Laws In A Midsummer Night's Dream

In William Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream some traditional laws are broken. In the play, a father and daughter are arguing over who the daughter should marry. The girl wants to marry the one she loves; however, the father has chosen another man and is appalled that his daughter will not obey him. In daughter decides to run away with her lover so they can be together and avoid the law of the land. Shakespeare does this to divide our interest sharply between sympathy for the character and desire to support the principles of society, to arouse sympathy for the character who is violating the rules, and to laugh with the character at the convention that are being violated. Making the reader develop feelings for the characters

In the case of A Midsummer Night’s Dream Egeus wants his daughter Hermia to marry a man named Demetrius; however, Hermia is in love with a man named Lysander. Egeus becomes frustrated with his daughter and decides to ask the duke of Athens to enforce the law and tells him “which shall be either to this gentleman or to her death”(1.1.43-44). Theseus starts off by saying “To you your father should be a god”(1.1.47), which means Hermia should respect her father as if he was a god and then rules that if Hermia does not marry Demetrius she shall become a nun saying,“if you yield not to your father’s choice, You can endure the livery of a nun”(1.1.69-70). This ruling forces the reader to choose either the side of Egeus and allow the Athenian law to uphold or choose the side of Hermia and allow her to be an exception of the law and marry

Hermia is violating the rules by disobeying her father's orders to marry Demetrius. She loves Lysander and refuses to marry Demetrius, a man she does not love. Hermia and Lysander are so in love that they decide to run away together. Lysander says “From Athens is her house remote seven leagues, And she respects me as her only son. There, gentle Hermia, may I marry thee”(1.1.160-161). Lysander wants to go live with his aunt because he believes she will take good care of them and says, “And to that place the sharp Athenian law Cannot pursue us”(1.1.162-163). Hermai agrees with Lysanders idea of running away and tells him “Tomorrow truly will I meet with thee”(1.1.178). This makes the reader develop sympathy for Hermia because the reader wants her to be with the one she loves. The reader does not want to have Hermia be forced into marrying someone she does not want to