ACT 1, Scene 1 

Helena

How happy some o'er other some can be!

Through Athens I am thought as fair as she.

But what of that? Demetrius thinks not so;

He will not know what all but he do know:

And as he errs, doting on Hermia's eyes,

So I, admiring of his qualities:

Things base and vile, folding no quantity,

Love can transpose to form and dignity:

Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind;

And therefore is wing'd Cupid painted blind:

Nor hath Love's mind of any judgement taste;

Wings and no eyes figure unheedy haste:

And therefore is Love said to be a child,

Because in choice he is so oft beguiled.

As waggish boys in game themselves forswear,

So the boy Love is perjured every where:

For ere Demetrius look'd on Hermia's eyne,

He hail'd down oaths that he was only mine;

And when this hail some heat from Hermia felt,

So he dissolved, and showers of oaths did melt.

I will go tell him of fair Hermia's flight:

Then to the wood will he to-morrow night

Pursue her; and for this intelligence

If I have thanks, it is a dear expense:

But herein mean I to enrich my pain,

To have his sight thither and back again.

My interpretation of what it is Helena is trying to say:

Helena feels she is just as good as Hermia, but apparently Demetrius does not agree. Demetrius doesnt know Helena loves him, he is too caught up in and in love with Hermia. As Demetrius is busy admiring Hermia, Helena is admiring and in love with Demetrius. I think she is trying to say that Demetrius is only seeing Hermia's beauty and what is on the outside, rather than what she is like on the inside. The only judgment Demetrius has is what he sees of Hermia, and that is beauty for which he has fallen for. She speaks of the immaturity of boys and the fact that Demetrius is committing perjury. She talks about how Demetrius looks at Hermia, but he took oaths that he was only Helena's. As soon as he fell for Hermia, all his oaths and vows he made disappeared and soon meant nothing.  She says she is going to tell Demetrius that Helena is leaving to run away with Lysander to get married. She thinks if he finds out about Hermia's flight, Demetrius will come back to her.