HELENA Do not say so, Lysander, say not so.
What though he love your Hermia? Lord, what though?
Yet Hermia still loves you; then be content.
LYSANDER Content with Hermia? No, I do repent
The tedious minutes I with her have spent.
Not Hermia, but Helena I love.
Who will not change a raven for a dove?
The will of man is by his reason swayed,
And reason says you are the worthier maid. (2.2.112-120)
Helena’s baffled, even shocked: do not say so, Lysander, say not so. What are you on about? That’s crazy talk, it doesn’t make sense—and it seems that actually she’s not taking it in, not fully—because her first concern is for Demetrius, whom Lysander has just threatened: what though he love your Hermia? Lord, what though? That’s no reason to threaten actual physical violence against him! And his feelings don’t affect you, surely, they’re irrelevant: yet Hermia still loves you, even though he says he loves her, and that’s all that matters: then be content. Calm down! (A note of bitterness, perhaps: the person you love, loves you back, everything’s OK for YOU.)
So Lysander clarifies in no uncertain terms. Content with Hermia? Hell no! Not any more! No, I do repent the tedious minutes I with her have spent. I’m OVER her, what a waste of time, because this is the REAL THING: not Hermia, but Helena I love. Who will not change a raven for a dove? This is the first suggestion that Hermia is a brunette (and her colouring will become increasingly, and pejoratively, racialised in later scenes), while Helena is apparently fair. Also, who wants the nasty old cawing ill-omened raven, when they could have the soft, cooing dove? Then Lysander reverts to the kind of chop-logic with which he was, only a moment earlier, attempting to persuade Hermia to sleep with him: the will of man is by his reason swayed, and reason says you are the worthier maid. Men, we’re rational creatures, see, entirely in control of our passions, always capable of weighing up the evidence and making the best choice. And my reason says, you’re better than Hermia. Simple! I’m in love with you now!
