Magda's Exploration Report

I decided to research a little more about A Midsummer Night's Dream, and found it interesting how much the two female characters, Hermia and Helena, are being discussed in modern conversation, especially in the context of feminism, race, and beauty standards. This play certainly would not pass the Bechdel test, and going on Reddit instantly sent me to conversations about how Hermia and Helena view their own beauty, and how it is reflective of what the men in their lives think about them (https://wilson.fas.harvard.edu/stigma-in-shakespeare/helena-and-hermia%E2%80%99s-ugliness). It was also interesting to see that a lot of paintings and drawings actually focus on the relationship between Helena and Hermia rather than the relationship between the girls and their lovers, even though initially I thought the idea of romantic love was more prevalent in the book than the girls' friendship (https://www.flickr.com/photos/sofi01/8597994013). There is even an Argentinian film called Hermia and Helena that might be interesting to look into when researching further how the girls' friendship is being discussed today. (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5880296/).