As my blogs have been discussing for some time now, love seems to be the biggest theme in Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and has been depicted in several different manners throughout the play. In Act 3 Scene 2, Shakespeare reveals yet another side to the enigmatic thing we call love: confusion. Oberon and Puck cause Lysander to fall in love with Helena by placing Cupid's love juice in Lysander's eyes. Lysander completely discards his love for Hermia as shown in the passage when he speaks to Hermia:
"Lysander's love, that would not let him bide,
Fair Helena, who more engilds the night
Than all you fiery oes and eyes of light.
Why seek'st thou me? could not this make thee know,
The hate I bear thee made me leave thee so?
"
A man who had such intimate feelings for Hermia now cannot stand the very thought of her and has fallen deeply in love with Helena. The already complicated situation between the human characters becomes exponentially more confusing due to Lysander's behavioral change. Lysander's love seems to be blind and sudden to the characters causing them to think that he is playing a joke perhaps.
I think that Lysander's change in love for Helena displays a characteristic in Hermia that is prevalent in true love: loyalty. Even though Hermia watched the man she deeply loved tell her that he despised the person she is and he wished to love Helena, Hermia remains throughout the play to resolve the possible issues between her and Lysander rather than running away out of rage like many people would.
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