Unrequited love is love that is given but not returned. For example, if you were desperately in love with someone but they failed to love you in return, your love would be unrequited.
A Midsummer Night's Dream explores several instances of unrequited love, but the most predominant instance in Act 1 is that of Helena and Demetrius. Is Helena pathetic for pursuing Demetrius so insistently, or can we call her brave? Is better to follow your love, even if your feelings are unreturned? At what point should you back down and give up?
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I do not think that Helena is pathetic, but we should'nt call her brave because I think in one part it says that Helena and Demetrius where toghether so this makes it understanding for her to think that the love between them can still go on.
ReplyDeleteI personally think that there's a fifty percent chance that you should follow your love because If you push far enough then they might start to realize that they are in love with you, but if you follow them and they don't love you then that probably means they are cheating or are about to.
The point of deafeat should be when you start falling out of love with that person.
I agree with Gabe. Helena is not pathetic. she is just following her heart.
ReplyDeletethere is a point however where you should just give up. if they just keep ignoring you and don't lighten up to your affection, you should give up. if they lighten up to you though, you have a chance
I think that Helena can kinda go both ways like she is not pethetic or brave or smart because think about she has talked to him at all about what she thinks an she thinks that telling on the where hermia an lysander so thats kind of a werid thing going on there
ReplyDeleteI agree with what Gabe says about the fifty percent chance that you should follow your love you might start to realize of that they don't feel the same or do and you should put yourself in the salf zone so you can go ether way
I think when you should eject is when you are not feeling the same with the person and figuring they wanted a different person in the end or you figure out they have a hairy back ether way thens when you know
I agree with Gabe and Sean you should follow you heart and if you have feelings for some one you had a relationship with; you should make sure they know, but there is a point where you should stop. If they refuse to respond to your attention then back off for a while and see how things play out.
ReplyDeleteI think Helena is more after her own interests than her friends. Being on the selfish side of things I wouldn't say she's brave.
I agree with Gabe about Helena not being pathetic but i think she would be leaning more on the side of being brave.
ReplyDeleteOn the second part of the question i agree with Sean on this part, if they keep on ignoring you for a long period of time and nothing changes then you should give up because if nothing changes in a good period of time, then the chances are slim they will ever change their opinion about you.
I think that Helena is brave. I believe that,that she just has a strong feeling towards him. Supporting my answer about Helena being brave, you should have interest in a person for sometime... then hopefully attract the one you are interested in. But if not, keep your interest. A person should stop trying to attract or get interest when you are turned down emotionally and when you understand how your person feels about the situation.
ReplyDeleteI agree with all the other guys on this one. On the one side you have how she is brave and pathetic at the same time because she is willing to follow her heart and does not care what people think of her. Because she was once invloved with Demetrius it is understandable how she yearns for him to come back to her. But on the flip side you should also know when to give up because if you lose your eyes for everyone else, a oersin could come along who is more suited to you and would care about you more. The point when you give up though is when you are emotionally ready to except that it is time to move on.
ReplyDeleteI think that Helena is pathetic she knows Demetrius does not like her but still she is willing to lose a friend over someone she loves but does not love her back. She is going to lose Hermia as a friend by tellign Demetrius about the meeting in the woods which will make Hermia hate Helena. I think it is a good thing though for her to be follwing her love becuase she never knows what may happen like if Hermia dies then Helena could get Demetrius. I think that the point for Helena to turn back is now because Hermias dad wants her to marry Demetrius and if she dosent then she will die. All and all the point you give up is when you know the person you love is most likely getting married and you have no chance to stop it.
ReplyDeleteI think Helena is brave because it would probably take alot in a person to throw themselves at someone that doesnt love them back. I think it is best to froget about someone that doesnt love you back because in the end you will just be wasting your time and hurting yourself. I think it is a good time to stop chasing someone when they become annoyed because further annoyance will spread the two apart.
ReplyDeleteI think that Helena is persistant because of that fling that Demetrius had with her, and she thinks that there was much more to it than a one night stand. I also think that she should back down from chasing him because he does not love her back. But we have not read far enough into the book to see if that is all there is to their little love affair.But until then I am saying that she should back down now before she gets her heart broken again.
ReplyDeleteSean, I agree with you on half, but not the other. Helena is just feeling what is right in her mind, but she should never give up. There is always going to be a changing factor in a love relationship. There will always be battles to try and win the persons love. They have to get to know you and learn if you are loe worthy. So Helena is not pathetic, but she is just waiting unitl he starts to like or love her.
ReplyDeleteI think that Helena is not pathetic but she isnt being brave either. She keeps pursuing Demetrius but she cant see that he is to marry Hermia. She wont let go of him and move on. If your just a teenager like all of us I think that its okay to keep trying after that person but if you are like Helena who is looking for a marriage not just a date. I feel in a marriage it is more important that there is a mutual love.
ReplyDeleteI would not call Helena pathetic but brave because she persues her love without giving up and she keeps going. I think you should follow your love even if it is unreturned. When the person realizes how much you love them they might start to love back and it can't be rushed it takes time. The time to turn back comes when you least expect it and you will know when it is time.
ReplyDeleteHelena is not pathetic because she is in love, but she is in denial that Demetriuse is in love with her, but he isn't in love with her. My opinion on unreturned love is that you have to stop following that person because you fell in love with that person if that person ignores you and hates you. It would get annoying after awhile just by chasing that person around.
ReplyDeleteThere has been a lot of good comments on this topic already, and I can almost relate every ones point of view on this. I think that there is a fine line on when to give up loving someone vs. the persute of love. Its something you can almost feel when your that involved with the love. You have to know if your persute of that persons love is too strong and possibaly even pushing that person farther away. Or maybe you feel like the love is what is right and that persute will lead to love itself and you cant get your mind off of it? This is some what of the same choice Helena will have to make, and i think it will end up being a painful desision than a good one. But Demetrius did have Heena once and i could see where that is frustrating. Also could Demetrius have his own personal reason why he doesnt like Helena and that could be perfectly reasonalble aswell. I agree with Matt though were not nearly far enof in the book to truely see how this situation plays out
ReplyDeleteI can see where everyone is coming from. I think Helena is brave for following her heart and pursuing Demetrius. I think you should follow your heart because in the end it will all be worth it. Its better to follow your heart and get exactly what you want then to just settle with something less then the best. In the case that Helena is in though you just have to realize when to throw in the towel and call it quits. You can't win them all but its better to give everything you got and fail then to just to give up.
ReplyDeleteI Agree with everyone in saying that Helena is not pathetic because for the fiftieth time, she is just following her heart, and there is nothing pathetic about that. But I believe that if you are in love with someone, and you know for a fact they are not in love with you, than you shouldn't pursue it because in the end you are just gonna end up heart broken, and thats no good. In the end you should never even start, there shouldn't be a part where you stop or give up.
ReplyDeleteI agree with most everyone's posting on here.
ReplyDeleteHere's what I think:
I don't think you can call Helena brave, because she really has nothing to lose. If Demetrius still presists and says he doesn't like her, so what her heart should not be broen because of that. I think there is a point when Helena is just pursueing a dream that will never be accomplished and she should give up and move on. She seems to just be wasting energy on someone who is not interested in her and probably will never be. My question is, does Helena know that Demtetrius does not like her? If so then it goes back to what I said, she has nothing to lose but probably should stop trying to get him. If she doesn't know then she might have her heart broken because she had been going after him for so long and to be rejected after all she had done would be terrible. It could go either way, it just depends on the situation.
I agree with Lance, Helena is brave for following her heart. I think you should always follow your heart because you never know what will happen if you do. If it is something or someone that you truly love, i believe you should never quit trying, but a good quitting place would be if your love for something or someone became harmful to you, them, or other people then you should definitely stop.
ReplyDeleteI think that everyone has some good ideas. I believe we can call Helena brave but at the same time pathetic. I think that she is jealous of Hermia and Lysander's love and she is so desperate that she goes back to the only person she ever loved, Demetrius. She is brave for pursuing him but she is pathetic for having such jealousy. I agree with Lance on the second question, I think it is better to give it all and follow your heart and then fail, then it is to give nothing at all. As for the third question; I believe that there is a certain point in the relationship where you are either tired of it, fed up with it, or nothing is happening. When that happens I believe you should back down and give up.
ReplyDeleteHelena is pathetic- Demetrius makes a point of saying he more then hates her, and yet she literally chases him around a forest./ She is past the return point, and of course me being me, I find obsessive girls annoying and slightly hard to understand.
ReplyDelete