What Is The Role Of Women In A Midsummer Night's Dream

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Throughout human history, there have been an endless amount of conflicts regarding gender roles where women are now fighting for their rights and becoming more powerful than ever before. In his play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare portrays several characters conforming to traditional customs and gender roles however, in this play some women portray behaviours that go against these norms and societal ideas at the time. Through Helena’s desperation, Hermia’s recklessness and Hippolyta’s hypocritical behaviour, as they go against society’s standards, Shakespeare’s view on women are depicted. In this day and age, women do have their own rights and are obliged to go to work- they are no longer treated as possession like the were during the …show more content…

In Act 2; Scene 1, she questions traditions by stating, ‘We cannot fight for love, as men may do; we should be wooed, and were not meant to woo.’ Throughout the play, rather than the boy chasing the girl, Helena chases after Demetrius trying to persuade him to love her. Although, the audience do know that she was put under a spell to woo Demetrius, this is not the find of behaviour you would find for women in Ancient Greece. This example of where roles are reversed suggests that in Ancient Athens, women were generalized as people who were not able to control themselves and this is why they needed to be supervised under a man. In addition, when Helena says, ‘I am your spaniel...The more you beat me, I will fawn on you; Use me but as your spaniel…’ Several times, Demetrius tells Helena to leave him alone but she chooses not to listen to him and continues to follow him and make him ire even when she knows he does not love her. This line shows that she is willing to do whatever it takes to submit herself to Demetrius and behaves like a dog in order to receive attention from him. This also portrays the low self esteem and self confidence within Helena and how she has no pride left in her at all. She is someone who is dependent on men and her self-respect also does not matter to her. Helena fulfils the role women are expected to play where they are seen as inferior in their male dominated

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