Puck seems to illustrate many of these contrasts within his own character: he is graceful but not so saccharine as the other fairies; as Oberon's jester, he is given to a certain coarseness, which leads him to transform Bottom's head into that of an ass merely for the sake of enjoyment. He is good-hearted but capable of cruel tricks. Finally, whereas most of the fairies are beautiful and ethereal, Puck is often portrayed as somewhat bizarre looking. Indeed, another fairy mentions that some call Puck a "hobgoblin," a term whose connotations are decidedly less glamorous than those of "fairy" (II.i.40).
Lysander.
Hermia''s boyfriend, Lysander, is just as brave as Hermia herself; he stands up to Theseus and Egeus when they insist that his girlfriend marry another man, Demetrius. When these men refuse to listen to reason, Lysander doesn''t take it lying down. Instead, he comes up with a plan by which he and Hermia can escape to safety and marry at his aunt''s house outside Athens. When in the woods, Lysander is the first victim of Puck''s love-juice mischief. He falls in love with Helena instantly, and abandons Hermia without a second thought -- treating his former beloved quite cruelly when she asks why he''s done so, and even offering to fight a duel with Demetrius when they both end up loving the other woman, Helena. Lysander''s madness is reasonably short-lived however, and he is soon himself again. He marries Hermia, and seems just as reluctant as she is to ask himself why, for even a small period of time, he loved someone completely different. .
Helena.
Before the start of the play, Helena has been jilted by her boyfriend, Demetrius, who has decided that he now loves her best friend, Hermia. Helena doesn''t bear a grudge toward Hermia, nor does she react angrily to Demetrius. Rather, she follows Demetrius around like a dog, attempting to win him back by persistent whining. Helena doesn''t understand why he has stopped loving her; after all, she points out, she is just as rich as Hermia, and is also considered just as pretty around Athens (we learn later that the two women represent very different kinds of beauty: Helena is tall and blond, Hermia is petite and brunette).
