HELENA

In love with a man who is in love with her best friend, and fully aware of how that looks.

0:56Comic-dramatic18–25Beginner

The speech98 words · 3 beats

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How happy some o'er other some can be! Through Athens I am thought as fair as she. But what of that? Demetrius thinks not so; He will not know what all but he do know.

And as he errs, doting on Hermia's eyes, So I, admiring of his qualities.

Things base and vile, holding no quantity, Love can transpose to form and dignity. Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, And therefore is wing'd Cupid painted blind.turn

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Speaking to: Herself, then increasingly to us.
What just happened: Hermia and Lysander have just told her they're eloping tonight. They meant it as a kindness.
Objective: To make the maths of it come out differently. It won't, so she chooses a plan instead.
The turn: 'Love looks not with the eyes' — she moves from complaint to theory, which is how she talks herself into betraying her friend.
Watch out for: Rhymed couplets. Ideal beginner piece: the rhyme carries the rhythm so the actor can work on thought instead of meter.

Full work: A Midsummer Night's Dream New to the vocabulary? What’s a beat? →