The second scene of this act begins with Puck making a report to King Oberon about what he accomplished during the night. Puck begins by declaring, probably with a loud laugh, the following:
My mistress with a monster is in love. (6)
As already noted, in Greek mythology a monster was usually a creature that was half man and half animal. Puck proceeds to tell Oberon about the Athenian artisans and how they were practicing the play of “Pyramus and Thisbe.” He then tells Oberon about how he transformed Bottom by giving him the head of an ass and how he scared the other artisans out of the woods. Puck concludes his speech by telling Oberon how Titania then, by chance, woke up and fell in love with the monstrous Bottom.
King Oberon is pleased with the results:
This falls out better than I could devise. (35)
Fate here seems to be on the side of Oberon. Titania’s being in love with a monster is even better (for him) than her being in love with a wild beast. Oberon now believes that he will easily be able to take the child from her.
Oberon then asks Puck about the Athenian (Demetrius). The King asks Puck if he had put the love potion on his eyes to make him fall in love with Helena. Puck states that he did accomplish that deed as well. Puck is not lying. He did not know that the Athenian he put the love potion on was not the man that Oberon had spoken of.
Before Oberon can respond to Puck, Demetrius and Hermia enter (after line 40). Oberon recognizes the man that he had seen before, but not the woman. Yet Robin recognizes the woman, but not the man.
Demetrius (who did not receive the love potion as Oberon intended) is still in love with Hermia and is chasing after her. Hermia, as before, is still in love with Lysander and is trying to prevent Demetrius from pursuing her.
Hermia worries that perhaps Demetrius had killed Lysander (which would explain why she did not find Lysander when she woke up). She accuses Demetrius and asserts that he has a murderous look on his face: “so dead, so grim” (57). Demetrius responds with the words of an unrequited lover:
So should the murdered look, and so should I, Pierced through the heart with your stern cruelty. Yet you, the murderer, look as bright, as clear
As yonder Venus in her glimmering sphere. (58-61)
In Renaissance love poetry many men are depicted as being in love with women who do not return that love. Demetrius is like these men, declaring that Hermia’s cruel looks, her looks that refuse to return any love to him, are murdering him. He is dying for love. He will die if Hermia does not love him. But also like traditional love poetry, Demetrius praises the beauty of Hermia at the same time. He compares Hermia to Venus, the gorgeous Roman Goddess of Love and Beauty, who, of course, resides on the planet (sphere) Venus.
The words, though, have no effect on Hermia. Hermia wants to get rid of Deemtrius, and she strongly tells him to leave: “Out dog; out cur” (65). The dog metaphor is appropriate here. It reveals that Hermia thinks Demetrius is just a meddlesome, mangy mutt; but it also connects Demetrius to Helena when she used the spaniel metaphor earlier in the play (in II, 1: 203). The dog metaphors very subtly connect Demetrius to Helena.
Still thinking that he killed Lysander, Hermia also calls Demetrius a serpent or snake (another metaphor). Not only has Demetrius killed Lysander (so Hermia believes) with his poisonous bite, but Hermia also declares that Demetrius speaks with a double tongue (line 73). She is referring to the forked tongue of a snake, which symbolizes duplicity (lying, deceptiveness, or double-dealing). Hermia is referring to the fact that if Demetrius really loved her, then he would not have harmed the man she loves (Lysander) because that would cause her great pain. However, Hermia could also be referring to the fact that Demetrius was deceptive towards Helena.