death or “a vow of single life.” Initially, Lysander and Hermia grieve at this pronouncement, and Lysander waxes poetic in his misery, speaking of how quickly “bright things come to confusion.”

Eventually, Lysander leaves off his grief and begins to think practically about what he and Hermia can do about their predicament. He has an aunt, he tells her, who lives seven leagues away from Athens. They can go there, marry, and be safe outside of the realm of Athenian law. Hermia is to meet Lysander in the woods the next night. She, of course, agrees to this plan.

Lysander makes a mistake when he allows Hermia to tell Helena about their plan to escape. He does not understand the depths of Helena's jealousy toward Hermia over Demetrius; he fails to realize (as he might have if he were just a little wiser) that their secret is not safe with Helena.

One character trait Lysander exhibits is resourcefulness. As the play opens, he doesn't let Hermia do all the pleading with Theseus to try to prevent her marriage with Demetrius. Lysander himself speaks directly to Theseus, trying to make a rational case for his suitability to marry Hermia, saying he comes from the same rank and has a similar income to Demetrius—with the added advantage that he is loved by Hermia:

Lysander's primary character trait is the same as Demetrius's primary character trait. As a matter of fact, the two of them are basically interchangeable. What operates strongly in both of them is the fact that both are ruled by their passions. When their passions are engaged, all they are able to focus on is getting those passions fulfilled. Neither one employs much, if any, thought in their pursuits of the objects of their desire, and when, through Puck's magic, and through the fickle-ness natural to this level of romantic passion, the  object of their passions shift, they blindly go along with the new focus of their desires without a moment of self-questioning or regard for the abandoned love object. Lysander's primary character trait would be, then, mindless obedience to personal, passionate desire.

We first meet Lysander in Act 1, sc. 1 when he, along with Demetrius and Hermia, is brought to Theseus by Egeus.  Egeus doesn't want his daughter to marry Lysander.  He says that Lysander has won Hermia's heart with sweet words and sweet actions and trinkets.  This shows us that Lysander is a sentimental man.  He is also clever because he is the one, at the end of the scene, who devises the plan for Hermia and him to escape to his aunt's home outside of Athens.  He is also shown to be a passionate man when he awakens with the nectar on his eyes and sees Helena with whom he instantly falls in love.  We also see a streak of meanness in him when he speaks to Hermia in Act 3, sc.2 and he thinks he's in love with Helena.  Later, in Act 5, when he and the others are watching the play put on by Bottom and crew, his comments about the play and its performers are funny, which shows he has wit. 

At the beginning of the play, Lysander is in love with Hermia and wants to marry her. However, Hermia's father, Egeus, refuses to give his permission for the marriage, preferring that his daughter marry Demetrius instead. As a consequence of Egeus's refusal, Lysander and Hermia decide to elope. Lysander proposes that they elope to his aunt's house and get married there in secret.

In the woods, however, Puck (accidentally) sprinkles Lysander's eyes with a love potion that makes Lysander fall in love with Helena. He remains in love with Helena until Puck gives him an antidote to the potion. Lysander's love for Helena is not a genuine love—as his love for Hermia is—but is merely a consequence of the love potion. Lysander is always really in love with Hermia.