for Demetrius' love. I think that this was very well written and because of this paragraph, it is very easy to understand Hermia's character.
ReplyDeleteNice turn to her character. Your points were all supported and had nice explanations for each. This shows a whole different subtext to Helena's character. It's interesting!
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ReplyDeleteYour description of Helena was very interesting. It gave me a different perspective on her character. While I never saw Helena to be disloyal, I can understand how you could have. Your example was enough to slightly changed my perspective on Helena, which changes my perspective on the overall story.
ReplyDeleteI love you post. Liked how you really put forth that Helena was a jealous maiden. She is also a desperate girl jus wishing for some love. The way you gave your examples about her it was enjoyable to read.
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