LYSANDER     Why seek’st thou me? Could not this make thee know,

The hate I bare thee made me leave thee so?

HERMIA         You speak not as you think. It cannot be.

HELENA         Lo, she is one of this confederacy.

Now I perceive, they have conjoined all three

To fashion this false sport in spite of me. (3.2.189-194)

Lysander’s really being very unpleasant now, shifting from ‘I love Helena’ to ‘I hate you Hermia’: why seek’st thou me?why did you even bother coming after me? could not this make thee know, the hate I bare thee made me leave thee so? I LEFT you because I HATE you, got that? Hermia’s baffled, appalled, disbelieving—you speak not as you think, it cannot be; you’re not telling the truth, you don’t believe that, I REFUSE to believe that, although she’s protesting too much, perhaps?—but Helena (who has been silent since Hermia’s entry) thinks she’s cracked it: lo, she is one of this confederacy. It’s all THREE of them ganging up on me, now I perceive, they have conjoined all three to fashion this false sport in spite of me. They’re all in on the joke! And she can be a little bit relieved, even, to have worked it out (as she thinks): it’s a prank, they’ve arranged it somehow together; rather cruel, though, going a bit far? but surely that’s what’s going on here. Ha ha. Bullying, that’s what it is. But at least I know what’s going on, and I’m going to give my friend Hermia a piece of my mind…