Act III Questions

1. What part of her appearance does Hermia believe Helena exploited to make Lysander fall out of love with her?
Hermia believes that Helena makes Lysander fall out of love with her by telling him that she is short and therefore not worthy of his love. Since Hermia and Helena are opposites of each other: Helena being tall and light featured, and Hermia being short and dark featured- Hermia beleives Helena of saying these things to Lysander to show him that she is the only one worthy of his affections.
2. Think of characters from television or the movies who are tricksters like Puck. Why might audiences enjoy watching the antics of such characters?
Audiences enjoy watching characters like Puck because they always lighten up the mood and make things more enjoyable through comical means. Puck's pranks and hijinks are gauranteed to make the audience/reader laugh and all in all make the comedy more enjoyable for all.
3. In act 3, what emotion does Oberon show he is capable of? How does he show this?
In act 3, Oberon shows that he is capable of the emotions of compassion and empathy. He shows this by trying to set things right amonst the mortals so that all of them could have their rightful and desired loves. He makes Puck fix his error and in doing so, he shows the readers/audience that he is very empathetic, especially of Helena who once had her love, but lost him to her best friend, Hermia. He understands her plight and tries to help her in any way he can, and that just happens to be by charming her love's eyes, and when Puck messes his plan up and both Demetrius and Lysander love her, instead of just leaving the whole mess alone, Oberon tells Puck to fix it so that she can actually have her love as planned, leaving the reader/audience to believe that maybe Oberon wishes this was the way his love life were too: that someone could help him out and that he would have eternal and undying love instead of the untrusting relationship him and Titania share.
4.What causes Helena to become angry with Hermia? Why does Helena refuse to believe her friend and her would-be lovers?
Helena becomes angry with Hermia because suddenly both Demetrius and Lysander love her, and she believes it to be a cruel prank conducted by Hermia to make her feel even worse about herself, and for Hermia to gloat how both men love her. Helena refuses to believe her best friend and would be lovers. She does this because she is used to being the pursuee, not the object of pursuit. She is prone to rejection and is not used to recieving love and much less the love of two men, so naturally, she does not know how to handle herself or this new attention.
5. Do you think Oberon's choice was justified in getting the changeling boy?

Oberon's choice was not justified, because he should not have tricked his wife into loving an ass to acquire the changeling boy. If he truly loved Titania, he would have understood and respected her reasonings for wanting the boy. Even if he still wanted him, Oberon should have reapproached her and asked her instead of messing with her affections.