Lysander and Hermia were completely infatuated with each other, although their love was frowned upon by Hermia’s father Egeus who thought Demetrius would be a worthier husband. After Puck had interfered, Lysander lost his devotion to Hermia and blindly persued Helena. At first Hermia also thinks that Lysander is mocking Helena, but she then 

realised that his yearning for Helena was in fact authentic and not ridicule, which was a big blow to her ego. Hermia questions Lysander’s sudden change “Why are you grown so rude? What change is this, sweet love?”  Lysander’s response is rather brutal and soul-destroying as he calls her atrocious names “Thy love? Out tawny Tartar, out! Out, loathed medicine! O hated potion hence!” Hermia is extremely confused as Lysander loved her a few hours before “Am I not Hermia? Are not you Lysander? I am as fair now as I was erewhile” She says that she was exactly the same person as she was before Lysander had left her and that she had not changed in the mere hours of their separation. Hermia is confused because she believed that Lysander’s love for her was static and would never change, and when she is confronted with the fact that he does indeed have feelings for Helena, she is distressed, disorientated and disconcerted. This provides great comic value for the audience who can laugh at her misfortune and know the real reason behind it. 

Demetrius and Lysander were rivals before and after Puck’s interference, at first for Hermia, but then for Helena. When they were both courting Hermia, Demetrius had her fathers favour, even though they were of the same social class and had a roughly equal amount of money. “ O am my lord, as well derived as he, as well possessed. My loves is more than his; my fortunes every was as fairly ranked” here Lysander compares himself to Demetrius by saying they have equal wealth, but that his love was greater than Demetrius’s so he should therefore be able to marry Hermia. Lysander also taunts Demetrius by saying “You have her father’s love Demetrius, let me have Hermia’s” which tell’s Demetrius that he should marry Egeus and let Lysander marry Hermia, Demetrius obviously doesn’t warm to this idea. After Puck’s interference they both forgot their previous affection for Hermia and went on to plague Helena. Lysander even tells Demetrius that he can have Hermia “You are unkind Demetrius, be not so, for you love Hermia this I do know.” This shows that all of his interest in Hermia had vanished and that he wouldn’t mind if Demetrius went on to marry her because he was too enamored with Helena to care about what happened to Hermia. 

As the above points illustrate in Act 3 Scene 2 Shakespeare cleverly uses the lovers complete bafflement and confusion at the changes in each others’ affection to great comic effect. The more anguished and quarrelsome the lovers become the more ridiculous they appear and the more the audience laughs at their stupidity.