What Are Gender Roles In A Midsummer Night's Dream

A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a play written by the talented William Shakespeare. This play focuses on love and gender roles. The lovers are Hermia, Helena, Lysander and Demetrius. Hermia and Lysander are in love but Hermia’s father, Egeus does not condone their marriage. Helena is Hermia’s best friend and in love with Demetrius. However, Demetrius does not feel the same, for he is in love with Hermia. Egeus wants Demetrius and Hermia to wed and to escape this, Hermia and Lysander flee into the woods to elope in a different town. Demetrius follows Hermia and Lysander with Helena in tow. Then a group of six actors plan to rehearse what they are to perform at the duke’s wedding. Oberon and his wife Titania, king and queen of the fairies are fighting over who get to keep a baby that Titania

Oberon, mad at Titania sends his servant Puck to pour a love potion on her eyes so that when she wakes up, she will fall in love with the first person she sees. Puck is very mischievous so he also pours the juice on Lysander and Demetrius’s eyes and they both wake up to see Helena. Hermia is then left alone because no man loves her anymore. After the mess of love happens, Oberon orders Puck to put an antidote on Lysander and he resumes his love with Hermia. Puck sees one of the actors named Bottom and he wants to play a trick on him so he turns his head into that of a donkey. Titania wakes up and sees Bottom and falls in love with him. After Oberon has had enough of his fun, he makes Titania fall back in love with him. Toward the end of the play, the duke Theseus, commands Egeus to let Hermia and Lysander marry. Helena and Demetrius are in love but the play doesn’t explicitly state that they get married but it can be inferred. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a web of lies and love but it shows that in the end, things might work