Here’s a line-by-line modern paraphrase of Helena’s monologue from A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Act 1, Scene 1):

Original: Call you me fair? that fair again unsay.
Modern: You call me beautiful? Take that back immediately.

Original: Demetrius loves your fair: O happy fair!
Modern: Demetrius loves YOUR beauty—oh, what lucky beauty you have!

Original: Your eyes are lode-stars; and your tongue’s sweet air
Modern: Your eyes are like guiding stars, and your sweet voice

Original: More tuneable than lark to shepherd’s ear,
Modern: Sounds more musical than a lark’s song to a shepherd,

Original: When wheat is green, when hawthorn buds appear.
Modern: During springtime when the wheat is young and hawthorn trees are budding.

Original: Sickness is catching: O, were favour so,
Modern: Disease spreads from person to person—oh, if only beauty could spread the same way,

Original: Yours would I catch, fair Hermia, ere I go;
Modern: I would catch your beauty, lovely Hermia, before I leave here.

Original: My ear should catch your voice, my eye your eye,
Modern: My ears would absorb your voice, my eyes would copy your eyes,

Original: My tongue should catch your tongue’s sweet melody.
Modern: My voice would learn to speak with your sweet, musical tone.

Original: Were the world mine, Demetrius being bated,
Modern: If I owned the whole world, except for Demetrius,

Original: The rest I’d give to be to you translated.
Modern: I’d give it all away to be transformed into you.

Original: O, teach me how you look, and with what art
Modern: Oh, teach me how you appear so beautiful, and what skill

Original: You sway the motion of Demetrius’ heart.
Modern: You use to control the feelings in Demetrius’ heart.

Performance Note: Helena is desperately jealous and self-deprecating here. She’s comparing herself unfavorably to Hermia while simultaneously begging to know Hermia’s “secrets.” The actor should emphasize Helena’s pain and longing—this isn’t just admiration, it’s anguish.

In Act I, scene i, lines 1-188 of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” Theseus, Duke of Athens, opens the play expressing his impatience for his wedding to Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons, which is set to take place in four days during the new moon. Egeus arrives at court with his daughter Hermia, accompanied by two young Athenian men, Demetrius and Lysander. Egeus complains that while he has given his consent for Hermia to marry Demetrius, she refuses and has instead fallen in love with Lysander. He invokes the ancient law of Athens that gives fathers absolute authority over their daughters and demands that Hermia either obey his wishes or face death.

Theseus informs Hermia that she must comply with her father’s will or choose between death and life as a nun in Diana’s temple. Despite the Duke’s warnings, Hermia remains steadfast in her love for Lysander. After Theseus, Hippolyta, Egeus, and Demetrius exit, Hermia and Lysander are left alone to lament their situation. Lysander proposes that they flee Athens to his aunt’s house, which lies beyond the reach of Athenian law, where they can marry freely. Helena enters, and the lovers confide their plan to her. Helena, who is desperately in love with Demetrius despite his rejection of her in favor of Hermia, decides she will tell Demetrius about the planned elopement, hoping to win his gratitude and affection.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream follows multiple interconnected plots that unfold over the course of a single midsummer night in Athens and the nearby enchanted forest. The play opens with Duke Theseus of Athens preparing to marry Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons. Meanwhile, Egeus brings his daughter Hermia before Theseus, demanding she marry Demetrius according to his wishes. Hermia refuses because she loves Lysander, and Theseus gives her until his wedding day to decide between marrying Demetrius, becoming a nun, or facing death. Hermia and Lysander plan to elope by meeting in the forest, and they confide in Hermia’s friend Helena, who is desperately in love with Demetrius despite his rejection of her.

In the forest, the fairy king Oberon and queen Titania are feuding over custody of a changeling boy. Oberon instructs his mischievous servant Puck to fetch a magical flower whose juice, when applied to sleeping eyes, makes the person fall in love with the first creature they see upon waking. Oberon plans to use this on Titania to humiliate her into giving up the boy, and he also orders Puck to help Helena by making Demetrius fall in love with her. However, Puck mistakenly applies the juice to Lysander’s eyes instead, causing him to fall in love with Helena when he awakens. Meanwhile, a group of Athenian craftsmen rehearsing a play in the forest becomes entangled in the magical chaos when Puck transforms their leader Bottom’s head into that of a donkey, and the enchanted Titania falls in love with him.

The romantic confusion deepens when Oberon discovers Puck’s error and applies the love juice to Demetrius’s eyes as well, causing both young men to pursue Helena, who believes they are mocking her. Hermia becomes confused and angry when Lysander rejects her for Helena. Oberon orders Puck to separate the four lovers and fix the situation. After obtaining the changeling boy from the distracted Titania, Oberon releases her from the spell and restores Bottom to his normal form. Puck leads the exhausted lovers through the forest until they fall asleep, then applies an antidote to Lysander’s eyes so he will love Hermia again upon waking. Theseus discovers the four lovers in the forest the next morning, and since Demetrius now truly loves Helena, the duke overrules Egeus and declares a triple wedding. The play concludes with the three couples’ wedding celebration, where the craftsmen perform their comically inept play, followed by the fairies blessing the palace and its inhabitants.