Contrast

Not only does Shakespeare contrast two different settings to explore reality, he consistently uses contrast throughout the play to enrich the play’s quality and message. For example, Hermia and Helena are contrasted to highlight the sheer inexplicability of love because while Helena is clearly the more beautiful one Elizabethan standards, Demetrius still loves Hermia. This is furthered in the very deliberate lack of contrast between Demetrius and Lysander, because it again highlights that Helena and Hermia’s affections have no rational or logical basis – they love the men they do because that’s just the way it is.