After Puck exits the stage, Demetrius and Helena enter. They see neither Queen Titania nor Hermia and Lysander when they first arrive at this part of the forest.
Helena is still chasing after Demetrius, and Demetrius is still running away from Helena (as well as looking for Hermia). Demetrius then runs off stage, leaving Helena alone.
Helena is crying because Demetrius seems to hate her, and Helena even engages in some self-pity: “I am as ugly as a bear” (100). But then Helena sees Lysander lying on the ground. Since it is night and rather dark (although this Renaissance comedy would actually be performed outside in the afternoon in broad daylight), Helena cannot see too clearly. She wonders if Lysander is dead or hurt. So, she tries to revive him. Of course, Helena does not know that a love potion has just been placed on Lysander’s eyes.
The love potion works. Lysander awakens and sees Helena staring at him. And Lysander falls madly in love – with Helena.
And run through fire I will for thy sweet sake. Transparent Helena, nature shows art
That through thy bosom makes me see thy heart. Where is Demetrius? O, how fit a word
Is that vile name to perish on my sword! (109-13)
Lysander is not only in love with Helena, but he now wishes to kill Demetrius because Lysander now sees Demetrius as his rival for Helena. Helena, not quite realizing everything that Lysander is saying, does understand that Lysander is making a threat against Demetrius. But she thinks that Lysander is worried that Demetrius is still trying to steal Hermia from him. So, she tells Lysander …
Yet Hermia still loves you; then be content. (116)
But since he is under the spell of the love potion, Lysander no longer cares about Hermia. And, so, he cannot be content or happy with her.
In a well-crafted comical speech, Lysander then attempts to explain his newly discovered love for Helena:
Content with Hermia? No, I do repent The tedious minutes I have with her spent Not Hermia but Helena I love.
Who will not change a raven for a dove? The will of man is by his reason swayed, And reason says you are the worthier maid.
Things growing are not ripe until their season, So I, being young, till now ripe not to reason. And touching now the point of human skill, Reason becomes the marshal to my will,
And leads me to your eyes, where I o’er look
Love’s stories written in love’s richest book. (117-28)
The reader should note the raven and dove metaphors (in line 120). This is another reference to Hermia’s dark features and brunette hair (dark like a raven) and to Helena’s light features and blond hair (light like a dove). The raven also has negative connotations whereas the dove is positive, a bird of peace. Lysander now sees Hermia in a negative way and Helena in a positive one.
More important than the bird imagery, though, are the several references to reason. The speech is comical because Lysander is trying to justify his fickle change of heart. However, even he does not know that the cause of his fickleness is Oberon’s love potion. The audience, though, does know about the love potion and can readily see the flaws in Lysander’s argument. Lysander declares that reason sways (or alters) the will of man (in line 121). The word will in this line refers to desire or emotions. Shakespeare is thus once again bringing up the conflict of Reason vs. Emotion. The religious authorities of the time asserted that Reason was a gift from God that allows all people the ability to control their emotions. But as Shakespeare time and again relates in his plays, occasionally man experiences an emotion that is so powerful that his reason disappears entirely. Love can be one such powerful emotion. Lysander’s line is humorous because he says the opposite of what Shakespeare usually reveals in his drama. Reason does not sway the emotions; rather, the emotions sway reason.
Lysander then proceeds to explain that it is reasonable to love Helena over Hermia. But love is an emotion. Reason has nothing to do with it. Lysander argues that his love for Hermia was immature and unreasonable. But now that he is older, he has become reasonable and therefore loves Helena. Lysander, of course, is just trying to woo Helena. His words, like the words of most lovers, are foolish and meaningless. And, thus, they are also humorous.
The metaphor of the book at the end of this passage is traditional, but still charming. Lysander declares that Helena’s eyes are the richest or best book of love stories. He reads love in her eyes. The line is also funny, though, because the declaration has nothing to do with reason. It is, rather, an irrational statement made by an irrational lover. The metaphor, then, is a startling contrast to Lysander’s earlier declaration of how he is now being so reasonable.