# Helena — A Midsummer Night's Dream character guide

> Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** Helena Good Hermia, gentle Helena, This Helena, Helena of Athens, Helena Ay, Fair Helena, Helena So methinks, Helena Lo, Helena O

**First appearance:** 0001-act-i

## Snapshot

Athenian woman who loves a man who hates her, and chases him into the wood armed with information and self-loathing.

## Who they are

Helena opens the play comparing herself unfavorably to Hermia — 'I am as ugly as a bear' — and closes Act I deciding to betray her friend's escape for one more glimpse of Demetrius. Her pursuit of a man who spurns her is both comic and genuinely painful, and her long lament about love's blindness ('Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind') is the play's sharpest diagnosis of its own subject. She sets the chase in motion.

## Relationships

### [Demetrius](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_midsummer_nights_dream_se/characters/demetrius)

_romantic_

Demetrius is initially cruel to Helena but later, under the love potion, becomes obsessively devoted to her.

### [Hermia](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_midsummer_nights_dream_se/characters/hermia)

_friendship_

They are childhood friends who become bitter rivals over the affections of Lysander and Demetrius.

### [Lysander](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_midsummer_nights_dream_se/characters/lysander)

_romantic_

Lysander, under the love potion, briefly abandons Hermia to pursue Helena.

### [Oberon](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_midsummer_nights_dream_se/characters/oberon)

_psychological_

Oberon observes Helena's plight and orders Puck to help her, making him a manipulative benefactor.

### [Theseus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_midsummer_nights_dream_se/characters/theseus)

_social_

Helena is an Athenian subject of Theseus, present at his court.

## In the story

### [Scene I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_midsummer_nights_dream_se/chapters/act-i-scene-i)

Laments Demetrius's love for Hermia and decides to inform Demetrius of Hermia and Lysander's escape plan.

### [Scene I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_midsummer_nights_dream_se/chapters/act-ii-scene-i)

Desperately follows Demetrius, declaring her unwavering love even as he spurns her.

### [Scene II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_midsummer_nights_dream_se/chapters/act-ii-scene-ii)

Helena laments her ugliness compared to Hermia, discovers Lysander asleep, and is bewildered when Lysander awakens and declares his love for her, which she interprets as mockery.

### [Scene II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_midsummer_nights_dream_se/chapters/act-iii-scene-ii)

Believes Hermia, Lysander, and Demetrius are mocking her.

### [Scene I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_midsummer_nights_dream_se/chapters/act-iv-scene-i)

Wakes and finds Demetrius now devoted to her.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_midsummer_nights_dream_se/characters/helena
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_midsummer_nights_dream_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_midsummer_nights_dream_se/characters