What are some love and madness' characteristics that Shakespeare explores and their impact on Helena and Demetrius?Are these same characteristics...

A recurrent theme in “A Midsummer’s Night Dream” is love,
and we may say that the magic potion used to anoint the eyes of the characters, may
symbolize it. We see that Puck squeezing the love potion into the wrong characters
provokes confusion or even madness. As a result, everything goes wrong. Lysander stops
loving Hermia and becomes in love with Helena. Titania falls in love with Bottom, who
has been transformed into an ass.
However, the characters in the play see
love differently. For Lysander, “the course of true love never did run smooth” Act1.1
34, meaning that love is too complicated. In fact we easily understand this, as the
woman he loves is forbidden to marry him. Similarly, Helena’s infatuation for Demetrius
just causes unhappiness to her.
Conversely, if we look at the kingdom of the
fairies Oberon, the king, and Titania, the queen, seem to be rather unfaithful, as it
shows in the following lines:

readability="24">

 “Then I must be thy lady; but I
know

When thou hast stol’n away from fairy
land

And in the shape of Corin sat all
day,

Playing on pipes of corn, and versius
love

To amorous Phillida.” Act 2.1
65-68

Or in

“How canst thou
thus for shame, Titania,

Glance at my credit with
Hippolyta,

Knowing I know thy love to Theseus?” Act 2.1
74-75

On the other hand, the
artisans have a tragic vision of love, since they rehearse a play about unhappy and
unfortunate love, which reminds us of Romeo and Juliet. As for Theseus, the Duke of
Athens, love turns out to be a rational matter-he has battled the Amazons and captured
their queen. Logically, she has to become his wife.
Hence, we may associate
love with madness in that the transformations that induce the characters to love the
wrong person, provoke disorder. In fact, the idea of this play reminds us of the
so-called “Midsummer madness”, in which madness would invade earth during the longest
day and the shortest night. On the other hand, we may consider that the wood in which
the "Dream" and madness take place, functions as a world of folly, chaos and fantasy,
which contrasts to the world of reason, law and hierarchy of the
court.