Hermia

Play

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Summary

Hermia is a young Athenian woman of small stature and fierce spirit who defies her father Egeus's command to marry Demetrius and elopes with Lysander into the wood. She is passionate, loyal, and quick to anger — especially when, after Puck's potion causes Lysander to abandon her for Helena, she suspects Helena of stealing him deliberately. Her quarrel with Helena in the enchanted wood, where their girlhood friendship collapses into slapstick and recrimination, is one of Shakespeare's finest comic scenes.

Notable Quotations

"I would my father looked but with my eyes." *(I.i)*

"I am amazed, and know not what to say." *(III.ii)*

"And though she be but little, she is fierce." *(III.ii, Helena of Hermia)*

Cross-references

• A Midsummer Night's Dream — the play
• Comedies — genre
• character_lysander — her beloved, who elopes with her and is then enchanted away
• character_helena_mnd — her closest friend, temporarily turned rival
• character_demetrius — the suitor her father prefers
• character_theseus_mnd — the Duke whose law threatens to constrain her