Male Dominance In A Midsummer Night's Dream

Prior to the 20th century, women have always been perceived as inferior to a man. It was a man’s world, they ruled the family, the workplace, the government and much more. In most modern nations reforms paved the way towards a just and equal society between the genders. This was not the case during the shakespeare’s era, even with a queen in power, all women were objectified. Shakespeare utilizes the play “A Midsummer Night's Dream” to convey the objectificatiffications–rooted from male dominance–that women have to bear, even by people who are supposed to be their biggest supporters. Throughout the play there are many relationships where the man dominates, they decide without considering what the woman wants. This can be seen between Oberon, the king of fairies, and Titania, the queen of the fairies. Titania and Oberon argues about an Indian boy entrusted to Titania by one of her friends. Oberon wants the baby, so he uses his “authority” as her husband, to force Titania to give up the boy. However, she disobeys him and leaves, infuriating Oberon. Oberon refuses to accept defeat, and gets puck, another fairy, to trick Titania with a magic love potion to fall in love with a beast(Nick Bottom). This makes her forget about the Indian baby, so she easily gives it up to Oberon. This shows how Oberon believed what they say goes, and being a husband

He shows that hidden in their claims of love are their true nature of male dominance. He illustrates how it starts even before marriage, as Hermia's father objectified her, and after marriage the person that objectifies just changes to the husband, as oberon objectified tatiana. Shakespeare cleverly shows that inequality is a major problem by shedding light on it through the relationships between characters. He would be proud of the equality of modern developed nations, where law, nor men, support objectifying women, especially the ones they