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The Character I chosen introduced in Act 1 is Hermia. She is the Daughter of Egeus and is being forced to marry Demetrius. My first impression of Hermia was that she is a shy girl and makes it seem like she wasn’t not interested in Demetrius and seemed unhappy, however she seemed happy and excited to be with Lysander.
In the Bennet version, My portrayal of Hermia is different from the written script, in the Bennet play, Hermia seems more happy and less bothered by the fact that her father is pushing her towards being with Demetrius, however she still shows her love towards Lysander when she texts him and makes eye contact with him.
In the Dromgoole version, Hermia definitely showed more emotion through her facial expressions and her speech. She was noticeably a lot more louder and talkative and it was clear to tell that she was upset rather than her seeming nonchalant like in the other versions of the play. -
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My first impression of Hermia after reading Act 1 was that she was a girl who went after what she wanted. The fact that she didn’t care about the repercussion of disobeying her father reminded me of myself— we’re both somewhat stubborn. Also, when Helena told her how much she wanted her beauty because then Demetrius would like her, Hermia responded saying “The more I hate, the more he follows me.” (1.1.203). That situation reminded me so much of my life, because the boys that usually end up liking me, I don’t end up liking back (click the link to see my gif reaction)
and the girls that like them come to me saying stuff like “I wish I was you” and I just be like “Girl what…” (click to see my gif reaction)After watching the Bennett Act, Hermia was really nonchalant almost and din’t really care about what her father said. Her life was almost kind of in danger and she didn’t care, total mood. She was rich, but she didn’t want business man, she wanted the photographer.
In the other version, she was loud of course because they had no mics, so I understood that. This was act however was more similar to the reading as she expressed her love for Lysandre with confidence and a lot of passion. (click to see my gif reaction)
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How fascinating that you’re identifying with a character already! There’s certainly a way to read Hermia as stubborn. Stubborn also implies unreasonable. I wonder if Hermia *is* being unreasonable. If she wants Lysander and most folks agree he’s as good as Demetrius, what’s so wrong. In truth, what’s so wrong even if no one else thinks the two guys are the same? Should we be allowed to make our own choices…
Some people don’t think so.
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A character I had taken an interest in my reading of the first act was Hermia. For being a comedy, the play starts off rather cynically. It is possible that the fact they are imitating the ancient Athenians and their parental-centric ways is supposed to be comedic itself, but that’s not really expressed in the play itself aside from a funny line or two such as Lysandre telling Demetrius to marry Egeus instead of Hermia.
That being said, in the script, Hermia in her mannerism of talk gives feelings of grace yet her frustrations are made known as she attempts to display her genuine affection for Lysandre, lack of that for Demetrius, and her father’s adamance in not even treating her as a human being. None of her lines within the conversation involving Egeus and Theseus contain exclamation marks, which is where I derive that she attempts to keep herself collected despite what are essentially death threats for not marrying someone she does not like.
In the Droomgoole adaptation, Hermia is probably louder than you’d expect, but this is likely due to the reasons discussed in class with the need to project one’s voice to the audience. Her voice has clear frustration and her facial expresses work to show that despite her gracefulness, she is feeling hopeless, making it more convincing that she takes upon Lysandre’s offer to find his widowed Aunt’s house and marry him there.
In the Bennett adaptation, the tension of the situation feels almost non-existent. Hermia is smiling while saying her case, and she makes her choice feel more like a game than a life-threatening choice, while Egeus feels more like a father scolding her child for dating a stupidly cocky man instead of a father literally considering having his daughter killed. It doesn’t help that her replies to Lysandre’s proposal technically “don’t happen” as she doesn’t send the text message while talking to Helena. Even though the play is a comedy, the first scene doesn’t feel much like one overall, but this movie scene at least does a good job of removing any sense of tension and actually making it more comedic / funny, but it seems to come at a cost of not being accurate to the script at all, even when disregarding the modern-era gimmick.
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Good observation on the exclamation points and interesting.
In Shakespeare’s time costumes were rarely period appropriate. They wouldn’t dress in togas for MND, for example, they’d wear typical Elizabethan clothing. So in a way, Shakespeare was originally played in, what was then, modern dress…Interesting thought!
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Hermia is a shy, timid girl who’s being put in an arranged marriage with Demetrius. Her father Egeus is a stubborn and arrogant man who would rather have Hermia marry Demetrius over Lysander. Based on the text, Hermia is a very romantic person, dreaming of running away from her current relationship problems and running off with Lysander, who she genuinely loves.”My good Lysander, I swear to thee, by Cupid’s strongest bow, By his best arrow with the golden head,/ Tomorrow truly will I meet with thee” (1.1.168-178). Hermia brings up cupid who of course makes people fall in love, enough for Hermia to create metaphors for meeting with Lysander, the next time they meet.
Dromgoole’s rendition is obviously very loud because of the actors screaming their lines, but Hermia was played well. A girl who’s being forced by her father to marry Demetrius, who plays the character as almost uninterested in Hermia. Hermia in this play is outspoken about what she really feels, with her proclaiming her true love to be Lysander and how she doesn’t love Demetrius. This version is the more accurate of the 2 films.
The Bennett adaptation is a modern day retelling, with most of the characters living in modern day LA and having similar personality traits of the characters from the book. Hermia in this film is a rich girl who is being brought suitors by her rich father, who wants to see her get married to a businessman, when she personally wants the photographer. It has similar themes to the play, with the exception that Hermia is a more tech savy, rich girl in my opinion.
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I wonder which lines you’re basing the idea that Hermia is shy or timid. She’s being threatened with death by her father and the leader of their city. . .
Along the same lines, is it her conviction that proves to you the love is genuine? Or maybe more basically, how do we know the love is genuine? Is it genuine just if someone seems to think so (I’m inclined towards that, actually, but then I also think love can be fleeting). What do *you* think?
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