by Christine Valle (Blogging Circle 5)
In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare writes of a society where male dominance is the gender norm. One thing that sticks out to me in the play is how some women go against this norm by making their own decisions and not giving up on them. In particular, Helena is one woman who rejects the gender norm of the men being the pursuers of women. She states at the end of a discussion with Demetrius, “Your wrongs do set a scandal on my sex. We cannot fight for love as men may do; We should be wooed and were not made to woo” (2.1.240-242).” In this society, men are the ones who must go after the women they want or the women whose fathers give their daughters to the men they like, while the women are supposed to keep to themselves and wait for a man to show interest in them.
Helena is in love with Demetrius, however Demetrius is disgusted by Helena and is in love with Hermia. Helena is the one who follows Demetrius around and claims to love him for the cruel way he treats and speaks to her. The more Demetrius shows his disinterest in her, the stronger she loves him. She proves she is a person who values a man that does not respect her in any sort of way and she would do anything for such a man who sees her as nothing more than an annoyance. She is holding on to the time way back where he did in fact love her and promised to be with her forever. However, once he sees the beautiful Hermia, that all changes and he leaves Helena, only to now think of her as a disturbance.
Demetrius points out to her that he doesn’t ask her to follow him, he doesn’t speak to her kindly, and that he tells her he does not love her. Yet, she tells him that those things only make her love him even more (2.1.199-202). What kind of self-worth does that show she has, if any, by chasing after a man who does not want her? It not only goes against the gender norm of who should pursue who, but it emphasizes that she is degrading herself by specifically chasing a man who does not find her to be deserving of his love.
She even goes as far to compare herself to a pet, “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. What worser place can I beg in your love-And yet a place of high respect with me-Than to be uséd as you use your dog?” (2.1.203-210). Someone who pursues another person at least thinks of themselves as worthy enough to captivate the person of interest. A pursuer is more than likely reassured that they are a good romantic candidate. They might even possibly think that they are better than the person they are pursing. Helena not only believes she is not good enough for Demetrius, but tells him to treat her less than he would a woman but as a pet that you could kick around and abuse. Being treated as a neglected pet is an honor to Helena because at least then, she would in some way be in his possession. She puts Demetrius on a high pedestal of importance in her eyes and she doesn’t seem to care about her self-worth.
You make excellent observations about Helena rejecting the gender norm and treating herself as unworthy of Demetrius’s love, while accepting herself as worthy of being treated as his dog. Similarly, Oberon wants to intoxicate Titania with the love-juice, and says, “[b]e it on lion, bear, or wolf, or bull, / [o]n meddling monkey, or on busy ape… / [s]he shall pursue it with the soul of love” (2.1.180-82). There’s this idea that animals are lower than man, and that animals are meant for sport and beating. In my own experiences, I remember talking with my friend who’s a pastor-in-training about similar religious subjects. He told me that God put animals on Earth for the amusement of men. Is Shakespeare playing with this idea? In other words, does A Midsummer Night’s Dream advocate the society where men are empowered over women and animals by the will of God? Mind you, I’m unsure of where I stand religiously, but this occurrence in my life comes to mind and seems relevant to the point you’re making. It’s almost like Helena is accepting herself as nothing more than this animal in this society. Moreover, Helena follows Demetrius around like the faithful dog following its master. Again, great observations about Helena rejecting the status quo and treating herself as unworthy, while continuing to pursue Demetrius who doesn’t love her.
I find your analysis of Helena’s character as a whole to be similar to mine, in the sense that she does, in fact go against the set gender norms of her time. It is by accident or on purpose that Shakespeare writes Helena to be a hopeless woman who is enamored with a man who cannot stand her, yet, she is relentless in letting him know of her love for him? Perhaps not. Personally, I feel as though Shakespeare was ahead of his time and wanted to encourage his audience to expand their understanding of male and female. Also, I feel as though Shakespeare liked to be slightly controversial and wanted to include some element that the audience would quack at, and so this is why Helena is who she is.
It is quite interesting that Helena, who is quite forward about her love for Demetrius thinks that she is unworthy of his love and compares herself to being his spaniel. Is this Shakespeare’s way in not upsetting his audience too much? I just feel that this is a step back. Helena seems to be projecting a modern woman stance in being open about the one she loves, but then she cowards and makes herself believe that she is not worthy. I almost find this to be a bit contradicting, surely it may seem far fetched but in my interpretation and exposure to the text that is the assumption I have come to.
We both shared similar ideas about Helena in regards to the fact that she defies gender norms. I particularly like your quote, “Your wrongs do set a scandal on my sex. We cannot fight for love as men may do.” It plainly shows that Helena is assuming a male role and pursuing someone she loves. All your points about Helena having low self esteem and self worth were quite valid. You said it best, the woman would rather be abused as Demetrius’s lapdog, than not be with him at all.
Your examination of Helena and her behavior is very interesting; I noticed her as a character who defied the gender norm of “man pursues woman” by pursuing Demetrius, but it didn’t occur to me while or after reading that by doing so, she was completely degrading herself. Someone’s post in my blog group mentioned how her self-worth was obviously low, citing the scene where she did not believe either Lysander or Demetrius when they (though in an intoxicated state due to the flower/potion) confessed their love for her–she thought that they had to be mocking her, and that Hermia had to be involved. The fact that she puts Demetrius on such a pedestal and does not care at all that he does not want to be with her, and continues to essentially stalk him anyway. Like you mentioned, she compares herself to a dog and wants to be treated as such if it means that Demetrius is at least paying attention to her. He literally says, “Tempt not too much the hatred of my spirit, / For I am sick when I do look on thee” (2.1.211-212) and her only response is to say she wants to continue to look on him. She seems to have no respect for herself at all.
I like that you point out the different types of females in the play. Specifically, Helena and Hermia are both type very different yet dynamic characters. Hermia disobeys people that have higher power than her, such as Theseus and Egeus (her father) just to be with a man she loves and actually wants (Lysander) rather than settling for the man that her father chose for her to marry (Demetrius). Which according to Athenian Law, she must obey and follow and despite this, she rejects the orders and even talks back to the people who have the power to kill her all for a man she loves. On the opposite end of the spectrum, you have Hermia. She is blindly following around a man that evidently wants nothing to do with her yet she does it anyway, seemingly showing absolutely no respect for herself in the process. Hermia is like a dog (“spaniel”) following around Demetrius and he doesn’t seem to care about her love and infatuation, rather just about himself. These two types of females show both power and a lack of. I feel as if Shakespeare did this at the time to please everyone and to not offend the audience too much; If a female held too much power the men may be too upset, and if a female did not hold enough power or held and offendingly low amount of power they might be upset as well.
Your analysis of Helena’s behavior is spot on, and your comments regarding how she values herself is particularly interesting when placed in context with the book’s flipping of gender roles. As you stated, it’s fascinating, almost impressive at first, how Helena is determined to win Demetrius’s affection. However, as you outlined in the post, her ambition quickly turns from being bold to feeling very pathetic. This shift forces one to re-think Helena’s role as a feminist character. While Helena may have come off as strong willed and confident because of her straightforward perusal of Demetrius, at the end of the day, she sacrificed her self-worth and looked foolish. This being said, perhaps this is Shakespeare speaking to the problematic nature of women seeking validation and estimation of their value from men.