Hermia’s Monologues
From: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Casting type notes: Hermia is usually cast as short and dark-haired, as there are references to her height and colouring in the text. She is often played as serious, sometimes tough or feisty, and tends to be the grounded counterpoint to Helena’s flightiness.
Act 2, Scene 2
Help me, Lysander, help me! do thy best
To pluck this crawling serpent from my breast!
Ay me, for pity! what a dream was here!
Lysander, look how I do quake with fear:
Methought a serpent eat my heart away,
And you sat smiling at his cruel pray.
Lysander! what, removed? Lysander! lord!
What, out of hearing? gone? no sound, no word?
Alack, where are you speak, an if you hear;
Speak, of all loves! I swoon almost with fear.
No? then I well perceive you all not nigh
Either death or you I'll find immediately.
Quick Tips:
There is definite action embedded in this monologue that you will need to include in your performance. Hermia is asleep at the start of this monologue and is calling out in her sleep. She then begins to speak to Lysander, who she eventually realises is not there, and goes to search for him.
It can be tricky to pull this monologue off due to the need to talk to Lysander for several lines… and not realise that he’s actually gone. This often results in an unnatural “trying not to look over at the spot where Lysander is supposed to be” acting, which often looks quite awkward. In my experience, the best performances of this monologue are the ones that lean into the comedy and don’t take it too seriously.
Act 3 Scene 2
Now I but chide; but I should use thee worse,
If thou hast slain Lysander in his sleep,
Being o'er shoes in blood, plunge in the deep,
And kill me too.
The sun was not so true unto the day
As he to me: would he have stolen away
From sleeping Hermia? I'll believe as soon
This whole earth may be bored and that the moon
May through the centre creep and so displease
Her brother's noontide with Antipodes.
It cannot be but thou hast murder'd him;
So should a murderer look, so dead, so grim.
Quick Tips:
This short monologue to Demetrius can be combined with the other short monologue below (beginning “Out, dog”)
Note the short line for “And kill me too”. There is nothing following those words until she starts the next line, which suggests a pause. What could she be doing in that pause? There are lots of options, and you can make an acting choice that works for you.
Her reference to the earth being “bored” refers to “boring” as in ‘drilling a hole”, not when you’re disinterested!
Create a clear mental picture for the imagery about the earth, moon and sun and make sure you have an opinion about it! It’s not just a pretty picture. You need to have an attitude about what you’re saying. Is she being sarcastic? Angry? Desperate? Do your research to make sure you understand the imagery properly, then make an acting choice about how to play it.
Act 3 Scene 2
Out, dog! out, cur! thou drivest me past the bounds
Of maiden's patience. Hast thou slain him, then?
Henceforth be never number'd among men!
O, once tell true, tell true, even for my sake!
Durst thou have look'd upon him being awake,
And hast thou kill'd him sleeping? O brave touch!
Could not a worm, an adder, do so much?
An adder did it; for with doubler tongue
Than thine, thou serpent, never adder stung.
Quick Tips:
This monologue follows quickly on the heels of the above monologue, with just a short response from Demetrius in between. You can cut his response and put these two monologues together for a slightly longer monologue.
Notice that her imagery of an adder calls back the dream she had earlier on. You don’t need to “play” this, it just helps you build a detailed inner world for Hermia and helps you understand how she sees Demetrius.
If performed as a stand-alone monologue, this monologue “starts with a bang”, as she is coming in hot right from the start. Make sure you add some moments where you pull back and/or find a different intensity, so you avoid the common trap of creating a monologue of just yelling at someone.
There is plenty of variety to be found in this monologue, so decide where those beats are and add nuance. What is Hermia most afraid of in this moment?
Act 3 Scene 2
Puppet? why so? ay, that way goes the game.
Now I perceive that she hath made compare
Between our statures; she hath urged her height;
And with her personage, her tall personage,
Her height, forsooth, she hath prevail'd with him.
And are you grown so high in his esteem;
Because I am so dwarfish and so low?
How low am I, thou painted maypole? speak;
How low am I? I am not yet so low
But that my nails can reach unto thine eyes.
Quick Tips:
This is a reasonably popular short monologue, but personally I would choose any of the monologues above over this one, as this has less variety and nuance.
Hermia is very heated in this moment, and is throwing insults at her (ex?) best friend Helena. You will need to find some colour in these, to avoid it coming across as just a list of insults.
Be specific in your choices around the insults. Different scholars will explain these in different ways, but you must make them feel personal. Why does she call Helena a puppet and a painted maypole? Is there a specific memory attached to the “puppet” concept, where Helena was completely at the will of someone else (maybe Demetrius)? Is the '“painted maypole” because Helena likes to wear a lot of make up and get dressed up in fancy clothes, or is she just as dumb as a pole? Make choices!
