Act 2 Scene 1&2

In Act 2 Scene 1 Oberon, the king of fairies and Titania, the queen, are introduced. Oberon and Titania have been arguing as a result of their jealousy towards each other. King Oberon is jealous of the little Indian boy Titania takes care of. For he feels the little boy is winning most of Titania’s love. In envy Oberon orders Puck (Robin) to retrieve a flower which, when dropped into your eye, would make you fall in love with the first thing you saw. The king planned to use this herb on Titania to make her fall in love a beast, allowing him to get rid of the Indian boy. In this process Oberon hears Helena telling Demetrius how much she loves him. Feeling sorry for Helena, because of Demetrius’s hatred rejection, Oberon told Puck to put the herb on Demetrius’s eyes. This creating a greater love for Helena, then even she had for Demetrius.

Unfortunately, in Scene 2, such a perfect plan was bound to go wrong. Instead of dropping the potion into Demetrius’s eyes, Puck put it in Lysander’s eye thinking he was Demetrius, making him fall in love Helena. But Helena took this love talk as a mockery and trailed off with Lysander not far behind her every footstep. Poor Hermia was left in the woods wondering where her Lysander was, while at that moment, he was off admiring Helena. Hermia, puzzled and empty, left to find her beloved Lysander.