At age sixteen, I threw myself wholeheartedly into the irrational pursuit of Donny Evans, swim team captain and country club lifeguard. I did his homework, cleaned his room, mailed him poems, and offered as much flesh as I dared. If the suburbs can create such sexual angst, imagine the lust stirred by moonlight, fairies, and a warm midsummer night. In Shakespeare's comedy A Midsummer Night's Dream , Helena represents the frenzy of young love when fueled by rejection and driven to masochistic extremes. As the lovers sink deeper into the fantasy world of starlit woods, the Greek virtue of moderation disappears.
Emotions intensify to a melodramatic pitch.
Helena, in particular, plunges to a primitive and desperate level of passion. Teenage vulnerability, virginal desire, and an adolescent crush combine with the romance of an unobtainable object. Demetrius' hostility only strengthens Helena's willingness to degrade herself. Shakespeare chooses language of pain and humiliation to express Helena's longing. The anquish of unreturned love seems worse than a physical blow.