William Shakespeare 's A Midsummer Night 's Dream

Gender roles and love are entangled throughout history. This is evident in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. This can be observed through the tested loyalty, power struggles, and belief of ownership. Shakespeare uses gender roles to create different perspectives of love, thus forcing characters to act irrationally in relationships which cause conflict.

Theseus and Hippolyta are the mature, stable couple and represent that love can be built over time. These two were never childhood sweethearts instead they are from a life of power and control. Hippolyta herself was Queen of the Amazons. She is used to being in charge and getting what she wants. She is a warrior. However when Theseus states “Hippolyta, I wooed thee with my sword. And won thy love doing thee injuries; But I will wed thee in another key, with pomp, with triumph, and with reveling” (Shakespeare 1394). We learn that Hippolyta was a reward, she was to be his woman with no say in the matter. Theseus actions are stating that love can be can be bought. Theseus is in control of Hippolyta. Inside the world of the play, disparity

In the city-state of Athens, where Shakespeare sets his play, there is a very rigid and stable patriarchy which keeps The Great Chain of Being in place. When talking about their coming marriage, Theseus, the duke of Athens explains how because he defeated Hippolyta, the queen of the Amazons, he gets to marry her due to the fact that he has God given power over her: "Hippolyta, I wooed thee with my sword / And won thy love doing thee injuries" (1.1.17-18). Hippolyta is only marrying Theseus because he is forcing her to. Hippolyta was the queen of the Amazons, a group of women warriors, who defied the patriarchy by saying that they didn't need men, but despite this, once conquered she has no power over the men. She has no choice about who to marry once conquered, similar to Hermia and Helena, just because she is a woman.

In the play, A Midsummer’s Night Dream begins with Theseus, Duke of Athens, preparing for his marriage to Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons, with a four-day festival. Egeus, a citizen of Athens, goes to see Theseus with a complaint against his daughter: although Egeus has promised Hermia in marriage to Demetrius, who loves her, Lysander has won Hermia’s heart and refuses to obey her father and marry Demetrius. “Theseus speaks to Hermia, warning her to

A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare is a brilliant play that shows elements of romance, comedy, and magic. The play takes place in Athens, Greece in ancient times, when men and women had specific roles, jobs, and rules applying to their gender. For example, women were not allowed to perform in plays, when men were. There were also stereotypes of men and women, such as men being stronger, and women being prettier. These rules and stereotypes affect A Midsummer Night’s Dream in many ways. Gender’s rules, stereotypes, and roles are apparent in A Midsummer Night’s Dream because of it’s time period, and its culture.

The biggest obstacle in this play occurs when the power of love is challenged by authority. The play starts with Theseus, duke of Athens, being eager to marry Hippolyta, who he wooed with his sword in combat. Although Theseus promises Hippolyta that he will wed her “with pomp, with triumph, with reveling,” true love between them is questionable. By starting the play with Theseus and Hippolyta, Shakespeare hints the audience of the authority involved in their marriage and leaves the audience wonder if they actually love each other. The focus is then shifted to the four lovers: Hermia, Lysander, Demetrius and Helena - by establishing the story of Hermia being forced by her father, Egeus, to marry Demetrius, when the person she actually wants to marry is Lysander. However, Egeus

The play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare, demonstrates many aspects of a feminist approach to play writing. By examining the Athenian patriarchal order, male dominance, and the overall portrayal of women in the play, it becomes clear that Shakespeare is in favor of patriarchal order and a strongly male dominated society, much like the society in which the play was written in. During the time A Midsummer Night’s Dream, England was under a patriarchal order. “Even though there was an unmarried woman on the throne in Elizabethan England, women were still considered to be the weaker sex.

Hippolyta is the type of person who will do anything for her kingdom. But, when loving a kingdom so much, there are some consequences. Correspondingly, she has to marry Theseus in order to keep the peace between the two kingdoms. This quote is evidence of how she was forced to marry Theseus. He stated, “ Hippolyta I wooed thee with my sword and won they love doing thee injuries” ( Shakespeare 1.1.16).

At the time A Midsummer Night’s Dream was written, social expectations were a lot different than what one would see in the current world. Women were not only forced into marriages with men they did not love, but they were also considered property of their fathers. In the first act, Egeus accuses Lysander of taking his daughter’s obedience which is “due” to him (Egeus) (1.1.22-41). Egeus suggests that Hermia’s choices are strictly controlled by him, for he is the one who decides on what his daughter will amount to. Theseus then goes on to say that Hermia should see her father as a “god” (1.1.46-52). Although Hermia desires to marry Lysander, society requires her to abide her father’s wishes. This is not the only example of a social expectation that is in the play. When Theseus states “Hippolyta, I wooed thee with my sword,” the reader learns that Theseus won Hippolyta in battle (1.1.12-19). He is not marrying her out of love, but merely because she is his property. Theseus did well in battle, and Hippolyta is his

This quote really sets the tone and the atmosphere for the entire play because it allows readers to create a time line of events and essentially immerse within it. This quote is stating that four days will quickly come and go, the days will turn into nights, and the dreaming that occurs during one’s slumber will allow the time to pass even more quickly. Because of Hippolyta’s unique circumstances, it is easy for one to assume that this quote was merely said because of her unconventional and rapid marriage to Theseus. Theseus is the Duke of Athens, and it has been previously mentioned that Hippolyta is the Queen of the Amazons. Upon the beginning of the play, it is known that Theseus has just defeated and returned from a battle with the Amazons. As victor, his spoils include, among other things, marrying Hippolyta. While Theseus is expressing his undying love for his future wife, Hippolyta obviously does not return the sentiments. It is possible that this quote is Hippolyta’s way of merely cursing the effect of dreams because they are ultimately shortening the time that she has left as an unmarried woman. Because she is not in love with Theseus, and is just a victim of an arranged marriage, her dreams permit each day come and go with ease, yet ultimately make the

This essay examines the question ‘To what extent does William Shakespeare depict male superiority through Hippolyta and Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream?’. The essay commences by looking first at the social and historical context in which the play was written and identifying the methods of research used to obtain the facts and opinions in the essay. The essay continues, discussing the themes of love, relationships and sexuality, focused on the characters of Hippolyta and Titania and how Shakespeare portrays the superiority of males through these two themes and characters. The significance of male dominance in the play is then discussed, looking at how it adds comedy that may not be quite as apparent in a modern day feminist reading of the

When Lysander tells Helena he loves her, she believes he is mocking her. Oberon, realizing Puck had made a mistake, tells Puck to put the love juice on Demetrius’ eye so he will love Helena. When Demetrius awakes, he sees Helena and falls in love with her. Helena also believes he is mocking her. When Hermia awakes, Lysander tells her he is no longer in love with her and is in love with Helena. Hermia blames Helena for stealing Lysander’s love and scorns her. While Hermia and Helena are arguing with each other, Lysander and Demetrius are arguing over Helena and plan to have a duel over her. Oberon realizes he must stop the duel and sends Puck to remove the juice from Lysander’s eye so he will love Hermia again. As the night carries on, the four fall asleep. After puck removes the juice from Lysander’s eye, the four are left sleeping in the woods. The next morning as Theseus is showing off his hunting dogs to Hippolyta, he sees them sleeping in the woods and wakes them. As the four awake, they do not remember the day before and believe it was a dream. Egeus, who was accompanying Theseus, asks for his daughter’s answer. Demetrius, still under the love juice, explains to Egeus that he no longer loves Hermia and wishes to marry Helena. Theseus then makes a decision that both the couples will be married with him and Hippolyta later that day. The theme of the play is love cannot be forced or forced away. The theme of the play is developed

Hermia has been promised to Demetrius by her father; however she is unwilling to marry him as she is in love with Lysander. We are introduced to this theme when they visit Thesus, the figure of authority in the play, who makes it clear that women are not to have their own identity, but instead are

Shakespeare may be the most known playwright of all time, however, you may be surprised at how many unfair stereotypes this very famous writer incorporated into his plays. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a comedy play written by William Shakespeare in the late 1500s that portrays events surrounding the marriage of Theseus, the Duke of Athens, to the extravagant Hippolyta, the former queen of the Amazons. Such events included Demetrius jilting Helena at the altar and falling in love with Helena’s rival instead, Hermia. However, Hermia is in love with Lysander, not a disdainful youth known as Demetrius. According to feminist theory, the theory that focuses on gender inequality. A Midsummer Night’s Dream would not be considered a feminist empowerment play because throughout the play Shakespeare portrays women as timid/easily frightened. He shows men having more power than women, and perpetuates the unfair stereotype that all women must act a certain way.

Women have a specific role throughout the Elizabethan society and are known as inferior. In Shakespeare’s play, A Midsummer Nights Dream, women are told how to act by men, that reveals superiority towards men. This is portrayed by the characters-Hermia, Helena, and Titiana throughout the play. These characters were represented as powerless and blind because they fail to receive what they what and are told what to do countless amounts by the men in the play. Women's’ inferiority in the play makes it impossible for them to achieve true happiness attributable to the superiority the men in the play believe they have.