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A Midsummer Night's Dream Gender Roles Essay

430 Words2 Pages

In the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare, women in the play are not the only ones with gender roles, but men too. There are many examples of gender roles for men and women. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, many of the women are expected to let their fathers or men in power make their decisions for them. Helena is very in love with Demetrius, but he does not requite that love, and is very rude to her. Helena decides she has had enough of his attitude and says how unfair it is that men can chase women and love all they want, but women cannot (2.1 247-48). Helena is fighting back at this unfair role that she has been expected to play. Helena is not the only woman that has her choices made for her. Egeus is Hermia’s father, and therefore he is her “controller” and makes many of her decisions for her. Because of this, when Hermia wants to marry someone her father does …show more content…

The male gender role in this play is to be very controlling and powerful. Egeus brought Hermia before Theseus to try to force her to marry Demetrius. Theseus could have said Hermia has free will to marry who she chooses. But instead, he chose to listen to society and not break free from that role. Theseus said “Either to die the death, or to abjure / Forever the society of men. “ (1.1 67-8). He decided to help Egeus control his daughter, who was just following where love lead. Meanwhile, In the forest, King Oberon and Queen Titania were fighting. Oberon wanted a changeling that Titania had been given by one of her loyal followers. The changeling is clearly not Oberon’s but he wants it anyway. After deciding he will do anything to get the changeling, Oberon decides to be blackmail Titania by making her fall in love with an ass-headed Nick Bottom. Oberon is trying to control his equal partner, which is an example of the controlling gender role many of the men have assumed in this

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