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Women Characters in Midsummers Night's Dream by William Shakespeare
In Williams Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream," many of the play's female characters have strong similarities and differences among one another. Although many of the main female characters in the play come from dissimilar backgrounds, their similarities are brought together by common problems associated with society and love. Of the four main female characters, Hippolyta, Titania, Helena, and Hermia, both Hippolyta and Titania are royalty while Helena and Hermia are commoners. However, a common theme associated with Hippolyta, Titania, Helena, and Hermia, regardless of their social caste, is their similarities and differences in dealing with love in a patriarchal society. Nevertheless, the patriarchal society in which Hippolyta, Titania, Helena, and Hermia live in struggles to hinder the feelings and attitudes which provide them with a distinct conception for love in a male dominated society.
Hippolyta is a strong yet silent amazonian beauty who is the love of Theseus, Duke of Athens. Although Hippolyta is largely silent in her dealings with love in the patriarchal society, her physical presence speaks for the untold voice she might profit from. Of the four main female characters Hippolyta is the more silent of the four. However, since Hippolyta is the maiden of Theseus she bears heavy in the decisions Theseus makes about the love quarrels within the play. From the words of Theseus the reader can associate that Hippolyta has a strong impact on the actions he takes when dealing with love and marriage:
For you, fair Hermia, look you arm yourself
To fit your fancies to your father's will,
Or else the law of Athens yeilds you up-...
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Although Helena fails at wooing Demetrius, the fight for Demetrius's love is not hidden behind the patriarchal community of Athen's.
Both Hippolyta and Titania, as well as Hermia and Helena, share common interest in defying the laws of a patriarchal society. The foremost problem associated with a male dominated society in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" was love. Therefore, a common focus associated with Hippolyta, Titania, Helena, and Hermia, in spite of their social standing, is their likenesses and contrasts in handling the idea of love in a patriarchal society. Still, the patriarchal society in which Hippolyta, Titania, Helena, and Hermia reside in strives to impede the feelings and attitudes which make up their idea of what love should become in a patriarchal society.
Bibliography:
The Bedford Introduction to Literature.
By: Michael Meyer
In Shakespeare’s play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, love appears to be the common theme of several storylines being played out simultaneously. Although these stories intersect on occasion, their storylines are relatively independent of one another; however, they all revolve around the marriage of Theseus, the Duke of Athens, and Hippolyta, the Queen of the Amazons. If love is a common theme among these stories, then it is apparent that love makes people act irrationally.
Let’s first talk about Helena and Demetrius. Helena is “damaged goods” because of Demetrius. Demetrius is still a perfectly fine match for anyone. The girls in Athens at this time are disrespected and only seen as items that one can own. In the play, it says “Your wrongs do set a scandal on my sex/We cannot fight for love as men may do. (2.1.244-245) In the play, since men are well-respected, they can do whatever they want and not have to pay the consequences. Since Helena has the “broken seal”, she is not respected, and no boy wants her. Yet, Demetrius is the same way, except that nobody cares whether or not he is...
The hilarious play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, by William Shakespeare, tells the twisted love story of four Athenians who are caught between love and lust. The main characters: Hermia, Helena, Lysander, and Demetrius are in a ‘love square’. Hermia and Lysander are true love enthusiasts, and love each other greatly. Demetrius is in love with Hermia, and Helena, Hermia’s best friend, is deeply and madly in love with Demetrius. Hermia and Lysander try to elope in the woods because Egeus, Hermia’s father, disapproves of Lysander.
This suggests that Hippolyta is more like an object if she is "won" and represents the typical view that men were superior over women. However with Hippolyta's character Shakespeare mocks this ideal, as Hippolyta, being queen of the Amazons, a tribe of warrior women, represents a very strong and independent woman, therefore does not conform to the stereotypical view of the "wife. " Theseus and Hippolytas first scene is important as it sets the scene for the play. Shakespeare stresses the differences between the two. Theseus is very impatient for their wedding to take place: " But, O, methinks, how slow this old moon wanes.
Imagine being a woman in sixteenth century Europe. Females were raised to believe that they were subservient and that men knew better on any subject. Basically, women had no rights. They were considered property, first “owned” by their fathers and then control was “transferred” to the husband chosen for them. Marriage was not about love, but in most cases, it was a business deal that was mutually beneficial to both families – an interesting fact is that like young women, most young men had no choice in the selection of their future betrothed. These traditions and the gender roles assumed by men and women at that time had an impact on Shakespeare’s writing and performances and a great example of this is evident in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
William Shakespeare’s writings are famous for containing timeless, universal themes. A particular theme that is explored frequently in his writings is the relationship between men and women. A Midsummer Night’s Dream contains a multitude of couplings, which are often attributed to the fairies in the play. Each of these pairings has positive and negative aspects, however, some relationships are more ideal than others. From A Midsummer Night’s Dream the optimal pairings are Lysander and Hermia, Demetrius and Helena, and Oberon and Titania; while the less desirable pairings are Theseus and Hippolyta, Hermia and Demetrius, Lysander and Helena, and Titania and Bottom. Throughout A Midsummer
Love is a powerful emotion, capable of turning reasonable people into fools. Out of love, ridiculous emotions arise, like jealousy and desperation. Love can shield us from the truth, narrowing a perspective to solely what the lover wants to see. Though beautiful and inspiring when requited, a love unreturned can be devastating and maddening. In his play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, William Shakespeare comically explores the flaws and suffering of lovers. Four young Athenians: Demetrius, Lysander, Hermia, and Helena, are confronted by love’s challenge, one that becomes increasingly difficult with the interference of the fairy world. Through specific word choice and word order, a struggle between lovers is revealed throughout the play. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare uses descriptive diction to emphasize the impact love has on reality and one’s own rationality, and how society’s desperate pursuit to find love can turn even strong individuals into fools.
Stereotypes are commonly held beliefs that most are all individuals sharing a given trait also should or do share other attributes to be associated with aspects such as race, religion, and physical qualities. In Shakespeare’s “Othello” and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, he uses stereotypes to embody the characteristics of the stereotypical female according to society’s liking. The women in both “Othello” and “A Midsummer NIght’s Dream” are loyal and faithful. Women are bound by respect and loyalty to the men they love. Shakespeare has drawn a line concerning gender roles and the consequences of violating these positions (Bevington, 2014). Women seem to be victimized by society’s influence as they yield to these stereotypes that shape the
A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a play of conflicted love. Thus semi-comedy displays the notion of, the spiritual and natural world working together. The play begins with a noble family discussing a planned marriage. Hermia is arranged to marry a man she does not love. In rebellion she and her lover (Lysander) flees to the woods so they can avoid Athenian law. Before leaving Hermia tells her sister about her plans to run away. In desire to gain revenge and find love herself Helena (Hermia’s sister) chases Hermia and her intended mate into the woods. The forest is where the spirits live, the fairy king, Oberon, is desperate to gain the affection of the fairy queen. He saw cupid shoot his love arrow, which landed on a flower. He is determined that,
The Feminist Subtext of A Midsummer Night's Dream Shakespeare's works have persistently influenced humanity for the past four hundred years. Quotations from his plays are used in many other works of literature and some common phrases have even become integrated into the English language. Most high schoolers have been unsuccessful in their pursuit of a degree and college students are rarely afforded the luxury of choice when it comes to studying the board. Many aspects of Shakespeare's works have been researched but one of the most popular topics since the 1960s has been the portrayal of women in Shakespeare's tragedies, comedies, histories and sonnets. In order to accurately describe the role of women in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, one must first explore the female characters in the text.
In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the main conflict is between love and social relations. The play revolves around the magical power of love which transforms many lives. As a result of this, it gets the reader’s emotionally involved through ways of reminding us of love’s foolishness and capabilities, as well as violence often followed alongside of lust. This play shows passion’s conflict with reason. For example, the father presented in the play Egeus, represents tradition and reason while Hermia represents passion for love and freedom. Egeus wants Hermia to marry Demetrius and accuses Lysander of “bewitching” Hermia with love charms and songs. This is one way love’s difficulties are presented in the play between father and daughter. Additionally, Helena recognizes love’s difficulties when Demetrius falls in love with her best friend Hermia. Helena argues that strong emotions such as love can make extremely unpleasant things beautiful. This is another way the play presents love’s difficulties between lovers and capricious emotions.
Love plays a very significant role in this Shakespearian comedy, as it is the driving force of the play: Hermia and Lysander’s forbidden love and their choice to flee Athens is what sets the plot into motion. Love is also what drives many of the characters, and through readers’ perspectives, their actions may seem strange, even comical to us: from Helena pursuing Demetrius and risking her reputation, to fairy queen Titania falling in love with Bottom. However, all these things are done out of love. In conclusion, A Midsummer Night’s Dream displays the blindness of love and how it greatly contradicts with reason.
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” begins as many typical romantic stories. Two people are in love; in this case, Hermia and Lysander. But an obstacle stands in their way; in this case, Hermia’s father who wants Hermia to marry Demetrius. However, this is where this play begins to differ from all others. Shakespeare leads four crossed lovers, Hermia, Helena, Demetrius, and Lysander, through a winding path that somehow magically ends with everyone happily getting married. The pivotal aspect of this play is Shakespeare’s development of the different characters. In the drama enactment; a character’s appearance, personality, and character are used together to help unfold the story. Characters convey many different kinds of information through an art form called characterization. In the play, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” William Shakespeare does an exceptional job of describing each of the four young lovers. Each one of the characters was given personality, whether distinct or vague, that set them apart from the other characters in the play. Through the actions of the different antagonists, Shakespeare reveals to the audience the different and distinct aspects of each character, including each character’s physical appearances, personality, and specific traits. One aspect that causes the four characters to differ is their physical appearance. While the author Shakespeare makes the appearance of Lysander and Demetrius having virtually indistinguishable physical and monetary figures, he comparatively makes the appearances of Hermia and Helena quite distinguishable, their names being the only thing that is remotely being similar between the two of them. Hermia’s physical appearance is described as having “blessed and attractive eyes,” (ACT ...
Night's Dream, one will notice an immense difference in the way that a noble woman compared
In "A Midsummer Night's Dream," William Shakespeare explains the difficulties of the nature of love. Both false love and true love prevail in the end, leading the reader to come to the conclusion that all types of love can triumph. Hermia and Lysander represent the existence of a "true love", while Helena and Demertrius represent the opposite extreme. Shakespeare presents the idea that love is unpredictable and can cause great confusion. Love is something that cannot be explained, it can only be experienced. Shakespeare challenges us to develop our own idea of what love truly is.