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Out of all the characters introduced in Act 1, I chose Demetrius to analyze due to the stark difference from what I imagined based on the reading alongside how the films portrayed him. Shakespeares’ portrayal of him made me feel that Demetrius was a tool. I felt that his only purpose of marrying Hermia was due to her father loving him, but besides that, he served no other purpose. Throughout the whole dialogue within Act 1 Scene 1, Demetrius only had one line which was telling Hermia to give in to the marriage and informing Lysander to give up. This made me feel that despite being the man that Egeus preferred, Demetrius was only agreeing to marry Hermia due to the convenience of Egeus loving him and Hermia being fair.
However, Bennett’s interpretation of Demetrius depicted him more as cockier and with the nature of a playboy. I viewed this version of him as more egotistic and only chasing Hermia because she is popular and pretty. He just had the added bonus of her father liking him. This was my impression of him from this film’s adaption due to the scandal that Lysander reveals of Demetrius being with Helena, who is also Hermia’s friend. However, after being with her friend, he is now chasing Hermia.
Dromgoole’s adaption showed me an angrier and more aggressive version of Demetrius. With the same line from Shakespeares’ adaption, Demetrius’s character tells Lysander to back down due to he having the certain right to marry Hermia which invoked Lysander’s rage. His tone which voicing the line was outrage at Lysander for trying to pursue Hermia. This version of Demetrius was the only one that made me feel that he held actual feelings for Hermia besides having the love of her father.
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It’s so helpful to start out with contrast like this, I think. And I like that you note how little there actually is to base the character on… so there are wild possibilities.
To my mind, Demetrius is probably the character I have the least hold on. I just don’t know who he is even though I’ve read this play a few times, so I admire you taking him on.
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