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Women In A Midsummer Night's Dream

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Midsummer Night’s dream is a great piece of work from the all-time famous writer William Shakespeare, many people have categorized this piece of work as romantic comedy. However, while this play is lovely and comic, it also has strong trace of darkness and cruelty, especially related to feminine characters. Even the happy ending with weddings was driven by attributed magic. Also, during the whole play it clearly depicts how male-female relationships can involve a great amount of cruelty, with the potential to spread discord throughout society.
During the play, nearly all the male character made their female a victim of cruelty at some point. Even Theseus who is claiming Hippolyta to be his love, won her by military conquest rather courtship. …show more content…

The roles of women in society were very limited, matter fact they were not treated as first class citizen or human at some point. “It has become quite a truism that our women are like dogs, that more you beat them the more they love you.” (Wife Torture in England. 64). Even though there was an unmarried woman on the throne in during Elizabethan England, the women had been restrained. Elizabethan society was once patriarchal, which means that men had been viewed to be the leaders and females their inferiors. Female has been considered as "the weaker sex", no longer simply in phrases of bodily strength, however emotionally as well. It used to be traditional belief that women consistently needed any individual to look after them. If they had been married, their husband was anticipated to look after them. If they were single, then their father, brother or a further male relative was once anticipated to handle them. In that omnipresence, it was not something uncommon that they were being victimized of cruelty by those men, women abuse had become an “every-day Story in Victorian newspapers (234 …show more content…

With the aid of implication, then, the conflation of dogs'bodies with females’ bodies in nineteenth-century narratives invites readers to reflect on a person's "ownership" or control over his spouse, an issue which was crucial in the legal arguments concerning the husband's traditional right to confine and/or physically discipline his wife (Surridge). The breed of dog (a spaniel) reinforces this equation between beaten pet and beaten wife. Spaniels have most often been associated with the "female" qualities of gentleness, submission, subservience — and with a willingness to be crushed. That is exemplified through the natural adage, "The spaniel, the woman and the walnut tree: the extra you beat them, the simpler they be,"5 or Thomas Nashe's aphorism in Lenten Stuffe (1599), "fate is a spaniel that you can't beat you" (OED

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Although for ages men and women have had conflicting roles. Men have primarily grasped higher positions of power in government and additionally within the church. From very early on women would not go against the given social structure. When Queen Elizabeth I took the throne in 1558 ( her reign from 1558-1603) she faced bias ways of many, the notion of a women leading their nation was unimaginable causing numerous people to question her capabilities as a ruler. Unlike other women, Queen Elizabeth discarded the negative perspective by being captivating to her subjects through compassion, but also by her asserting the power and dominance over her kingdom.

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Many authors have published articles that treats the subject based upon one aspect of the play. One important element of A Midsummer Night’s Dream is the disparity that is distinguished between reality and a world inhabited by fairies and other magical beings and forces.

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Role of women: (16th century). As time went on women still have very few rights. They were in charge of taking care of the children, cooking and cleaning. However during the 16th century women became to accumulate more and more rights. During this time they were taught to read and write along with arithmetic skills.

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Throughout history, men have always dominated. They never let a woman rise to power or have the same rights. This sexism has been ingrained in society for thousands of years, so much so that it has defined some of the most famous works of literature, including A Midsummer Night’s Dream. This play was written during the Elizabethan Era, an era in which a woman had all the power imaginable (Queen Elizabeth), and yet, women were still severely discriminated against. Women had no say whatsoever in their society; they were not allowed to vote and they had very few legal rights (Papp, Joseph, Kirkland).

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Theseus conquers The Amazon and captures Hippolyta to be his future wife. During this story Hippolyta is put into a position where she does not have control. Theseus views her as a piece of property rather than as a human being. Shakespeare sets up this relationship to make the reader feel sympathetic towards the female character.

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This study will focus on the way in which Shakespeare crafts his play and uses dramatic devices in his portrayal of Lady Macbeth in order to confront the gender stereotypes of the time, femininity and the natural order of society. During the early 17th century there was a substantial fear that if women were liberated from their domestic, maternal roles, the historically patriarchal society would unravel. With prevailing challenges of gender such as “When you durst do it, then you were a man” Shakespeare uses the character of Lady Macbeth to transgress the natural limits concomitant with her sex. In order to be able to answer the research question, it is vital to concretely establish the contemporary gender roles and the context of the play.

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Although the perspective of women in the Elizabethan era was much different from the perspective of manhood, it was also similar in a sense that manhood and womanhood both played an essential role during their era. The thought of men being the ones to do things such as commit murder and be ambitious is still prevalent today. In our society we view women as people who are soft and not quite as ambitious as the opposite sex. The notion that women are incapable of committing murder is obscure as they are physically capable of doing harm to any human body as well as being able to have ambition such as

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Men were so superior over their family that women were to be silenced in order to respect her superior husband. Mens status was all about power in the Patriarchal society. Women struggled with their social status because the rules were already set out

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At that time in history, the status quo and social norm was simple. Patriarchy was the predominant force as men were regarded as superior to women, both in society as well as the relationship scene. Shakespeare attempted to change this perception through his multiple works of literature. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, William Shakespeare uses the theme of gender roles to express the idea that the status quo and social norm in the Elizabethan era can be challenged through courtship, father-daughter relationships, and wedlock. The play commences with the courtship of multiple individuals.

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In A Midsummer’s Night Dream, Shakespeare let the readers to explore his imagination and bring them to fantasies. A Midsummer Night’s Dream implies a world of imagination, illusion and unconsciousness through the word ‘dreams’. In the last scene of the play, act V scene I, the audience experience there is different thought of Theseus and Hippolyta in interpreting the love stories of Hermia, Lysander, Helena, Demetrius and the imaginations of many other characters. The scene of Theseus talking to Hippolyta lead to a controversy about the value of imagination and reason. From the play, the audience indeed witnesses magical incidents in the fairies’ forest, where the fairy king and queen, Oberon and Titania, rule over the natural processes.

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A man was able to chastise his wife if he felt the need, as long as he was not cruel and did not inflict bodily harm, but a woman was never allowed to chastise her husband. Women were also not allowed to enter the professions with the exception being women could work in domestic services (Thomas). Another thing men could do that women could not was inherit family property (“Daily Life in the Elizabethan Era”). Women were not allowed to inherit property and so the oldest son inherited everything (Alchin). Women were also not allowed to act on the public stage or write for the public stage.

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Introduction Women in the Middle ages were treated as the second class members within their social class. They were taught to be obedient to their husbands and were expected to run the household and raise children. Their role in the society, however, was much more complex, while some medieval women achieved a high level of equality with men. In the Middle Ages women had a secondary role, coming second after men.

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Dreams are wild, magical, and mysterious. The majority of Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream is spent in a heavily wooded forest full of fairies and irrational young lovers, creating a night only fallible as a dream. The story contains a royal wedding about to take place and the young lovers Hermia and Lysander provoked to eloping because Hermia’s father will only let her marry Demetrius. Hermia’s best friend Helena, who loves Demetrius, tells Demetrius Hermia and Lysander’s plot to escape to the forest nearby so that she may follow him. Local townsmen also decide to meet in the forest to rehearse for a play to be performed at the royal wedding.

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This piece of literature demonstrates the roles for men as the dominant gender and women as submissive, which are obsolete stereotypes. Shakespeare portrays the roles of the dominant males when Egeus tells, “as she is mine, I may dispose of her, which shall be either to this gentleman or to her death, according to our law immediately provided in that case” (1. 1. 42-45). He states this to let readers know that Hermia will not marry Lysander, and he gets the final decision. He gives her options, which are to marry him or die.

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