Enter DEMETRIUS, HELENA following him.

[Oberon stands apart.]

DEMETRIUS   I love thee not, therefore pursue me not.

Where is Lysander and fair Hermia?

The one I’ll stay; the other stayeth me.

Thou toldst me they were stolen unto this wood;

And here am I, and wood within this wood,

Because I cannot meet my Hermia.

Hence, get thee gone, and follow me no more.       (2.1.188-194)

So Helena’s plan has succeeded thus far, sort of—she’s told Demetrius about Lysander and Hermia’s flight from Athens, he’s gone after them and she’s gone too—but he doesn’t seem best pleased. I love thee not, therefore pursue me not. What are you still following me for? I don’t give a toss about you! Go away! Where is Lysander and fair Hermia? It’s them I’m interested in, not you; the one I’ll stay—that’s Lysander, I’m stopping him in his tracks alright—and the other, that’s Hermia, stayeth me. She stops me, detains me, preoccupies me. Bit obsessed, actually. This is all YOUR fault, thou toldst me they were stolen unto this wood (addressing Helena as thou, being familiar, rude, rather than intimate and friendly) and alright, I believed you, and here am I, and wood within this wood, going MAD (and also increasingly ENRAGED) in this bloody forest, because I cannot meet my Hermia. (And also I seem to be lost.) Hence, get thee gone, and follow me no more. Just piss off, why don’t you, and leave me alone! This is all annoying enough without you hanging around.