HELENA         Injurious Hermia, most ungrateful maid,

Have you conspired, have you with these contrived

To bait me with this foul derision?

Is all the counsel that we two have shared,

The sisters’ vows, the hours that we have spent,

When we have chid the hasty-footed time

For parting us – O, is all forgot?

All schooldays’ friendship, childhood innocence? (3.2.195-202)

Helena is really winding herself up, convinced that she’s worked out what’s going on and taking full possession of the moral high ground. Demetrius and Lysander are not behaving as gentlemen should, but Hermia has betrayed a Sister: injurious Hermia, most ungrateful maid—graceless, thoughtless—have you conspired, have you with these—these, MEN, these BEASTS—contrived to bait me with this foul derision? Are you siding with them in this rather nasty game, insulting and belittling me? But we’ve gone through so much together! Is all the counsel we have shared—the secrets, the daydreams (if one were being uncharitable, one might suggest that this mostly involved talking about Lysander and Demetrius)—the sisters’ vows (we were that close; we swore we’d be best friends for life!)—but all that TIME, the growing up together, the hours that we have spent, when we have chid the hasty-footed time for parting us—it was never long enough, when we were called home by our parents; we’d be on the phone to each other half the night—O, is all forgot? Are you prepared to sacrifice all of that, to say that none of our shared history matters any longer? All schooldays’ friendship, childhood innocence? Does that really mean nothing to you? And it’s histrionic, but it rings true; the pain is real even if the cause is exaggerated, fantastical, drug-induced. If she doesn’t have Hermia, if she can’t trust her, then Helena loses her own past, her own childhood too. I’m losing everything, all at once, she’s thinking.