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

Original: How happy some o’er other some can be!
Modern: How much happier some people are than others!

Original: Through Athens I am thought as fair as she.
Modern: Everyone in Athens thinks I’m just as beautiful as Hermia.

Original: But what of that? Demetrius thinks not so;
Modern: But what good does that do me? Demetrius doesn’t think so.

Original: He will not know what all but he do know:
Modern: He refuses to see what everyone else can see clearly.

Original: And as he errs, doting on Hermia’s eyes,
Modern: And just as he makes this mistake, obsessing over Hermia’s beauty,

Original: So I, admiring of his qualities:
Modern: So do I make the same mistake, obsessing over his good qualities.

Original: Things base and vile, folding no quantity,
Modern: Love can take things that are worthless and ugly,

Original: Love can transpose to form and dignity:
Modern: And transform them into something beautiful and noble.

Original: Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind;
Modern: Love doesn’t see with the eyes, but with the imagination;

Original: And therefore is wing’d Cupid painted blind:
Modern: That’s why Cupid is always shown wearing a blindfold.

Original: Nor hath Love’s mind of any judgement taste;
Modern: Love has no sense of good judgment either;

Original: Wings and no eyes figure unheedy haste:
Modern: Wings but no eyes represent reckless speed.

Original: And therefore is Love said to be a child,
Modern: That’s why Love is called a child—

Original: Because in choice he is so oft beguiled.
Modern: Because he’s so often fooled when making choices.

Original: As waggish boys in game themselves forswear,
Modern: Just like playful boys who break their promises in games,

Original: So the boy Love is perjured every where:
Modern: Love breaks his promises everywhere he goes.

Original: For ere Demetrius look’d on Hermia’s eyne,
Modern: Before Demetrius ever laid eyes on Hermia,

Original: He hail’d down oaths that he was only mine;
Modern: He showered me with promises that he belonged only to me.

Original: And when this hail some heat from Hermia felt,
Modern: But when those promises felt the heat of Hermia’s beauty,

Original: So he dissolved, and showers of oaths did melt.
Modern: They melted away like ice, and all his promises dissolved.

Original: I will go tell him of fair Hermia’s flight:
Modern: I’m going to tell him that beautiful Hermia has run away.

Original: Then to the wood will he to-morrow night
Modern: Then tomorrow night he’ll chase after her into the forest,

Original: Pursue her; and for this intelligence
Modern: And for giving him this information,

Original: If I have thanks, it is a dear expense:
Modern: If he thanks me at all, it will cost me dearly.

Original: But herein mean I to enrich my pain,
Modern: But this way I plan to add to my suffering—

Original: To have his sight thither and back again.
Modern: At least I’ll get to see him go there and come back.

Performance Note: Helena is desperately in love and fully aware of how foolish she’s being. She’s intelligent enough to understand love’s irrationality while being completely powerless to escape it. This creates both the comedy and pathos of her character.

In Act I, scene i, line 233 and the surrounding context of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” the audience witnesses the aftermath of Duke Theseus’s judgment regarding the young lovers’ dilemma. After Theseus departs with Hippolyta and the court, having given Hermia until his wedding day to choose between marrying Demetrius, joining a nunnery, or facing death, the three young Athenians are left alone on stage. Hermia and Lysander, devastated by the harsh decree that threatens their love, begin to devise a plan of escape, while Demetrius has exited, confident in his legally sanctioned suit.

Around line 233, Lysander reveals his plan to flee Athens with Hermia, proposing they meet in the wood outside the city where Athenian law cannot reach them. He tells her of his wealthy aunt who lives seven leagues away, where they can marry freely. Hermia agrees to this desperate but romantic solution, and they arrange to meet the following night. Their plotting is interrupted by the entrance of Helena, Hermia’s friend, who is lovesick for Demetrius and provides a stark contrast to the mutual love shared by Hermia and Lysander. This scene establishes the central romantic complications that will drive the lovers into the magical forest, where the main action of the play unfolds.

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.