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The Shakespeare Sisterhood: HelenaIn Helena we have the remarkable case of a very interesting female character, which is, nevertheless, deficient in one of the chief charms of womanhood; her virtue is above suspicion; her mind well balanced, and marked by sterling good sense, rather than brilliancy; she has ardent affections, deep devotion, indomitable energy, and genuine modesty -- but with scarcely a trace of that higher order of delicacy which should be first in such a combination.This formidable accusation is sustained by the simple fact that Helena permits herself to be married to a proud man against his will, even in spite of his expressed abhorrence of the union and dislike of herself; yet it must be confessed that she maintains this graceless position with marvellous tact. In mitigation of so coarse a shock to the finest instincts of the sex which must "be wooed, and not unsought be won," it may be argued for Helena that in her self-abandonment to a controlling passion, on which her every emotion, every thought, are concentrated, all her other feelings, instincts even, are for the time repudiated, except as they tend towards the one great aim of her life -- the happy consummation of her love. Yet however intense and absorbing her passion may be, she is as guiltless of senseless sentimentality as ... Rosalind; she has staked her life on its successful issue, and to that end she is ready to sacrifice every consideration, short of honor. She never, for an instant, permits herself to entertain a doubt of her ultimate triumph -- because she knows that her only hope lies in her own unwavering conviction that she is capable, in herself, of achieving it. This proud self-reliance is a marked feature of Helena's character, and is finely portrayed in her soliloquy after Bertram's departure: Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie,No heroine could desire a more flattering passport to general favor than that afforded by the friendship for Helena of the noble old countess, who is never more staunchly devoted to her foster-child than when she is returned to her -- a daughter-in-law, and a bride, but worse than widowed. The closeted interview between Helena and the countess is very characteristic of both women: Helena's conduct throughout is distinguished by candor and simplicity; she exhibits, at first, a natural reluctance to declare plainly that she loves the young Count of Rousillon, but she prepares his mother by unmistakable innuendoes for a confession which, when it comes, is full of chaste dignity: Count. I say I am your mother.Side by side with this passionate picture we place another, even more intensely painted; its beauty is vouched for by its universal popularity: I am undone; there is no living, none,Not less characteristic than her deportment with the countess, is Helena's bearing during the very trying ordeal of the husband-choosing; nothing can be more modest than her manner of forcibly taking possession of her beloved Bertram -- for it amounts to that, as she well knows: I dare not say I take you; but I giveYet she is none the less persistent in her purpose, for all his scorn of her low origin, and his assertion that he neither loves her "nor will strive to do't" -- his "recantation" to the king's anger being a mere satire, even more insulting than his plain-spoken rejection. Once married, however, Helena is all discretion, modesty, sweetness; there is a world of plaintive tenderness in her reception of Bertram's letter -- her self-reproach the more bitter because in the realization of her dearest hopes she finds only the source of endless sorrow: Hel. Till I have no wife, I have nothing in France.We should repose more faith in the disinterestedness of Helena's flight from her husband's home, if she did not steer straight for Florence, where she knows he is quartered, and if she were less munificently provided with money and jewels, inappropriate to the estate of pilgrims. But -- All's well that ends well. How to cite this article:___________ Related Articles
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