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Midsummer Night's Dream: Similarities Between Hippolyta And Titania

790 Words4 Pages

Mydison Britton
Sr. Thomas Moore
Block A
5/22/2023
A Midsummer Night’s Dream Comparison
In the play A Midsummer’s Night Dream by Shakespeare, Titania and Hippolyta are power female characters who represent various aspects of authority. Titania is the queen of the fairies and is associated with nature and magic. Hippolyta is the queen of Athens and former Amazonian who represents strength and independence. Though they live in two separate realms, the two sides of the play seem to connect at the end when both couple relationships are restored. Hippolyta and Titania both have a strong presence in the play, and they challenge the male character’s assumptions about gender roles. Although Hippolyta and Titania from William Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream share some similarities, their differences in terms of power, social status, and attitude towards love make them two very distinct characters. …show more content…

Theseus speaks ownership over the once powerful amazon queen Hippolyta claiming he, “wooed thee with my sword/ And won thy love doing thee injurie” (1. 1. 17-18). He demonstrates control over their relationship, by conquering her love with violence. Unlike them, Titania and Oberon’s power is level-handed, and not the typical hierarchal relationship. Along with these seditious acts comes problems and arguments, which cause turbulence inside the fairy kingdom. In act two scenes one Robin Goodfellow voices, “And now they never meet in grove or green/ By fountain clear or spangled starlight sheen/ But they do square, that all their elves for fear creep into acorn cups and hide them there” (2.1.28-31). While the two couples seem to live in two different worlds, dissension arises as a similar factor: with Hippolyta and Theseus dealing with the four lovers, and Oberon and Titania and their problems with the

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/ O, then, what graces in my love do dwell / That he hath turn'd a heaven unto a hell!'” which is a quote stated by Hermia; I think this quote is discussing what she think may happen to her if she follows her heart to marry Lysander she is unsure whether she will go to heaven or hell for the disobedient actions she has taken. So as you can see the love/hate triangle going on is very somewhat “Out of whack” There’s not much good coming out of how they feel about each other, definitely not a kind of relationship that I would enjoy getting deep into reading about, but I have to be honest this is a story filled with very eager and brave women who will go after what they want with no problem or scarce in their hearts(Sounds exactly like me)!

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