Essay On The Role Of Women In A Midsummer Night's Dream

During the Elizabethan Age, women were expected to follow a strict code of conduct. In the article “Feminine Identities in A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” George Steppat writes, “Women in the Elizabethan period … were subservient to men and they had no will and choice of their own. They remained completely dependent on their male relatives, believing that they were inferior to them” (Steppat). Subsequently, the female characters portrayed in Shakespeare’s plays conform to the rigid guidelines set for women of his time. In his play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, men’s dominance over women is especially prevalent. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, William Shakespeare uses Hippolyta, Hermia, Helena and Titania's relationships to express the social dominance

While the character of Hermia portrays that of a young, headstrong, and confident woman repeatedly rebelling against her expectations as both a daughter and a woman of society, men still exercise significant influence over her life. When first introduced, Hermia’s father, Egeus, informs Theseus, the duke of Athens, about his daughter’s disobedience saying “Full of vexation come I, with complaint / Against my child, my daughter Hermia. — / Stand forth Demetrius. —My noble lord, / This man hath my consent to marry her: — / Stand forth Lysander—and, my gracious duke, / This man hath bewitch’d the bosom of my child” (Shakespeare I.i.23-29). Egeus's reaction to Hermia’s behavior demonstrates the expectations daughters at the time were given: they were to be subordinate to their fathers, or any other authoritative male figures without question. Yet, Hermia still chooses to disobey her father by refusing to marry Demetrius. Egeus, expecting her to not question the order, is shocked when she expresses her own opinions on the situation. Appalled by her defiant behavior, Egeus turns to Theseus for help. He tells the duke that Lysander is the one responsible for Hermia’s disobedience saying, “With cunning heart thou has filch’d my daughter’s heart; / Turned her obedience, which is due to me, / To stubborn harshness … As she is mine I may dispose of her; / Which shall be either to this gentleman/ Or to her death” (Shakespeare I.i.37-45). Egeus’s immediate blame on Lysander indicates just how uncommon it was for daughters to act out against their fathers. Egeus, so incapable of fathoming Hermia’s defiance, finds himself blaming Lysander for her behavior, thus refusing to believe that Hermia is capable of such rebelliousness on her own. In the article "Shaping Fantasies": Figurations of Gender and Power in Elizabethan Culture, Louis Adrian Montrose agrees, commenting “Egeus effectively