DEMETRIUS:I love thee not, therefore pursue me not. Where is Lysander and fair Hermia? The one I'll slay, the other slayeth me. Thou told'st me they were stol'n into this wood.
DEMETRIUS:And here am I, and wood within this wood. Because I cannot meet my Hermia. Hence get thee gone, and follow me no more.
HELENA:You draw me, you hard-hearted adamant. But yet you draw not iron, for my heart is true as steel. Leave you your power to draw. And I shall have no power to follow you.
DEMETRIUS:Do I entice you? Do I speak you fair? Or rather, do I not in plainest truth tell you I do not, nor I cannot, love you?
HELENA:And even for that do I love you the more. I am your spaniel. And, Demetrius, the more you beat me I will fawn on you. Use me but as your spaniel. Spurn me and strike me.
HELENA:Neglect me. Lose me. Only give me leave, unworthy as I am, to follow you. What worser place can I beg in your love, and yet a place of high respect with me, than to be used as you use your dog?
DEMETRIUS:Tempt not too much the hatred of my spirit. For I am sick when I do look on thee.
HELENA:And I am sick when I look not on you.
DEMETRIUS:You do impeach your modesty too much. To leave the city and commit yourself into the hands of one that loves you not, to trust the opportunity of night, and thee ill council of a desert place, with the rich worth of your virginity.
HELENA:Your virtue is my privilege. For that it is not night when I do see your face and therefore, I think I am not in the night. And nor doth this wood lack worlds of company, for you, in my respect, are all the world.
HELENA:The how can it be said I am alone, when all the world is here to look on me?
DEMETRIUS:I'll run from thee and hide me in the brakes, and leave thee to the mercy of wild beasts.
HELENA:The wildest hath not such a heart as you. Run when you will, the story shall be changed. Apollo flies and Daphne holds the chase. The mild hind makes speed to catch the tiger - bootless speed. When cowardice pursues and valour flies.
DEMETRIUS:I will not stay thy questions, let me go! Or if thou follow me do not believe but I shall do thee mischief in the wood.
HELENA:Ay, in the temple, in the town, in the field you do me mischief. Fie, Demetrius. Your wrongs do set a scandal on my sex, We cannot fight for love as men may do. We should be wooed and were not made to woo. Well I will follow thee and make a heaven of hell. To die upon the hand I love so well.
Demetrius goes to the woods to find Hermia, with Helena in hot pursuit.
Demetrius tries to reject Helena but she persists in declaring her love for him.
This short film is from the BBC series, Shakespeare Unlocked.
Teacher Notes
This short film will enable discussion on the characters of Demetrius and Helena, their relationship and comparisons with other lovers in the play.
Before watching the scene, ask your students to predict how they think Helena and Demetrius will speak and act around each other.
How does it feel to be with someone who likes you more than you like them?
How do they think the actors will express this physically?
After watching the scene, ask students to discuss the portrayal of Helena and Demetrius' relationship, especially where Helena offers to be Demetrius' spaniel.
What did the staging, with Helena 'fetching' Demetrius' shoe, add to the interpretation of the characters and their relationship?
This short film is suitable for teaching GCSE English literature and drama in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and National 4/ 5 in Scotland.
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