st as difficult
to delineate in fiction as to find in real life, has Shakspeare given us
in Helena; touched with the most soul-subduing pathos, and developed
with the most consummate skill.

Helena, as a woman, is more passionate than imaginative; and, as a
character, she bears the same relation to Juliet that Isabel bears to
Portia. There is equal unity of purpose and effect, with much less of
the glow of imagery and the external coloring of poetry in the
sentiments, language, and details. It is passion developed under its
most profound and serious aspect; as in Isabella, we have the serious
and the thoughtful, not the brilliant side of intellect. Both Helena and
Isabel are distinguished by high mental powers, tinged with a melancholy
sweetness; but in Isabella the serious and energetic part of the
character is founded in religious principle; in Helena it is founded in
deep passion.

There never was, perhaps, a more beautiful picture of a woman's love,
cherished in secret, not self-consuming in silent languishment--not
pining in thought--not passive and "desponding over its idol"--but
patient and hopeful, strong in its own intensity, and sustained by its
own fond faith. The passion here reposes upon itself for all its
interest; it derives nothing from art or ornament or circumstance; it
has nothing of the picturesque charm or glowing romance of Juliet;
nothing of the poetical splendor of Portia, or the vestal grandeur of
Isabel. The situation of Helena is the most painful and degrading in
which a woman can be placed. She is poor and lowly; she loves a man who
is far her superior in rank, who repays her love with indifference, and
rejects her hand with scorn. She marries him against his will; he leaves
her with contumely on the day of their marriage, and makes his return to
her arms depend on conditions apparently impossible.[31] All the
circumstances and details with which Helena is surrounded, are shocking
to our feelings and wounding to our delicacy: and yet the beauty of the
character is made to triumph over all: and Shakspeare, resting for all
his effect on its internal resources and its genuine truth and
sweetness, has not even availed himself of some extraneous advantages
with which Helen is represented in the original story. She is the
Giletta di Narbonna of Boccaccio. In the Italian tale, Giletta is the
daughter of a celebrated physician attached to the court of Roussillon;
she is represented as a rich heires