Ashley Billings
Mrs. Akin
English 102
23 April 2015
“Contrasting Helena and Hermia”
In Shakespeare’s play, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” there are two very interesting female characters. Hermia is beautiful, and is able to easily get men’s attention, even if she is not trying. Hermia is also very confident and wants everything to go her way. She loves Lysander and no one is going to keep them from being together. Helena, on the other hand, has to work hard for anyone to notice her. She is easily made jealous and is sometimes naive. She loves Demetrius, even though he wants to marry Hermia. While Helena and Hermia are best friends, these differences are bound to cause problems between the pair!
The two girls look nothing alike. Even though Helena is thought to be just a fair as Hermia “throughout Athens,” Hermia is the one who gets all of the attention from men. According to Helena, Hermia has “blessed and attractive eyes,” which are much prettier then hers. Hermia’s eyes are also full of stars and her voice is sweet. Hermia is also considerably shorter then Helena. Helena is much taller than Hermia. She is also blessed with a strange kind of beauty. She feels as though she is not as attractive as Hermia. Her eyes are not as pretty, her voice is not as sweet, and she is much too tall. All these things make her different then Hermia.
Hermia is in love with Lysander. She is going to marry him no matter what. She does not care that she may be killed for marrying him, or even thrown into a convent. She even plans to run off and elope with Lysander against her father’s wishes. Helena desperately wants Demetrius to notice her. She