DEMETRIUS   So should the murdered look, and so should I,

Pierced through the heart with your stern cruelty.

Yet you, the murderer, look as bright, as clear

As yonder Venus in her glimmering sphere.

HERMIA         What’s this to my Lysander? Where is he?

Ah, good Demetrius, wilt thou give him me?

DEMETRIUS   I had rather give his carcass to my hounds.            (3.2.58-64)

Oh, I look grim and dead, do I? asks Demetrius. So should the murdered look, and so should I, pierced through the heart with your stern cruelty. If I’m looking a bit peaky and upset, it’s all your fault, you’re killing me by rejecting me. I’m suffering from a very bad case of love melancholy. You’re the horrible one, this is all your fault! (You’re hurting me by … doing nothing.) I’m in AGONY, it’s no wonder I’m not at my best, yet you, the murderer, look as bright, as clear as yonder Venus in her glimmering sphere. Despite all that, despite the fact that I actually sound like I hate you quite obsessively, I do still think you’re really pretty. You shine out in the night like the evening star.

SO BLOODY WHAT? just shut UP, will you! protests Hermia. What’s this to my Lysander? None of that matters, where is he? Just tell me! She tries another tactic, ah, good Demetrius, you’re one of the nice guys, really, aren’t you, underneath it all? You really want to help, don’t you? Wilt thou give him me? Tell me where he is, what you’ve done with him. Demetrius is coldly, cruelly, furious, and he allows Hermia to believe indeed that Lysander may well be dead, even though he has no idea what’s happened to him: I had rather give his carcass to my hounds. I’d feed his body to the dogs before I told you anything that might enable you to be reunited with him! Such brutality, such disdain.