William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream is a story about young love. Helena is a young lady in search of a man to care for her. She struggles with self esteem issues. These feelings about herself lead to many other problems. Her life is been spent in search of acceptance and approval. This is what leads her on her search for a young man. She is incredibly jealous of her best friend, Hermia, and also in love with the man Hermia is to marry. Helena is convinced that everyone hates her and wishes to play mean tricks on her. She often misunderstands people's comments and takes them offensively. All of the issues make life, friendship, and love very difficult.
             Helena struggles with a very low self esteem. She is constantly putting herself down and refusing any complements. She convinces herself, "No, no, I am ugly as a bear," (MSND, II.ii.100). Any positive comments towards Helena are respond with a comment similar to, "Call you me 'fair'? That 'fair' again unsay," (MSND, I.i.184). This makes her friendship with Hermia difficult, but it made her love for Demetrias impossible. "The more I love, the more he hateth me," she confides in her friend (MSND, I.i.206). Helena's low self esteem lead her to jealous and harsh feelings towards those around her. It makes it difficult for others to befriend her.
             Because of Helena's insecurities, she always feels she needs the approval of others for every decision she makes. She knew that Demetrias was to marry Hermia, but this convinced Helena that if Demetrias was good enough for her friend, then he was good enough for her. This way, she did not have to risk falling in love with a man of lower quality. She is so set on her devotion to him, that Helena is willing to do anything it takes to win him over. She reveals Hermia's secret only to win a tiny bit of praise from Demetrias. She te
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