Key points
Demetrius is one of the main characters in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, a comedy by English playwright William Shakespeare.
Demetrius is a young man from Athens. He wants to marry Hermia, but she wants to marry Lysander. Meanwhile Helena is in love with Demetrius but he rejects her.
He follows Hermia into the woods where a fairy called Puck causes chaos with a love potion.
Did you know?
In Shakespeare’s time, most young women had fewer rights than men. It was believed that women belonged to their fathers and then to their husbands when they got married.
Plot summary
Demetrius’ key moments
Click through the slideshow to see Demetrius’ key moments
Image caption, Demetrius wants to marry Hermia and has her father’s support, but Hermia wants to marry Lysander. Helena tells Demetrius that Hermia and Lysander have run away together and he follows them.
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Character traits
Arrogant
Hermia’s father supports Demetrius’ desire to marry Hermia, which encourages Demetrius and increases his arrogance. At the beginning of the play Demetrius says he has the “right” to marry Hermia.
Stubborn
Demetrius knows that Hermia doesn’t love him back, but he is determined to marry her. He follows Hermia and Lysander into the woods.
Cruel
Demetrius is so determined to marry Hermia that he treats Helena cruelly, telling her that he hates her and feels sick when he looks at her. Oberon decides to intervene after he sees this cruel behaviour and asks Puck to use a love potion to make Demetrius love Helena.
Unpredictable
By the end of Act 4, Demetrius admits that his feelings for Hermia were just a passing desire. He decides that he does love Helena, but it’s not clear how much of this change is because of the love potion.
Relationships
At the start of the play, Egeus, Hermia’s father, and Theseus, the ruler of Athens, support Demetrius in his aim to marry Hermia. However, Hermia does not return his feelings and refuses to marry him.
Demetrius is in competition with Lysander for most of the play. At the beginning they both want to marry Hermia. After Puck’s love potion, they are both in love with Helena. Their conflict provides lots of comedy for the audience.
After Puck undoes the effects of the love potion, Lysander goes back to loving Hermia. Demetrius continues loving Helena. It is unclear whether this is the continuing effects of the love potion, or if Demetrius genuinely returns her feelings. He and Helena get married.
Does Demetrius have a romantic history with Helena?
Theseus mentions that Demetrius has been romantically linked with Helena in the past. Helena also comments that Demetrius used to love her. This may explain why Helena is unwilling to accept his rejection, and also why Demetrius returns Helena’s feelings in the end.
Changes in character
Demetrius has an arrogant side to his character. He insists he has the “right” to marry Hermia and does not respect her choice to be with Lysander.
He is also cruel to Helena at the start of the play. Oberon sees Demetrius rejecting Helena and asks Puck to put love potion in his eyes. When Puck’s love potion changes his feeling towards Helena, she thinks he is mocking her and his love for her is false.
Towards the end of the play, Demetrius says that he no longer loves Hermia and that he loves Helena. Helena accepts this change and the couple get married.
Listening activity
This clip is taken from Act 4, scene 1, in which Demetrius declares his love for Helena. Listen to the clip and then answer the question below.
Demetrius: My lord, fair Helen told me of their stealth,
Of this their purpose hither to this wood;
And I in fury hither followed them,
Fair Helena in fancy following me.
But, my good lord, I wot not by what power
(But by some power it is),—my love to Hermia,
Melted as the snow, seems to me now
As the remembrance of an idle gaud
Which in my childhood I did dote upon;
And all the faith, the virtue of my heart,
The object and the pleasure of mine eye,
Is only Helena. To her, my lord,
Was I betrothed ere I saw Hermia;
But like in sickness, did I loathe this food.
But, as in health come to my natural taste,
Now I do wish it, love it, long for it,
And will for evermore be true to it.
What literary device does Demetrius use to describe his feelings towards Hermia and Helena?
Demetrius uses similes to describe his feelings for Hermia and Helena. A simile is a comparison made using the words ‘like’ or ‘as’. He compares his love for Hermia with a toy that a child had grown out of. He then compares his love for Helena with food that he disliked for a while, but now has a healthy appetite for.
Activity - Order it
What do these key quotations mean?
Relent, sweet Hermia: and, Lysander, yield
Thy crazed title to my certain right.
Demetrius
Act 1, scene 1
Despite Hermia’s rejection, Demetrius insists he has the right to marry Hermia. He has Hermia’s father’s support and this gives him confidence.
For ere Demetrius look’d on Hermia’s eyne,
He hailed down oaths that he was only mine;
Helena
Act 1, scene 1
Helena and Demetrius used to be in a relationship, which is why Helena finds it hard to accept that Demetrius now wants to marry Hermia. She says that before he saw Helena, he made promises to be with her.
I love thee not, therefore pursue me not.
Where is Lysander and fair Hermia?
The one I’ll slay, the other slayeth me.
Demetrius
Act 2, scene 1
Demetrius rejects Helena’s love. Despite this, Helena helps Demetrius and tells him that Lysander and Hermia have run away.
O Helen, goddess, nymph, perfect, divine!
Demetrius
Act 3, scene 2
When Demetrius wakes up after Puck has put love potion in his eyes, he falls in love with Helena. He uses exaggerated romantic language to tell her how he feels about her and she thinks he is mocking her.
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