For this second website activity, the assignment was to perform a part of a scene from A Midsummer Night's Dream, and I decided to recreate the scene where Hermia gets into an argument with Helena after Lysander is put under the love spell. In this scene both Helena and Hermia feel betrayed by each other, and understandably so, since Helena thinks everyone else is tricking her and Hermia thinks Helena stole Lysander away from her. Their blind assumptions cause them to get into a heated argument that somehow ends up with them making jabs at each other about their heights (Helena is taller and Hermia is shorter). The Height Fight is a reenactment of the argument between Hermia and Helena in a Charlie Chaplin style silent film that focuses on the comical triviality of this dramatic dispute.

In this performance, my partner and I focus on key lines that pertain to the difference in heights between the female leads to bring out the comical nature of their argument. We wanted to create a silent movie so that we could overexaggerate facial expressions and body movements to portray the overall comedic genre of the play and the notes of humor within the passage. When acting, I tried to emulate a wild animal in terms of movement, especially in the chasing scene and the claw scene, and we speed up the video to further emphasize the jagged, rushed movements. Our choice of music creates an upbeat, lighthearted mood, and the sudden change from one song to another reflects the chaotic nature of the scene. These choices communicate the overall sense of disorder and animal-like behavior of the Athenians that is brought out by the forest while simultaneously focusing on the comedic nature of the passage and the play as a whole.

Acting as Hermia in this scene allowed me to better understand her character and emotions in this scene, especially since we wanted to exaggerate the facial expressions. In the scene where Hermia wakes up, I had to channel her sense of confusion, panic, and desperation when waking up and finding Lysander gone. When she gets rejected by Lysander and encounters Helena, I had to portray a sense of betrayal and anger. I felt her anger bring out the her more primal, animalistic nature. Also, since we were trying to emphasize the comedy and chose lines that pertained to height, I noticed the irrationality of their argument and the fact that their fight is not really about love but more about their insecurities and feelings of being betrayed.