However, this theme ultimately extends beyond Helena's words alone, continuing throughout A Midsummer Night's Dream in a rather fascinating way. While Helena takes note of what love has done to her mental clarity - especially regarding her adoration of Demetrius, whose passion for another leads to his mistreatment of her - there are several points where other characters, believing actually being in love, they choose to ignore reality to pursue their romantic fantasies. This is best seen through the situation with Titania, who, also under a spell, desires Bottom as her lover despite having the detestable donkey head. In this sense, love as an emotion proves no better than a curse in itself, with Shakespeare describing the two as virtually interchangeable, both creating an indistinguishable sense of being paralyzed by the obsession of achieving the ideal fantasy of love. Even more, Shakespeare also chooses to push the boundaries of his work, not only using the characters in his work to expose the fallacy behind the concept of love, but also the audience. Just as they are the only ones listening to Helena's monologue, so are they