Hermia

For other uses, see Hermia (disambiguation).

Washington Allston's 1818 painting Hermia and Helena.

Hermia is a fictional character from the Shakespeare play, A Midsummer Night's Dream. The dialogue makes it clear that she is shorter than her friend Helena. She is caught in a romantic accident where she loves one man, Lysander and is loved by Demetrius but does not love him back.

She loves Lysander, but her father, Egeus, wants her to marry Demetrius. Hermia's refusal of her father's wishes would result in her death sentence or residence at a nunnery in Athenian laws. Thus Lysander and Hermia elope. On the way out they meet Helena who is depressed by Demetrius, with whom she is hopelessly in love. Hermia tells her not to worry, for Lysander and she will flee the place and that Demetrius will no longer see her face. Helena tells Demetrius, hoping that he will realize her love for him if she tells him the truth. But Demetrius immediately chases to the forest with Helena following.

After a scene with Demetrius trying to get Helena to stop following him and Helena declaring her love for him, Oberon (Fairy King), who has been watching the whole time, being invisible to humans, orders his sprite, Puck, to place a drop of a magical flower on Demetrius's eyelids so that he will fall in love with Helena, and everyone will be content; however, Puck mistakes Lysander for Demetrius; therefore, when Lysander sets his sights on Helena, Lysander falls in love with her instead. After realizing the mistake Oberon places a drop of the magical flower on Demetrius' eyes and sends him chasing after Helena with Lysander.

Hermia is best friends with Helena, who is besotted with Demetrius. When both Demetrius and Lysander chase after Helena, Helena accuses Hermia of being part of a cruel joke. Hermia feels betrayed by the accusation and retorts that she would never hurt her friend that way.

Puck finally places the antidote on Lysander's eyes - but not on Demetrius's. They all wake up the next morning when Theseus, Hippolyta and Egeus finds them and realizing that this is the day Hermia is to make her choice to marry Demetrius, enter a nunnery or die, they must make a choice. The lovers wake up dazed, not being able to explain how they got there - muttering about a strange dream. But Demetrius, now permanently under the love-flower's spell, says that he loves only Helena, so everything ends well and Hermia and Lysander get to be together for the rest of their lives. Hermia and Lysander then get married with the approval of Theseus.

Context

Hermia's name may be based on Herpes, the Greek god of commerce and dreams. This connects with the economic reasons Demetrius and Lysander desire her, as well as their demands to be in control of her psyche, or dreams.