A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a play written by William Shakespeare, about four young adults who are in a tangled web of love; Hermia, Lysander, Demetrius, and Helena. While Hermia and Lysander are in love with each other, Demetrius loves Hermia, and is approved by her father. Helena, who is in love with Demetrius, is a jealous and self-deprecating person. In the script, Helena says to Hermia: “Call you me fair? That fair again unsay. Demetrius loves your fair: O happy fair!” (Shakespeare 181-182). From this part of dialogue, we can infer that Helena is jealous of Hermia, because Hermia has Demetrius’ love. Helena knows Demetrius is in love with Hermia, therefore she admires Hermia’s ‘fairness’ and is jealous of her. We can also tell Helena is self-deprecating because she’s telling Hermia she isn’t ‘fair’. Helena thinks she was ‘less worthy’ of Demetrius than Hermia because Hermia was better than her. Later on in the script, Helena says to Hermia “O, teach me how you look, and with what art: You sway the motion of Demetrius’ heart.” (Shakespeare 193-194). Here we can tell that Helena is jealous of Hermia’s looks, wishes Demetrius loved her instead of Hermia. Helena clearly sees Hermia as a role model, so to get Demetrius to love her, she must be more like Hermia, as Demetrius loves Hermia’s ‘fair’. Finally, as Helena is talking to herself, she says: “Through Athens I am thought as fair as she. But what of that? Demetrius thinks not so.” (Shakespeare 227-228). Again, here is another example of Helena bringing herself down and thinking lowly of herself, as she is talking about how Demetrius doesn’t love her because she isn’t ‘fair’ enough. On top of that, she is also comparing looks with her best friend, Hermia. By trying to win over Demetrius’ heart, and seeing Hermia as a superior, Helena has low self-esteem, and is jealous of her best friend.

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