A Midsummer Night’s Dream -

The Lovers - Part I -

I. Who are the Lovers?

The Lovers are a set of four different characters whose foray into the woods is the focus of play’s plot and much of the confusion as well. There are two women and two men: Hermia, Helena, Demetrius and Lysander. At the start of the play Hermia and Lysander are very much in love, however Hermia’s father Egeus wants her to marry another man: Demetrius. Hermia does not want this and prefers to marry Lysander, and after Theseus decrees that it must be so, Hermia and Lysander run away into the woods to find a way to be together. Meanwhile Helena is in love with Demetrius however her love is unrequited. When Hermia finds out from Hermia and that she and Lysander will run away into the woods, Helena plots to tell Demetrius of Hermia’s plan so that Demetrius will look favourably on her. This means that all four lovers end up in the woods by Act 2.

Whilst in the woods, the mortal couples are subject to the whims of Oberon who believes he is being helpful in trying to aid love when he sees Helena chasing after Demetrius in the woods. He instructs his servant Puck to place love juice on Demetrius’ eyes so that when he awakes, he will

fall in love with Helena. However Puck mistakes Demetrius for Lysander and places the love juice on Lysander’s eyes instead. When Lysander awakes, he sees Hermia and falls in love with her. Meanwhile, Puck has been instructed to place the love juice on Demetrius’ eyes so that the mistake will be corrected. This means by Act 3, both men now love Helena whilst Hermia is subject to their cruel taunts and is wholly confused as to what is happening. In Act 3 Scene 2, Hermia and Helena have a comical fight as Helena believes that all parties are mocking her, and Hermia believes that Helena has tricked the men into falling in love with her.

Happily for the couples and the audience, Oberon instructs Puck to correct his mistake and the latter places the antidote on Lysander’s eyes meaning that when he awakes again, he is back in love with Hermia. The love juice is left on Demetrius’ eyes which means he is still under the spell for the remainder of the play. In Act 4 Scene 1, when Theseus finds the couples asleep on the ground, he decrees that they may marry whoever they wish and in Act 5, we see that symmetry and harmony has been restored as the couples have been married.

II. Context

It seems that Shakespeare created the lovers himself although their names are from the classical period. Furthermore, their plotline is loosely based on of the stories from Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales. Furthermore, rather than the play being set in the midst of the Elizabethan era when the play was first performed, the lovers are from Athens in Ancient Greece and therefore show reverence to the Greek gods.

III. What do critics say?

Just like the other characters, there has been a great deal of criticism over time regarding the characters of the lovers. Jan Kott (1961) sees the lovers aslacking individual characterisation and thinks the play is ‘based on complete interchangeability of love partners’ whilst Shirley Nelson Garner argues that in Act 3 Scene 2, Helena and Hermia are drawn into a ‘demeaning quarrel and come closer to physical combat than any other female characters in Shakespeare’s plays’. She points out that in Act 4, when they awake, there is ‘no explicit reconciliation’ between the two meaning that their bond remains broken and that this means that patriarchal hierarchy is restored at the end of the play.

Further reading:

Nicholas Tredell ,Shakespeare A Midsummer Night’s Dream- A reader’s guide to essential criticism,Palgrave Macmillan, 2010, pages 68, 89

IV. Analysis

1. Act 1 Scene 1

We first meet the lovers in Act 1 scene 1 in the Theseus’ court in Athens. Hermia’s father Egeus has brought her to Theseus accompanied by Demetrius and Lysander as he wants her to marry the former, and she wants to marry the latter. We see the character of Hermia putting forth her ideas and showing a strong will in this scene as she stands up to her father and Theseus. Her father says that Lysander hath ‘bewitched the bosom of my child’ and implies that he has cunningly ‘filch’d my daughter’s heart’. Disapproving fathers are common in other Shakespeare

plays for example ‘Othello’ where Brabantio- Desdemona’s father, believes that his daughter has been tricked into loving Othello through witchcraft.

Egeus does not seem concerned with his daughter’s happiness; rather he is most upset that she does not concede to his will. He says: ‘I beg the ancient privilege of Athens;/As she is mine, I may dispose of her’. This is interesting as it exposes the patriarchal attitudes towards women in history. An Elizabethan audience would have expected Hermia to bow to her father’s will, but contrary to popular belief nowadays, they did not believe or condone in forced marriages either.

Hermia responds to Theseus with strong will as when he says to her: Demetrius is a worthy gentleman’, she immediately replies: ‘So is Lysander’. She even boldly states to Theseus: ‘I wish my father look’d but with my eyes’ to which he responds: ‘Rather your eyes must with his judgement look’. It appears she is locked in a power battle with Theseus here however he does retain the power as he tells her that she must make her decision to marry Demetrius or: ‘either to die the death, or to adjure/ For ever the society of men.’

We learn more about Demetrius in this scene too. We cannot tell for sure whether he truly loves Hermia or whether he sees her as a prize to be won and conquered. Demetrius says to Lysander: yield/Thy crazed title to my certain right.’ The use of the personal pronouns ‘my’ and the word ‘right’ here implies that he sees her a conquest rather than truly loving her like Lysander. We also find out from Lysander that Demetrius has ‘made love to Nedar’s daughter, Helena’. This means that he has courted her and won her heart. We are told by Lysander that the ‘sweet lady, dotes;/Devoutly dotes, dotes in idolatry,/Upon this spotted and inconstant man’. The word ‘inconstant’ here is particularly interesting as Lysander’s love will become ‘inconstant’ as the play progresses due to the love juice and it remains a theme throughout the play. Theseus however, does not care that Demetrius has this reputation even though he admits he has heard it. He leaves the scene decreeing that Hermia had better follow her father’s will. With this he leaves the stage accompanied by Hippolyta, Egeus and Demetrius.

At this point Hermia and Lysander are left alone on stage together contemplating their future. Lysander tells Hermia that: ‘the course of true love never did run smooth’ which has become one of Shakespeare’s most famous lines. Hermia and Lysander engage in stichomythia which is brief exchanges between two characters who each speak one line of verse. Interestingly, Hermia seems to be dominating the conversation however as she constantly interrupts Lysander, seen by the use of the dash at the end of the line:

Hermia: Oh cross! Too high to be entrall’d to low

Lynsander: Or else misgraffed in respect of years-

Hermia: O spite! Too old to be engag’d to young.

Lysander: Or else it stood upon the choice of friends-

Hermia: O hell, to choose love by another’s eyes!

The two lovers decide that the only way forward is to run away into the woods where ‘the sharp Athenian law/Cannot pursue us’. Lysander says ‘There will I stay for thee’ and on first glance, it appears that Hermia finishes the line in terms of iambic pentameter. However when we count the syllables in the line, it equates to 11 syllables rather than 10. This is known as a weak, or feminine ending. Perhaps Shakespeare does this to signify the magnitude of the couples’ decision to run away into the woods where they could potentially be met by danger. Hermia agrees to meet Lysander that evening when they are joined by Helena on stage.

The first impression the audience is given of Helena is that she is deeply unhappy and lovesick. She laments over the fact that Demetrius does not love her saying: ‘Your eyes are lodestars’ and ‘O teach me how you look, and with what art/ You sway the motion of Demetrius’ heart’. Hermia then proceeds to tell Helena that she does not understand why Demetrius loves her. Their conversation mirrors that of Lysander and Hermia’s earlier in the scene:

Hermia: ‘I frown upon him, yet he loves me still.

Helena: ‘O that your frowns would teach my smiles such skill!

To a modern audience, the character of Hermia seems obtuse here as she seemingly boasts that even though she does not love Lysander, he continues to follow her. Hermia then tells Helena not to worry and informs her about her plan to escape into the woods with Lysander: Take comfort he shall no more see my face; Lysander and myself will fly this place.’ She uses rhyming couplets for the majority for the whole speech, when before she was speaking in blank verse. This perhaps could signify that she and Lysander are about to enter the woods which is inhabited by the fairies who regularly speak in rhyming couplets or rhymed verse.

After Hermia and Lysander bid farewell to each other, Helena is left alone on stage. Apart from the character of Puck, this is one of the very few times another character performs a soliloquy on stage throughout the play. Hermia tells the audience that she will inform Demetrius of Lysander and Hermia’s plan so that he will look favourably on her as she is desperate for his attention. Perhaps the most important parts of Helena’s speech are the lines: ‘Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind,/And therefore is wing’d Cupid painted blind.’ This is very important because it shows the audience that Helena is fully aware that Demetrius is mistreating her. Here what she is saying is that she wishes that love could look upon its subject with objectivity rather than with the mind which convinces us to love. She leaves the scene saying: ‘But herein mean I to enrich my pain,/To have his sight thither and back again’ meaning that even though she knows it will cause her pain and upset, it is worth it to have one more glimpse of Demetrius.

Depending on how the character of Hermia is read, she can be seen as a pathetic character, or rather a character that fights for what she wants. Jan Kott argues that her soliloquy here ‘singles her out from the action of the play’. Either way it is evident from this that the confusion between the lovers will continue into the play.

2. Act 2 Scene 1

We first glimpse the lovers again in Act 2 Scene 1. Earlier in the scene we have seen Titania and Oberon who are King and Queen of the fairy world argue over a changeling child. We have also witnessed Oberon telling Puck that he will punish Titania for not submitting to his will. Oberon has seen Demetrius wandering in the woods followed by Helena and declares ‘I am invisible’; therefore he witnesses their entire exchange at the end of this scene.

It is clear that Demetrius does not hold any love for Helena as he seems desperate to escape her advances. His first line on stage at this point is: ‘I love thee not, therefore pursue me not,’ very clearly showing that he is only in the woods to find Hermia. We can therefore assume that Helena has informed him of Lysander and Hermia’s plan to run away into the woods to be together. Helena does not seem to fully understand his words, or perhaps she does not want to accept that he does not love her. She says: ‘You draw me you hard hearted adamant’ and ‘I am your spaniel; and Demetrius,/ The more you beat me I will fawn on you. Use me but as your spaniel: spurn me, strike me, Neglect me, lose me; Only give me leave/Unworthy as I am, to follow you’. To a modern, enlightened and feminist audience this is extremely shocking as it appears as though Helena is degrading herself by begging Demetrius to love her. However an Elizabethan audience would have actually found this part of the comedy in the play. This is because in the tradition of courtly love, with which the Elizabethan audience were familiar, it was customary for the man to chase after the woman, and the woman to be a distant figure who constantly spurned the man’s advances. This means that Helena is acting more like the man in this scene which would have be considered funny. However critic Jan Kott sees this scene as particularly cruel and this metaphor particularly violent as he sees it as sadomasochistic.

Demetrius remains completely unmoved by this speech from Helena and cruelly tells her: ‘I am sick when I look on thee.’ He even subtly threatens to rape her by saying: ‘You do impeach your modesty too much…to commit yourself/Into the hands of one who loves you not;/To trust the opportunity of the night… With the rich worth of your virginity.’ Interestingly although it seems

as though Helena does respond to Demetrius, she is not listening to him. She invokes stories of the Greek Gods and says she will chase Demetrius like ‘Apollo flies; and Daphne holds the chase, The dove pursues the griffin’, implying that she sees their relationship in terms of a quest or conquest. Their exchange ends with Helena saying: ‘We should be woo’d, and were not made to woo’. This is very interesting as again, just like in Act 1 Scene 1, she shows an awareness that she is being mistreated by Demetrius. Demetrius runs away at this point, and just before she leaves to chase him, she says: ‘I’ll follow thee and make a heaven out of hell,/To die upon the hand I love so well’. This rhyming couplet again could signify that the couple are in the woods, away from civilisation and in a different setting where anything could happen.

It is at this moment that Oberon, who has witnessed the whole exchange, tells the audience that he will come to Helena’s aid by instructing Puck to place the love juice on Demetrius’ eyes so that he will fall in love with her.

V. Summary –The lovers part 1

Key points to remember:

1) The Lovers are a set of four aristocratic mortals: Hermia and Helena and Demetrius and Lysander. 2) At the start of the play Hermia’s father Egeus wants her to marry Demetrius but she wants to marry Lysander instead. 3) Theseus tells Hermia that her choice is to marry Demetrius or be sent to a convent away from society for the remainder of her years. 4) Hermia and Lysander are equals in terms of power at the start of the play. In fact, it could be argued that Hermia actually has more power. 5) When we first meet Helena, she seems particularly love sick, so much so that a modern audience may view her as a weak character without much self-respect.

6) This continues into Act 2 Scene 1 where we see Helena imploring Demetrius to treat her like a spaniel and use her for this own pleasure. 7) Jan Kott and many other critics have argued that The Lovers lack individual characterisation and are interchangeable as they constantly swap love partners. 8) The Lovers foray in the woods would actually have been shocking for an Elizabethan audience who would have recognised that the couples could come to harm. 9) Much of the comedy in Act 2 Scene 1 comes from the fact that Helena is chasing Demetrius which inverts the courtly love tradition which an Elizabethan audience would have been familiar with. 10) Oberon is watching the exchange between Helena and Demetrius in the woods and it is at this point in the play that he instructs Puck to put the love juice on Demetrius’ eyes as he believes that he is helping Helena.

Personal Assessment

(Some questions may have more than one correct answer)

1) What are the male lovers in the play called?

a) Lysander

b) Bottom

c) Demetrius

d)Oberon

2) What are the female lovers in the play called?

a) Titania

b) Hippolyta

c)Hermia

d) Helena

3) Who does Hermia’s father Egeus want her to marry?

a) Lysander

b) Theseus

c) Demetrius

d) Oberon

4) How do we know that Hermia and Lysander seem to have equal amounts of power in Act 1 Scene 2?

a) She interrupts his lines

b) Their exchange is in the form of stichomythia

c) He listens to her

d) She stands up to her father and Theseus

5) Why does Helena want to tell Demetrius of Hermia and Lysander’s plans?

a) She hates Hermia and Lysander

b) She loves Lysander and wants to stop the couple being together.

c)She is a mean person

d) She thinks it will make Demetrius like her and appreciate her more

6) What is different about Helena’s lines at the end of Act 1 Scene 1

a) She uses rhyming couplets

b) She uses blank verse

c) She uses prose

d) She mimes

7) What does Helena mean by ‘we should be woo’d and were not made to woo’?

a) That she is enjoying wooing Demetrius

b) That Demetrius should be wooing her

c) That she cannot woo Demetrius like a man would woo a woman

d) That she wants Demetrius to love Hermia more.

8) What animal does Helena tell Demetrius he can treat her like?

a) a sheep

b) a donkey

c) a bear

d) a spaniel

9) Who is listening to Demetrius and Helena’s exchange?

a) Oberon

b) Bottom

c) Lysander

d) Titania

10) Why is this important?

a) The audience can see that Helena and Demetrius are made for each other

b) It’s fun for the audience to watch

c) It makes the audience laugh

d) Oberon’s interference asking Puck to place the love juice on Demetrius’ eyes begins the confusion between the lovers as Puck places the love juice on the wrong man’s eyes.

Answers

1) A, C

2) C, D

3) C

4) A, B

5) D

6) A

7) B, C

8) D

9) A

10) D