Character Analysis: Hermia from A Midsummer Night's Dream Essay

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Character Analysis: Hermia

Hermia is one of the four lovers, and is a main character in the play. Her childhood friend is Helena, a woman deprived of love. She is smaller than Helena, and is rather jealous of her blonde hair. In her family, she is the daughter of Egeus. Being a daughter, she has minimal rights and is not entitled to do whatever defies her father. She is very defiant of her father, which is clearly shown in the first scene of the play. She argues and refuses to marry Demetrius for Lysander, but without prevail. She loves Lysander wholeheartedly, and will rather grow, so live, so die instead of marrying Demetrius.

In act of love, Hermia refuses to marry the man Demetrius, despite knowing the very harsh consequences of defying her father. Hermia is in a sad dilemma. She either die the death, become a nun, or marry Demetrius. In all the cases she will lose out, because she would not be united with her love Lysander. She is placed in such a dilemma by her father. He wants her to marry Demetrius, as he promised her to him. If she accepts, she would not be able to marry Lysander her true love. The consequences of not doing this is either she is to live a barren sister all [her] life or die. In my opinion, it is better for her to follow her fathers will. The reason is that it would be better to be able to find love in her life though it may not be true love. Compared to the other options, this is the most ideal one for her.

To the modern reader, Hermia is deeply in love with Lysander, even to the point of death. As one of the four lovers, she has relations with all the other three. She shows true love for Lysander, and absolutely none for Demetrius. In the play, the reader would find that it would be impossible for her to show love for Demetrius, as it is all focused on Lysander. It is only when Puck uses his flower that it is possible. Hermia however faces difficulty in loving Lysander, restricted by her father, for the course of true love never runs smooth. She loves Lysander wholeheartedly that she would not love any other man, even at the point of death or nunnery.

Hermia is also very conscious of her height difference from Helena. She is very well aware that she is shorter than her friend Helena, and is jealous of that fact. She makes reference to it when "[she] perceive[d] that [Helena] hath made compare between [their] statures. She thinks that Helena makes use of her personage, her tall personage, her height, forsooth, she hath prevailed with [Lysander].

Hermia has her important role in the play. Firstly, she is the centre character of all the three lovers. She has relationships with all of them. Lysander is her true love, Demetrius loves her because of her beauty, and Helena is her childhood friend. She is the main cause for the love triangle. Secondly, without Hermia, there would not be conflict among the lovers. Without her, Lysander and Demetrius will have no Hermia to love, so Demetrius will just have to settle with Helena. This defeats the theme of love.

In conclusion, Hermia the young Athenian lady is one of the key characters in the play. She is part of the love triangle that exists between Lysander and Demetrius, and is a childhood friend of Helena. She shows true love for Lysander, and is willing to die than wed to Demetrius. She is also very jealous of Helenas height, not liking the fact that she is taller than her. She plays a very crucial part in the play, existing in the theme the course of true love never runs smooth.