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Character comparison

Lady Macbeth from “ Macbeth” and Helena from “ A midsummer night’s dream”

Two of Shakespeare’s most famous plays  Macbeth  and A midsummer night’s dream

 present a series of stories which, through the author’s remarkable writing skills in terms of 

 psychology and character analysis, reveal some of the basic, yet personality forming instincts

and emotions: fear, love, desire and ambition to evolve from ones current human condition.

The main theme of Macbeth —the destruction wrought when ambition goes unchecked

 by moral constraints—finds its most powerful expression in the play’s two main characters.

acbeth is a courageous Scottish general who is not naturally inclined to commit evil deeds,

yet he deeply desires power and advancement.

!ady acbeth, on the other hand, pursues her goals with greater determination, yet

she is less capable of withstanding the repercussions of her immoral acts. "ne of 

Shakespeare’s most forcefully drawn female characters, she spurs her husband mercilessly to

kill #uncan and urges him to be strong in the murder’s aftermath, but she is eventually driven

to distraction by the effect of acbeth’s repeated bloodshed on her conscience.

$The course of true love never did run smooth,% comments !ysander, articulating one

of A Midsummer Night’s Dream’s most important themes—that of the difficulty of love.

Though most of the conflict in the play stems from the troubles of romance, and though the

 play involves a number of romantic elements, it is not truly a love story&

"bsessed over #emetrius, 'elena(s character emphasi)es the capriciousness of love

and its excesses. *ven though she knows she is making a fool of herself by pursuing

#emetrius, 'elena cannot stop the chase. She reminds us that love is blind, declaring that she

is as beautiful as 'ermia, so there is no logical explanation for #emetrius( sudden shift in

affection.

+esides emphasi)ing love(s arbitrary nature, 'elena also highlights the gender 

differences that displease women. nlike men who can woo whomever they please, women

are not allowed to fight for love& instead, they must passively wait for the man of their dreams

to notice them. -n chasing #emetrius through the woods, 'elena is breaking the rules of her 

sex, becoming the pursuer rather than the pursued.

+oth characters show the particular place that women are supposed to hold in society,

respectively the fact that they cannot pursue their dreams and ambitions and, most

importantly, have very little influence over the events that govern their lives.

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-n  Macbeth, !ady acbeth tries to overcome this by renouncing her feminity and

manipulating skills to achieve her goals, associating masculinity with violence and

 bloodshed. fter seeing the three witches first prophecy being confirmed /that her husband

 becomes Thane of 0awdor1, she begins her plan to fulfill the future predictions made by the

witches and convinces her husband to commit murder by challenging his manhood.

2acbeth. 3e will proceed no further in this business:

'e hath honour(d me of late& and - have bought

4olden opinions from all sorts of people,

3hich would be worn now in their newest gloss,

 5ot cast aside so soon.

!ady acbeth. 3as the hope drunk,

3herein you dress(d yourself6 hath it slept since6 

nd wakes it now, to look so green and pale

t what it did so freely6 7rom this time,Such - account thy love. rt thou afeard

To be the same in thine own act and valour,

s thou art in desire6 3ouldst thou have that

3hich thou esteem(st the ornament of life,

nd live a coward in thine own esteem 6 2

-n  A midsummer night’s dream 'elena likens herself to pollo who chased the

unwilling huntress #aphne through the woods. 'elena(s choice of examples is significant

 because it emphasi)es the violence men /or gods in this case1 have often perpetrated against

women: pollo wanted not only to capture #aphne, but to rape her. -n chasing #emetrius,'elena claims to have appropriated pollo(s role, yet #emetrius is still the one who threatens

violence when he vows to 2do 8her9 mischief in the wood2 if she doesn(t stop following him.

 5ot only must woman patiently wait for her chosen lover to call, but she is also constantly

threatened by male sexual violence if she resists unwanted male attentions.

'elena and #emetrius were previously betrothed. #emetrius is known to not care

about who he is with. 'e was first engaged to 'elena, but was told to marry 'ermia. 'e was

fine with that, but 'elena wasn(t. She wishes to have his love again. -n act -, Scene -,

!ysander says 2#emetrius, -(ll avouch it to his head, ade love to 5edar(s daughter, 'elena2

showing us that #emetrius is a fickle lover. 3hen she hears that !ysander  and 'ermia have

 planned to elope,   she informs #emetrius in the hope that this will make him love her.

'owever, her plan didn(t go as she intended for it to go... -nstead, #emetrius insists on

following !ysander and 'ermia, in the hope of winning 'ermia(s love. *ventually, all four 

lovers find themselves in the thenian forest, where the sleeping !ysander and #emetrius

have a love uice sprinkled into their eyes by an errant fairy called ;uck . This causes the pair 

to fall in love with the first person they see when they awaken& for both, this is 'elena.

#emetrius and !ysander then begin to declare their love for 'elena, and argue with

each other over who should claim her affection. 'elena, who has been used to beingoverlooked by men, believes that the pair is mocking her. 'ermia arrives and sees that her 

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lover, !ysander, loves 'elena, however refuses to believe him and storms off. This leads to

an argument between 'ermia and 'elena, and 'elena is upset when she believes 'ermia has

 betrayed her by oining #emetrius and !ysander. 0hildhood friendships between women

should be stronger than the fickle love of men. 'er comments make us <uestion the position

of all women in the play.

The two analy)ed characters are proof of Shakespeare’s mastery at creating powerful

images that transcend the world of the play to become part of humanity’s culture. !ady

acbeth is the symbol of the ambitious woman struggling in a world with rules created by

men, while 'elena is part of a love triangle in a chasing of an unfulfilled love. =egardless of 

the denouement concerning their faiths in the development of the plays, both characters have

gone beyond the world of fiction and achieved a status in the world’s consciousness.

Works cited:

> +alan, =ada si altii. ;athway to *nglish. *nglish 5ews and ?iews, "xford: "xford

niversity ;ress, @AAB, pp. @BA.

> +lumfeld, "dette. 'ighlights of +ritish and merican #rama, *0, CDDE.

 > ;fister, anfred. The Theory and nalysis of #rama, 0ambridge:0ambridge niversity

;ress, @ABB, pp.@ED>CAF

> bersfeld, nne. Termenii cheie ai anali)ei teatrului, -aGi: -nstitutul *uropean, @AAA,

 pp.@@A>HDF.

http:IIwww.cliffsnotes.comIstudyJguideIliteratureIa>midsummer>nights>dreamIcharacter>

analysisIhelena.html 

http:IIen.wikipedia.orgIwikiI'elenaJ/JidsummerJ5ight(sJ#ream1 

http:IIwww.sparknotes.comIshakespeareImsndIcanalysis.html 

http:IIwww.sparknotes.comIshakespeareImacbethIcanalysis.html