Essay on Women in William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream

Titania, before her bewitchment, warns Oberon that their own lovers' spat is causing havoc on earth. She speaks of "winds, piping to us in vain/As in revenge" (2.1 88, 90), of the moon, "pale in her anger" (104), and how the seasons "change/Their wonted liveries" (112-13). At first, Oberon cannot see beyond his jealousy of the little changeling Titania has adopted. He sets into motion fantastic spells that upend real love, mimicking the more serious complications wrought by human politics. Naturally, Titania's premonition bears fruit when Puck transforms Nick Bottom into an ass, and again when Lysander falls in love with Helena and forgets about Hermia. These turns of events eventually worry Oberon, too. He tells Puck to make sure to "lead these testy rivals so astray/As one come not within another's way" (3.2 358-59). He prescribes the potion to set things straight, calling the evening's pranks "a dream and fruitless vision," and declaring that with his corrective action, "all things shall be peace" (3.2 377).

Fairies, mortals, magic, love, and hate all intertwine to make A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare a very enchanting tale, that takes the reader on a truly dream-like adventure. The action takes place in Athens, Greece in ancient times, but has the atmosphere of a land of fantasy and illusion which could be anywhere. The mischievousness and the emotions exhibited by characters in the play, along with their attempts to double-cross destiny, not only make the tale entertaining, but also help solidify one of the play’s major themes; that true love and it’s cleverly disguised counterparts can drive beings to do seemingly irrational things.

The queen of fairyland, Titania is a deceivingly strong feminist at the opening of the show. She combats her counterpart, Oberon, with such a rage that diseases run rampant, seasons dangerously alter and all of humanity suffers from their discord. As a

In Shakespeare?s play, numerous examples were given as to how the women are treated like second class citizens. Those examples are concurrent with the Elizabethan time period pertaining to the rules of dating and marriage, respect for elders, and obedience to figures of authority. Children were the property of their parents, and gave them the respect that a servant might give to his master. This was a time when male domination was the norm. In this patriarchal society, women had very little, if any, choice in whom their husbands were to be. In order for families to benefit, marriages were arranged. Shakespeare demonstrates this in the relationships between the dominant Theseus, Egeus, and Oberon and the characters they attempt to control. Egeus demands that his daughter, Hermia, must either marry Demetrius or answer to Athenian law. Theseus orders that if Hermia does not marry his son, she will face death or be sent to a nunnery. Oberon, the king of fairies, after arguing with his Titania over an Indian boy, decides that he will disregard her wants and attempt to control her without

Oberon conjures up a plan in order to get a young child away from Titania, queen of the fairies, whilst doing this he is met with two of our other characters, Helena and Demetrius, “A sweet Athenian lady is in love/ with a huge disdainful youth. Anoint his eyes with the flower as well,” (II.i.268-269) in this point of the story Oberon encounters Helena who is trying to get the attention of Demetrius, who is completely ignoring her. This displays his need to place forceful authority because he is trying to controls Demetrius’s love, by putting him under a spell and making him fall in love with Helena. Unlike Egeus though, Oberon takes control over more than just one character, we see this in act 2 scene 1 lines 83-85 which says “Having once this juice,/ I’ll watch Titania when she is asleep/ And drop the liquor of it in her eyes,” out of the two Oberon would have to be the most controlling, because he in these three lines it shows yet another character Oberon is controlling. In this line though he is attempting to manipulate Titania in order to get the young changeling boy. Thereupon showing that in the face of love, control still will not

Titania gets deceived by Oberon because he ordered Puck to put a love potion into Titania’s eyes.He did it because he wanted her attention and wanted the child for himself. “I'll watch Titania when she is asleep, And drop the liquor of it in her eyes” (II,1,551-552). Titania was busy with the child and never payed attention to Oberon. “Give me that boy, and I will go with thee” (II,1,513). Oberon deceiving Titania wasn't the only deception, the second deception was the love potion. The love potion made Bottom to appear handsome, but in reality Bottom had a face of an ass (donkey). “I pray thee, gentle mortal, sing

In the comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the plethora of comedic styles used by Shakespeare illustrate his intention to poke fun at love throughout the play. The play is notorious for its intricate and irrational plotline, mainly due to the constantly shifting love triangles. Once the powerful fairies become involved with the fate of the naive lovers – Demetrius, Helena, Lysander and Hermia – matters are further complicated. The complication inflicted by the fairies is credited to the powerful love potion that Oberon, King of the Fairies, hands over to Puck, a mischievous fairy, to use on his wife Titania, with intentions to embarrass and distract her. This spiteful attitude is due to Oberon and Titania’s argument over the custody of an

Right after Bottom scared all the people with his ass, he meets Titania (Applied to the love juice). Titania immediately falls in love with Bottom and his ass’s head. When she hears Bottom sing, she says "I pray thee, gentle mortal, sing again: Mine ear is much enamour'd of thy note; So is mine eye enthralled to thy shape; And thy fair virtue's force perforce doth move me. On the first view to say, to swear, I love thee." (Act 3 Scene 1 Line 121). She treats Bottom like her own child, she feeds him, she sleeps with him and pampers him. This is a comedy, as it is absurd to fall in love with a person with an ass. When Oberon takes the spell away from Titania, she also thinks that it is not possible and is startled. She says “My Oberon, what visions i have seen! Methought I was enamour’d of an ass.” (Act 4 Scene 1 Line 75). Titania is a the queen of fairies and has a lot of power and reputation amongst her people, In Act 3 Scene 1 Line 139, she was so powerful, she could just say “I’ll give thee fairies to attend on thee”, and Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Moth and Mustardseed immediately came to serve her. Titania should not be under a spell. Imagine Julius Caesar falling in love with a hippo, it just does not make

Another conflict that shows the contrast between rationality and irrationality is the relationship dynamics of Titania and Oberon, the queen and king of the fairies. They are both extremely stubborn and selfish, which causes a disturbance in the typical weather patterns of their realm. In spite of their responsibility to ensure the well-being of the forest, they argue over foolish things-especially over the Indian boy that Titania has been raising. Oberon decides he cannot be happy unless he has the boy for himself, and resorts to desperate measures to get his way. In this case, irrationality wins against rationality. Rather than working through his marriage problems with Titania, Oberon sends Puck to put a potion on Titania’s eye, which makes her fall in love with the first thing she sees. This conspiracy allows Oberon to snatch away the child while Titania is distracted. Although the marriage worked out in the end, it is based on the deception of a desperate husband who wanted his way.

They are the former couple’s inverse, and the play’s characters lives all change because of Oberon and Titania.

Theseus says things that are nice or complementive. He says, “Fair lovers, you are fortunately met: Of this discourse we more will hear anon. Egeus, I will overbear your will.”(4.1.l180-182) He is telling them that they have met at a convenient time and that they will hear more of what happened shortly. The nice thing about what he said is that he won’t have to kill anyone on that day and that the two pairs of lovers will be wed together. Also, after each part in the play, he compliments each actor for their performance. Oberon says things that are mean or on his mind. He says, “Tarry, rash wanton: am I not thy lord?” (2.1.63) First, he calls her a tar like presumptuous woman that displays a lack of consideration of the possible consequences of an action. Next, he implies that he is above her by calling himself her lord. This is just a mean thing to say to anyone and the fact that he said it to his wife just amplifies that what he says to others is awful. Oberon also says, “This is thy negligence: still thou mistakest, Or else committ'st thy knaveries wilfully.”(3.2.345-346) He is scorning Puck at this point because of the mistake he had made in the description of Demetrius. He assumes that Puck did this on purpose to cause the couples harm. He doesn’t even suspect that his vague description was the problem. What a person says to others can reveal a lot that might otherwise not be

Oberon demands, “How can you stand there shamelessly talking about me and Hippolyta, when you know that I know about your love for Theseus? And weren’t you the one who made him cheat on all of his other girlfriends, like Aegles, Ariadne, and Antiopa? (Shakespeare II.ii.76).

Titania is arguably the strongest women in the play; however she is still susceptible to the devious schemes of Oberon and Puck. She is tricked, by the use of a love-juice potion, into falling in love with Bottom who appears to have an ass’s head, “An ass’s nole I fixed on his head” (III.ii.17). This event leads to Oberon asking her for the changeling child “Which straight she gave to me,” (IV.i.58) showing that even strong woman can be tricked by men, which is still

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.