Whats the difference between Helena and Hermia from Act 1 and 2?
I’d honestly say that there isn’t much difference between them. Some Shakespeare analysts look at a Midsummer Night’s Dream as an example of a story with no psychologically realistic characters. The idea that characters need to act like real people is more of 20th century notion. In other words, a Midsummer Night’s Dream is more focused on Shakespeare’s ideas of dreams vs. reality rather than a study of characters. The fact is, Hermia and Helena, Lysander and Demetrius, they’re not all that different from each other! Apart from their names and who they like in the beginning, we could not tell them apart from their speech or dialogue. They have no personality or will power of their own, which is why they are almost always controlled by the love potion that puck sprinkles in their eyes. In the first act, Helena is the jealous one because both men love Hermia. Later on, (not sure if it’s the second act or not) Hermia is the jealous one, suggesting that the only thing that separates her fr
