Hermia & Lysander
At the beginning of A Midsummer Night's Dream, Hermia and Lysander are in love, but Hermia's father, Egeus, disapproves of this match. His choice for her husband is Demetrius. She is given the option of marrying Demetrius, nunnery, or death. Therefore, she makes the decision to run away with Lysander to his aunt's house where they plan on being married in secret. However, things do not turn out how they expected. While Lysander is sleeping, a love potion is dripped onto his eyes and Helena happens to be nearby. Lysander awakens to the sight of Helena. He falls in love with her, and abandons Hermia. This is remedied by the end of the play after another potion is used on Lysander. In the end, Theseus finds Hermia and Lysander in the woods, along with Helena and Demetrius, and overrules her father by granting them permission to marry. Although they face many obstacles, Hermia and Lysander's love remains strong.
Hermia
Hermia is the daughter of Egeus, and lover of Lysander. She is close friends with Helena, and their love for each other is spoken of in the play, although they get into an argument over Lysander and Demetrius. This argument, along with Hermia's decision to defy her father and marry Lysander show that she has a strong-willed and rebellious side. Her general sweetness masks an underlying spunk. Not much detail is given about Hermia's physical appearance. It is made clear to the reader that she is short, and supposedly she is very beautiful. In Act 1 Scene 1, Helena says to Hermia:
"Call you me fair? that fair again unsay.
Demetrius loves your fair: O happy fair!
Your eyes are lode-stars; and your tongue’s sweet air
More tuneable than lark to shepherd’s ear,
When wheat is green, when hawthorn buds appear.
Sickness is catching: O, were favor so,
Yours would I catch, fair Hermia, ere I go;
My ear should catch your voice, my eye your eye,
My tongue should catch your tongue’s sweet melody"
Lysander
Lysander is Hermia's love. He makes plans to marry her at his aunt's house. While he is in the woods with Hermia, Puck (Robin Goodfellow) mistakenly gives him a potion while he is sleeping. He wakes up to see Helena, Hermia's best friend, and falls in love with her. He is later given another potion to remedy this, and he and Hermia essentially live happily ever after. Not much is known about Lysander's character other than his love for Hermia. It is said that her father, Egeus, disapproves of him, but a reason is not given. Aside from this, it is indicated that Lysander is fairly well-to do. In a conversation with Egeus during Act 1 Scene 1 he says this:
"I am, my lord, as well derived as he,
As well possess’d; my love is more than his;
My fortunes every way as fairly rank’d,
If not with vantage, as Demetrius’;"