Helena

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Helena (A Midsummer Night's Dream)

Helena is a fictional character and one of the four young lovers - Demetrius, Lysander, Hermia and Helena - featured in William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream which is a play about lovers, fairies and mechanicals. It was written to be played in the Globe theater in 1596.

She is the daughter of Nedar, a member of Theseus court and the Athenian aristocracy, and a friend of Hermia, with whom she is often compared. Prior to the play's beginning, she is betrothed to the nobleman Demetrius but is jilted when his affections turn to Hermia instead. Despite this, Helena's abiding love for Demetrius remains consistent throughout the play. Hermia and her lover, Lysander, confide in Helena that they plan to elope. In the hopes that she will gain back some of his respect, Helena tells Demetrius of Hermia and Lysander's escape and, that night, the two follow the lovers into the forest.

Though Demetrius is deliberately cruel towards her, Helena remains honest in her devotion to him. Her behaviour catches the attention of Oberon, who commands that Puck enchant a sleeping Demetrius so that he will fall back in love with Helena. When Puck mistakenly enchants Lysander instead, then put the potion on the real Demetrius. Both men become enamoured with her and desert Hermia in the woods. Confused by the sudden change in behaviour, Helena convinces herself that the three other lovers have banded together to ridicule her. Throughout her conquest for Demetrius' love, she becomes convinced the others are merely mocking her tried but true efforts for love. Helena is left confused and hurt by how ungentlemanly and unfriendly her closest comrades are. In the play's climax, she and Hermia nearly come to blows while the two men set out to kill one another for Helena's affections.

Why Should the Fire Die?

Why Should The Fire Die? is the third major album release and fifth album overall by progressive acoustic trio Nickel Creek. The album was released on Sugar Hill on August 9, 2005 in the United States, and on August 8 in the United Kingdom.Why Should the Fire Die? is the first Nickel Creek album to feature string bassist Mark Schatz.

The album peaked at #17 on the Billboard 200, making it the highest charting Nickel Creek album on the chart to date.Why Should the Fire Die? also topped both the magazine's Top Internet Albums and Top Bluegrass Albums charts. By November 2006, the album had sold 258,784 copies. The album earned Nickel Creek two Grammy Award nominations: the award for Best Contemporary Folk Album, an award which they previously won for This Side, and the award for Best Country Instrumental Performance ("Scotch & Chocolate").

Why Should the Fire Die? was praised by contemporary music critics primarily for its creativity, and for its instrumental quality, with one critic complimenting the album's "sheer musical brilliance".