Sunday, November 20, 2011

Does the potion cause Demetrius to feel real love for Helena, which he had earlier supressed, or is the potion creating an illusion of love?

Great question. It's one of the things that you can either see as Shakespeare being a bit lazy, or as one of the things that really complicates the play.


Firstly, Demetrius does not love Helena at the start of the play. Shakespeare has Lysander tell us that he's slept with her, but then decided to marry Hermia:



Demetrius, I'll avouch it to his head,
Made love to Nedar's daughter, Helena,
And won her soul; and she, sweet lady, dotes,
Devoutly dotes, dotes in idolatry,
Upon this spotted and inconstant man.



Demetrius then pursues Hermia to the forest. And when Puck eventually gets the potion on his eyes, he sees Helena, and responds with very, very, very passionate language. It doesn't sound like an illusory love:



O Helen, goddess, nymph, perfect, divine!
To what, my love, shall I compare thine eyne?
Crystal is muddy...



But then again, he never felt it before. And when he wakes up again at the end (still under the potion's spell) he tells Theseus



...the object and the pleasure of mine eye,
Is only Helena. To her, my lord,
Was I betroth'd ere I saw Hermia.
But, like a sickness, did I loathe this food;
But, as in health, come to my natural taste...



Is it "health" - is it his "natural taste"? Or is it just the potion talking? The answer is, there's no way to tell, and it's up to you to come up with your interpretation. For me, I've always found Demetrius' magical-love at the end of the play really quite disturbing! I want to know what he really feels!

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