Reaching Out

So most people don't like Helena from Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream - she's kinda whiny, and a bit pathetic because she keeps following Demetrius around, and even tells Demetrius about Hermia and Lysander running off because she thinks he'll be indebted to her after that (and even HE asks her why she's in love with someone who hates her, although he doesn't actually hate her that much).

Anyways, at some point, Demetrius is like, all pissed off because she keeps trailing him in the forest, having followed him there, possibly because she thinks since they're now alone he HAS to pay attention to her, and because she just can't leave him alone, and maybe she thinks she can help take care of him in the omg-dangerous-forest.

So, in general, it's a pretty not-so-great situation (this is a comedy, so it's not really a BAD one, I guess), and Demetrius warns her about her reputation and the general danger she's in being alone in the woods with a man, and she tells him, basically, I trust in your goodness enough that being around you is a good thing, and when he threatens to run away and leave her to be eaten by, I dunno, monsters in the woods, she says, none of them are as bad as you, and anyway, even if you DO run, I'll chase you anyway.

Finally, he says, keep following me, and "I'll do thee mischief in these woods" - which we're, I guess, supposed to take it for a threat of rape. And she replies, oh, you're already doing that wherever I am.

And he runs away. Because the plain fact is, women aren't supposed to be so open about their love and sexuality, and he's punishing her for her honesty (because girls have cooties; they're much better when they're sexless and uninterested).

This bit used to bother me, because it seemed kind of extreme for Demetrius to threaten rape - he never appeared to hate her that much, and it all seemed a bit of a hollow threat since he basically runs off after making it. Maybe men really do hate women.

So it bugged me, until last night I was thinking about this bit for some reason, and I thought, maybe I'm focusing too much on what Demetrius is saying. What if I reframed the situation and thought about it with a focus on Helena's words?

And what IS she saying/doing, that makes Demetrius run the hell away like he does?

A few things hit me first:
She's not taking "no" for an answer. This is, obviously, a no-no for women, because we're supposed to acquiesce to whatever men want. It's creepy when men do it. It's supposed to be comical when women do it, but while the audience is laughing, Demetrius is running the fuck away!!

And then, she's CHASING HIM IN THE WOODS. She's making it really clear that whatever it is about him she wants, she wants it, and bad. I dunno about complaints today young men make about women never making the first move, but in this situation, Helena IS making the first move, and Demetrius finds it intimidating and he's running away! (Is it any wonder why women don't? Our traditional literature tells us not to bloody do it.)

'Scuse me while I repeat myself: she's CHASING HIM IN THE WOODS! She's TOTALLY blowing away traditional myths: "The story shall be changed: / Apollo flies and Daphne holds the chase..." which is an interesting comparison, because Daphne runs from Apollo because she's chaste and he's, well, he was being a horny asshole (some retellings credit this to Cupid firing him with an arrow, but let's not absolve him of responsibility), and let's face it, even today there're still conservatives which encourage children to die instead of 'allowing themselves to be raped'. It's a sign of commitment to the concept of chastity. Because, you know, when a penis enters a girl, suddenly she's soiled beyond repair. (And for this women are punished; if a penis is so corrupting, why aren't we castrating more men?)

And here is Helena, who is being threatened with rape, and she flings it back with something along the lines of "you can't rape the willing, and besides, you don't actually want me, so even if you did, who'd be raping who now, big boy? Hur hur!"

Confronted with this baffling lack of control over her, of course Demetrius runs away.

And Oberon, impressed by Helena's assertion of her desires to make her story go her way, helps her out. Hilarity ensues.

Thoughts?

I really want to talk about my dog, but I'm still not over her death so I'm just going to talk about my paper.

We've got a list of assignment topics we cn choose to write on and I went from five to three in a matter of seconds:

3. Strong-minded Women in a Male-dominated society
4. How the Plays reflect the Notion of "Order" or "Degree"
5. Shakespeare's Depiction of Common People

Me being me, in love with gender theory and fascinated by the power dynamics of patriarchy, I'm going to go with #3.

Now, I'm used to researching topics before I start writing, and I'm not supposed to look up secondary sources this time around... Dr. MacDonald wants us to base our thesis on a close reading of the plays and that's what I'll do.

So here's a list of female characters that I could discuss:

From Much Ado About Nothing:
Hero - young sweet girl who falls in love with Claudio right off the bat, and she's framed of being a whore and publicly disgraced. She pretends to die, her innocence is proved and she forgives Claudio for his idiocy.

Beatrice - Witty, sharp-tongued and resigned never to find a husband. She's always picking on Benedict, even after she realizes she's somewhat in love with him. She gets angry when her sister Hero is framed and tries to get Benedict on her side. She's not upstaged by anybody to her face, except by Benedict, so everyone has to conspire to get them together.

Midsummer Night's Dream:
Titania - Pretty bitchy when we first see her, she sticks by her principles not to give the Indian boy away to Oberon. She accuses Oberon of coming to the wedding only because Hippolyta is one of his mistresses, but he accuses her of interfering with Theseus' affairs... it's an interesting note, considering they're the royalty of the fairies, and despite the obvious marriage and affection between them there's a great deal of sexual autonomy. It's something I wish I could write about, really.

Hermia / Helena - the teen tag team, haha. Hermia is willing to risk her father's respect by running away with Lysander, and Helena sticks by Demetrius no matter how shitty he treats her. I know it's a stretch saying that they're strong for these reasons, but I still believe it's valid. When you're willing to stick by what you believe in, that's still strength.

Twelfth Night:
Viola - The obvious choice. She hides herself as a boy, falls in love and somehow doesn't show it and just suffers through while Orsino tells her to go off and tell Olivia of his love. The speech she gives Orsino is a clear indication of her principles and her patience.

I'm considering adding Olivia to the list, but I'm not too sure what to say about her. She's the lady of her manor, and it's clear that all her staff respect her. There's not too much to say about her: she never faces any real confrontations that really shows spirit.

Merchant of Venice:
Portia, hands down. The girl's got more lines than anybody in the play, and her playing off the whole court was brilliant. She's opinionated, knows what she wants, devious, and firm.


So these are the main players, the Shakespearean women I'll be looking at.

How do they function within the male-dominated society that is Renaissance England?

That's the next question.

I have a migraine so I'll think about it tomorrow.