Hermia: I am lost, sad, wet, & exhausted, & I’ve torn my frock (3.2.442-447) #MoonMad #SlowShakespeare

Posted on 26 May 202625 May 2026 by Hester Lees-Jeffries

Enter HERMIA.

HERMIA Never so weary, never so in woe,

Bedabbled with the dew, and torn with briers,

I can no further crawl, no further go;

My legs can keep no pace with my desires.

Here will I rest me till the break of day.

Heavens shield Lysander, if they mean a fray. [Sleeps.] (3.2.442-447)

Hermia speaks six lines, just as Helena did, and in the same form, a quatrain rhymed ABAB and a couplet; this perhaps bodes well for the restoration of their friendship? But Hermia too has had enough, she’s the most physically exhausted of the four lovers, where Helena is the most emotionally wrung out: never so weary, never so in woe—I’ve never been so tired, or so forlorn—and I’m bedabbled with the dew, and torn with briers, all wet, and I’ve ruined my clothes? my special eloping outfit! I can’t go a step further: I can no further crawl, no further go; my legs can keep no pace with my desires: I’d keep going if I could! I would! I want to keep going, to find Lysander! But, Must Rest. No More Steps In Me. Here will I rest me till the break of day. I’ll just have a little break here, just until it’s light? And heavens shield Lysander, if they mean a fray: if it comes to a fight with Demetrius after all, well, may all the gods protect him! Hermia’s shattered, doesn’t know which way is up, and has gone from being Athens’s Most Wanted Fiancée to last year’s model and a (short) embarrassment—but she’s still thinking of Lysander, and loyally wishing him well. Perhaps this will all turn out to be a bad dream?

View 4 comments on “Hermia: I am lost, sad, wet, & exhausted, & I’ve torn my frock (3.2.442-447) #MoonMad #SlowShakespeare”

Mark Culham says:

26 May 2026 at 12:46

Hermia is woeful but despite her ordeal remains true to herself and Lysander. Her prayer to heaven couldn’t be more different than Helena’s prayer to sleep.

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1. Hester Lees-Jeffries says:
  
  26 May 2026 at 22:23
  
  I think that Helena’s allowed to just want to sleep… (and I KNOW you’re team Hermia, your perseverance is admirable!!) I do think that the mirroring of their verses suggests reconciliation, though.
  
  Reply
Sunil Malapati says:

27 May 2026 at 01:37

Interesting that Helena and Hermia both have a ‘Venus and Adonis’ sextet (the ABABCC version did exist before, but Shakespeare’s skillful use in V&A pretty much identified it as such). I found one such sextet in R2 (Act III, Sc 2 77-82, line numbers from Folger). There is a certain show-offiness about rhyme in Midsummer on top of juggling ten thousand plots I found utterly irresistible!

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1. Hester Lees-Jeffries says:
  
  27 May 2026 at 23:53
  
  There is absolutely a show-offiness about it; I shall follow up the R2 example, thank you. The verse in R2 is knottier, I think, but the variety in MND is terrific!
  
  Reply