Hermia: The Wanted Bride

In English class we just began reading a Midsummer Night's Dream by Shakespeare. It is a very well known play and has a unique plot. There are many different characters in this play with different personalities, but the one that had stood out to me from the very beginning was Hermia.
Hermia is one of the main characters in the play. Both bachelors, Demetrius and Lysander want Hermia as their lover, but her heart belongs to Lysander. Her father, Egeus, on the other hand doesn't want his daughter to marry Lysander, but he wants her to marry Demetrius. Since Demetrius has Hermia's father on his side he is pretty sure that he'll be able to marry the beautiful Hermia. Unfortunately (for Egeus), Hermia is head over heels for Lysander and will not go through with marrying Demetrius. Since there was no sign that a compromise was going to be taken, Egues goes to ask Theseus for guidance to persuade Hermia that she must marry Demetrius. Theseus tells her that either she must grant her father's wishes and marry Demetrius. If she chooses not to then the law states that she must either live as a nun, or face death. Hermia being the strong and confident woman she is, is still not persuaded that it is right for her to marry Demetrius, because he is not the man she loves.
With all that went on in Act 1 with Hermia I found her to be a very confident woman who believes strongly in love. Many girls in that time could not make a decision of their own and they knew that, so they kept their mouths shut and did what they were told to do. Hermia does not do any of this and tells her father and even Theseus, the duke of Athens (without be hesistant or scared) that she will not marry Demetrius because she loves Lysander.
Although I haven't learned much about Hermia yet because there has been only so little revealed about her, I have a sense that she had always been the type of girl that constantly argued with her father. She seems to be that child that always wanted to get her way and no one else's opinion could change that. If she sets her mind to something, she is willing to do anything to make that dream come true.
In order for a person to make a decision without thinking about the consequences or what might happen in the future they have to be stubborn and hard-headed. It also means that the person sometimes can be oblivious to the things around them because they're too focused on what they want they don't realize how it can be taken away from them. This is what happens to Hermia when she tells Helena that she and Lysander had made plans to run away to Lysander's aunt's home and to be wed there. Telling Helena had been a very bad move that Hermia made because even if Helena may have been Hermia's best friend from childhood, Helena is in love with Demetrius and Demetrius is in love with Hermia therefore making Helena jealous because of Demetrius' love for her. Jealousy is a big factor when it comes to anything and everything because the effects that jealousy have on people can lead them to do ridiculous things. In Helena's case, she decides to tell Demetrius about Hermia's plans because she wants to have his attention for once and possibly even thank her with kindness and gentleness. All she wants is Demetrius' attention and the only way to get it (as she is aware) is to mention Hermia and tell him of her plans.
Hermia had been too blind to see that Helena was jealous of her - there had been so many signs because Helena had admired her telling her how beautiful she was and how Demetrius loves her because of her great beauty. Helena then put herself down saying that she isn't as beautiful as Hermia is. These had all been signs that Helena was very jealous of Hermia, but Hermia was so happy with the fact that she was going to get married to Lysander far far away that she didn't pay attention to the details all around her and the clues that Helena could be up to no good.
There are both negative and positive sides of Hermia's character, I admire the confident side of her but I wish that she could've been smarter, wiser, and more observant. She stands up for herself which would've been difficult for many in her time, and it is a precious quality that should be cherished and cared for.