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Similarities Between A Midsummer Night's Dream And Othello

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In the plays A Midsummer Night 's Dream and Othello, the attitudes of the women vary from passive to outspoken. The treatment of the women also differs, but the results of each relationship are all the same, the men always get their way even if that means death to both man and woman as in the case of Othello. The different relationships within the play of the females and their male counterparts are all comparable on some levels and contrast in other aspects. The men range from loving towards the women to being harsh and forceful. Even with the strongest female, such as Hippolyta, an undertone of the patriarchal order is still present. The women in both plays, Othello and A Midsummer Night 's Dream all have one thing in common, and that is obedience …show more content…

Some of the women are proud and outspoken. Some of them are insecure. The one thing they all have in common is at some point obedience to the men is expected out of all of them, and they all face domineering male characters. If a woman was outspoken during Shakespeare 's period, she was considered rebellious or in some cases scandalous. Over time, the treatment of women and the views of women have improved. If Othello or A Midsummer Night’s Dream was written today, it is almost certain that the female characters would play different roles. References
Findlay, A. (2010). Amazon. Women In Shakespeare, 7-8.
Gruber, E. (2003). Insurgent Flesh: Epistemology and violence in Othello and Mariam. Women 's Studies, 32(4), 393.
Iyasere, S. (2009). The liberation of Emilia. Shakespeare in Southern Africa, 2169-72.
Neely, C. T. (1977). Women and men in Othello: 'What should such a fool/Do with so good a woman? '. Shakespeare Studies (0582-9399), 10133.
Rieger, G. (2009). "I woo’d thee with my sword, / And won thy love doing the injuries": The erotic economies of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Upstart Crow: A Shakespeare Journal, 2870-81.
Shakespeare, W. (2014). The Tempest. In. D. Bevington, The Necessary Shakespeare, Fourth Edition. Retrieved from https://www.betheluniversityonline.net (Original work published

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