Helena is not far-fetched at all when she willingly offers herself to Demetrius. She makes three moves: first, she tells Demetrius that Hermia is running into the woods with Lysander, second, she follows Demetrius into the woods, and third, she tells him he can beat her like a spaniel as long as she can be him.
Starting with the third item, sadly, it's not far-fetched at all for women (and men) in love to be...
Helena is not far-fetched at all when she willingly offers herself to Demetrius. She makes three moves: first, she tells Demetrius that Hermia is running into the woods with Lysander, second, she follows Demetrius into the woods, and third, she tells him he can beat her like a spaniel as long as she can be him.
Starting with the third item, sadly, it's not far-fetched at all for women (and men) in love to be willing to put up with all sorts of abuse to be with the beloved. We might not like it and might advise Helena not to be so abject, but what she does is hardly far-fetched, then or now.
As for following Demetrius into the woods: it seems irrational that she could expect to turn him away from Hermia and towards her, but the whole point of the play is that love is a crazy, irrational force that turns the reasonable world upside down. In the play, it takes a love potion to mix the lovers up, but in real life, we know that people fall in and out of love all the time, often with startling rapidity. So again, Helena is not entirely far-fetched to hope she might win Demetrius.
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