Question

helena: o that your frowns would teach my smile...
hermia: i give him curses, yet he gives me love.
helena: o that my prayers could such affection move!
hermia: the more i hate, the more he follows me.
helena: the more i love, the more he hateth me.
hermia: his folly, helena, is no fault of mine.
helena: none, but your beauty: would that fault were mine...
hermia: take comfort: he no more shall see my face; lysander and myself will fly this place. before the time i did lysander see, seemd athens as a paradise to me: o, then, what graces in my love do dwell, that he hath turnd a heaven unto a hell!

how do the repetition and parallel structure of hermia and helena’s conversation in lines 34–41 affect the passage?
options:

• they suggest that hermia and helena are too similar in personality to be good friends.
• they highlight that helena wants to act like hermia in order to seem attractive to demetrius.
• they emphasize that helena struggles to understand the problem hermia has with demetrius.
• they show that hermia and helena regularly compete with each other for the attention of others.

Explanation:

To solve this, we analyze the repetition and parallel structure in Hermia and Helena’s conversation (lines 34–41) and the options:

1. Analyze Option 1: The lines show Hermia’s hate and Helena’s love in response to the men’s actions, not about being too similar to be friends. Eliminate.
2. Analyze Option 2: Helena’s focus is on Lysander/Demetrius, not acting like Hermia to attract Demetrius. The parallelism is about their contrasting emotional responses, not imitation. Eliminate.
3. Analyze Option 3: The parallel structure (Hermia: “the more I hate, the more he follows me”; Helena: “the more I love, the more he hateth me”) and repetition highlight their contrasting struggles. Hermia is confused by Lysander’s pursuit despite her hate; Helena is confused by his rejection despite her love. This emphasizes Helena’s struggle to understand (mirroring Hermia’s confusion, shown via parallelism).
4. Analyze Option 4: The passage focuses on their relationships with Lysander/Demetrius, not competing for others’ attention. Eliminate.

The repetition and parallel structure in Hermia and Helena’s dialogue (lines 34–41) highlight contrasting emotional struggles. Hermia’s “the more I hate, the more he follows” and Helena’s “the more I love, the more he hateth” show Helena’s confusion (similar to Hermia’s) about the men’s actions, emphasizing her struggle to understand (as Hermia’s confusion is mirrored). Other options misinterpret the context (e.g., friendship, imitation, or competition for attention are not supported).

Answer:

The correct option is the one stating: "They emphasize that Helena struggles to understand the problem Hermia has with Demetrius." (The option with the circle marker, likely the third option in the list, depending on formatting, but the key is the explanation above.)

(Note: If the options are labeled, e.g., A, B, C, D, the correct one is the one matching the explanation. From the visible text, the third option (with the circle) is the correct interpretation.)