Control In A Midsummer Night's Dream Essay

“Trying to control other people is the first sign that you are entirely out of control.” (Dion). Grasping for control is a pervasive theme seen in Shakespeare’s, A Midsummer Night's Dream. People try to control each other due to a lack of authority which is shown through the actions of Demetrius, Bottom, and Oberon. Demetrius feels that he does not have any influence over the choices of the lovers, so he attempts to control them to gain power and authority. Demetrius wants to win Hermia from Lysander when he tells Lysander to “yield thy crazed title to my certain right.” (Shakespeare 1.1.93-94) This exemplifies that Demetrius is attempting to control both Lysander and Hermia in this scene. He knows that he can not alter Lysanders mind, so he

He does this to win the disagreement and gain the favor of Theseus. When Demetrius cannot win over Hermia through the approval of Theseus, he speaks right to Hermia, asking her “O, why rebuke you him that loves you so?” (Shakespeare 3.2.45) Hermia constantly rebukes Demetrius' love, proving he has no authority in this situation. Hermia is set on Lysander and Demetrius cannot change that due to the deficit of power that he wields. Demetrius continues to try to get Hermia to love him through manipulation and non-stop bedeviling. He attempts to control the entire situation of the lovers by pushing his beliefs, even if it means disregarding the ideals of other people. Bottom does not have a lot of authority in his life, so he tries to get as much influence as he can and when he does get influence, it gets to his head. Bottom attempts to take control from Quince by commanding him to change the play and for him to, “Let it be written in eight and eight.” (Shakespeare 1.2.26) Quince is the person who should be controlling this play, it is his

The lack of power that Bottom feels is exerted through his domineering actions over the workmen and the overall course of their play. Nick Bottom is making all of Titania’s fairies do menial tasks, for instance, “Scratch my head, Peaseblossom.” (Shakespeare 4.1.7) Bottom is used to feeling the lack of authority, and when Titania falls in love with him, he finally gets the power that he has been waiting for. Bottom is not used to this, as shown in the way that he unnecessarily controls the fairies to do meaningless tasks such as scratching his head or shaving his face. He wields this authority carelessly and this is shown in his misuse of power because of his lack of experience. Oberon has his eyes set on the Indian boy and knows that Titania will not give him up, so he resorts to control. Oberon attempts to manipulate Titania to hand over the boy by saying “I do but beg a little changeling boy” (Shakespeare 2.1.123). Oberon disregards Titania’s ideals because he perceives that he does not have the upper hand. As Oberon and Titania are arguing, he believes that he can persuade Titania through verbal