In William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Hermia appears to be the strong woman, while Helena is seen as weak and easily dominated. In Gohlke's article, for example, "Helen's exaggerated submission to Demetrius" is described (151), thus expressing an opinion common to all literary criticism. My concern, however, is with the opposite side of the coin; Helena is actually a much stronger woman than she seems at first glance. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Our first introduction to Helena, the pale, tall, slender maiden, is quite in line with “the traditional emblem of boyish and desperate love” (Charlton 115) as she laments for Demetrius, her lost love. We quickly discover that Demetrius has begun to imagine himself in love with Hermia, Helena's best friend, a situation that brings much pain to Helena's heart, as is evident when he implores Hermia: "Oh, teach me what you look like; and with what art/ You make swing the motion of Demetrius' heart" (155, Act I, Scene I). The extremely desperate lover is played very convincingly here, but Helena's character is called into question before the scene ends. As Loeff says, "she [Helena] shows a certain measure of initiative when she betrays her best friend so that she can achieve her own ends" (72). In her wonderful character-revealing monologue at the conclusion of Scene I, Helena decides that I will go and tell him about the escape of the beautiful Hermia; then tomorrow night he will chase her into the woods; and for this intelligence, if I am grateful, it is a dear expense: but by this I mean to enrich my sorrow, to have its sight backwards and forwards (155, act I, scene I). ​​In these lines, we clearly see that Helena is perfectly capable of being her own woman, making her own decisions and taking control of her own life. While these actions are undertaken for the sake of romantic happiness, they are not at all in keeping with the pitiful little love-abandoned women we might have previously imagined Helena to be. This is a very bold action for the woman who earlier was complaining worried about "[h]ow happy can some people be!" (155, Act I, Scene I). By risking any future relationship of trust with the woman whose trust has been taken, Helena demonstrates that she is willing to take the risk of living in a state of complete and utter friendlessness for a chance to regain her "true love" . a later example of this same boldness comes in her confrontation with Hermia as the four lovers wander the woods, while, "with both men claiming to love her, she [Helena] becomes suspicious and suspects that they have cooked up a prank at her expense " (Quennell 121). Although she cannot understand any of the mysterious causes of these sudden infatuations, Helena takes another huge step in becoming an independent person when she essentially defies all three of her companions (Hermia, Demetrius, and Lysander) and runs away from her. own, uttering this final curse to Hermia:I will not trust you, nor will I remain any longer in your cursed company.Your hands are quicker than mine for a melee;My legs are longer, however, for escape (165 , Act III, Scene II). While she literally runs away from her friends and alone into the unknown, she figuratively leaves the dependent life she has led under the protection of her friends and enters the world of independent living. Leoff sums up this scene very well when he states that "[t]he abandonment of his initial role is a step towards an individual personality" (72). One last example., 1974.