A Midsummer Night's Dream
Christina R, Cassidy H, Jacob W, and Thomas S
Act 3,Scene 2, MND III.ii. 305-344
The scene starts in the forest when Hermia discovers that Lysander is head over heals for Helena(due to a love potion). Shortly after, the two girls break out into a fight over the dispute of who loves who. Hermia suspects that Helena "stole" Lysander from her. The scene ends with Helena losing her trust in Hermia, and Lysander and Demetrius ready to kill each other.
Important Quote
"A foolish heart that I leave here behind."MND III.ii.319. This quote is important because it is the foreshadow for the rest of the scene and the take off point for the rest of the story. In this excerpt it explains how Helena is leaving her love for Demetrius behind her. Although, you can also look at it as a hint to Helena leaving Hermia behind her in the end, and letting go of their friendship together.
Helena
- Helena is the girl who always seems to be left out and never can find love.
- Helena is significant because she is the girl who Lysander ends up falling in love with from the love spell,which leads to the fight between Hermia and Helena.
- Helena's main conflict is that she loves Demetrius, yet he does not love her back.
Hermia
- Hermia is the daughter of her rich father who wants her to marry Demtrius. Although Hermis has no interest in Demetrius since her heart is all for Lysander.
- Hermia is significant since she starts the fight over Lysander with Helena, and ruines the friendship she has with her.
- Hermia is encountered with two conflicts. First, her dad wants her to marry someone she dislikes and two her true love falls madly in love with her best friend who ends up hating her.
Lysander
- Lysander is the gentlemen that is in love with Hermia and who love him back. Although after Puck puts a love potion over him he soon falls head over heals for Helena.
- Lysander is significant since he is Hermia's true love. Unfortunately though, yet ends up falling in love with Helena, and destroying his relation with Hermia and breaking her heart.
- Lysander has two conflicts also, the first one is that the girl he originally wants to marry, Hermia, is not allowed to because of her father's rules. Second, he falls in love with another girl and is so love blinded by the spell that he doesn't even remember ever loving Hermia.
Demetrius
- Demetrius is the man who is favored by Hermia's dad and forced to marry her. Although, Demetrius does not find it as a bad thing since he would be marring into money.
- Demetrius is significant because he affects Hermia's love life and is the world to Helena.
- Demetrius is constantly being chased by Helena and his "love" for Hermia and her money is ignored and he is constantly rejected.
Theme
One of the overall messages in this story is to not be blinded by love. Hermia, Helena, and Lysander all acted like fools because of their love for each other. For instance, Hermia started fighting with Helena over Lysander, and ruined their friendship with each other because she was so worried about her "true love" with another girl. Moreover, the most apperant example would be Lysander and the love spell. Lysander was blinded by his "love" for Helena that he totally forgot about someone who truly loved him, Hermia, and didn't see the true personality of Helena.