“Women had very few rights; they often were not allowed to leave the house and, inside their houses, they were relegated to rooms in the back of the house near the slave quarters.” This small snippet explains how women were really only used for household chores during the Athenian time. In William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, women don’t have choices to make or rights to have in their own life. The women in this play are held back by the men in their life in different situations such as being unable to choose their own spouse, men are too controlling, and women are so cornered that they just need to escape the current situation to make it better. Hermia was given an option by her father to either marry the man her father picked
Many female critics have looked towards The Wife of Bath as a feminist role model (Reisman) She wanted authority over her five husbands, “She’d been respectable throughout her life, with five churched husbands bringing joy and strife, Not counting other company in her youth;” (Chaucer, l. 459-461) In Othello, the society centered around the men having all the control over women except in their beds, which was when the women could take control. Othello uses his power to over Desdemona to mock her,“Ay, you did wish that I would make her turn. Sir, she can turn, and turn, and get go on, And turn again.
Toba Beta once said: "“Justice could be as blind as love.” Shakespeare 's play A Midsummer Night 's Dream captures the blindness of both love and justice. Egeus, a respected nobleman in Athens, arranged for his daughter, Hermia, to marry nobleman Demetrius. Egeus tells his daughter that she must obey his wishes: If she does not, she can either choose to become a nun, or die.
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).
Women’s Rights In Romeo and Juliet Juliet being forced into marriage, showed how little input women had during the Renaissance period. Renaissance is a period in which the ancient writing of Greece and Rome, “Rebirthed”, or came back into practice. During the Renaissance period, women had limited, to no rights. They were required to follow orders made by their husband’s or superior male figure. This is presented in the play Romeo and Juliet made by William Shakespeare.
In the play Midsummer Nights Dream, a character who's name is Helena is compulsive. Firstly, In the play the character Helena is obsessed with Demetrius a character form the play. Helen is so obsessed that she follows Demetrius throughout the woods. He is mad that Helena is following him so she says “For my heart/is true as steel: leave you your power to draw/ and I shall have no power to follow you” (Act 2, Scene 1, line 197-198)
(1.1.79-82). Hermia’s belief in true love keeps her from making the logical decision to marry Demetrius, and instead, she decides she would alternatively wither away as a nun. Although some might argue that Hermia is being irrational, she trusts the concept of everlasting love, and thus refuses to marry for anything besides
While Desdemona is a remarkably strong character, Emilia also displays independence unmatched by any other female in Othello, and there are multiple details of Shakespeare and his time that may have prompted such a portrayal. In Elizabethan England, many women worked behind the scenes of productions, like Shakespeare’s, as uncredited authors and editors (Crowley). Due to their anonymity, nobody can be sure that women were involved in Shakespeare’s plays nor Othello in particular, but there is a genuine possibility that female writers did have leverage. This may have had to do with how Emilia was portrayed as resilient from the time of Desdemona’s death all the way until her own, standing up for herself regardless of the ridicule it caused her (Iyasere). In fact, it even killed her in the end.
Isabel Redinger Miss Windish English II 12 February 2017 Darwin’s Theory of Evolution: Demetrius Edition Who is cruel, possessive, and played by Christian Bale? You might be thinking that it’s Hermia from A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare, but you’d be wrong. Demetrius is a character in the popular Shakespearean play who seems to fall in love with whomever Lysander is also crushing on. Demetrius’s views on love evolve throughout the play.
Egeus sets Hermia up for an arranged marriage with a man named Demetrius. However, Hermia is in love with a man named Lysander. Her father does not care that his daughter is in love. Egeus wants Hermia to marry Demetrius because Egeus wants to be linked through marriage with a highly ranked family. Egues has no regard for what his daughter's heart wants.
Today, men and women have equal rights, but that does not mean life has always been simple for both genders. When Shakespeare writes A Midsummer Night’s Dream, there are roles, behaviors, and expectations for the dominant men and submissive women. This literature portrays the major changes in the lives of both sexes throughout the years, which shows the advances women gain with time. The gender issue of men being dominant and women being submissive used in the drama, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, shows the differences in the roles, behaviors, and expectations appropriate for each gender and is an example of an outdated stereotype.
Midsummer night dreams My version of the midsummer nights dream story is set in an office. Hermia Egeus plays a woman who desperately wants to be an artist but her father thinks she would be better of in the office with one of her office workers, Mr Demetrius, they are getting married. But he is plain boring and nothing like her real love lysander who is the risk taking guitarist that she meet in a show. He’s band never caused much attraction but she always admired that he doesn't care.
“And though she be but little, she is fierce” -William Shakespeare. In today’s day and age, one of the greatest topics of debate is gender roles. It is evident everywhere, from cyberspace to the streets of home, from online petitions to marches across the country such as the Women’s March. Shakespeare lived in the Elizabethan Era of England, where Queen Elizabeth I, the virgin queen ruled.
In the performance, A Midsummer Night Dream, I play Helena in the scene when they fight. In this scene, Helena and Hermia have a fight over Demetrius and Lysander. Hermia thinks Helena stole Lysander from her when actually Lysander is under a spell. They fight and argue with each other over small things like their height and then bigger things like their friendship. When I play Helena I need to play her as someone who is persistent to go to Athens but she has multiple obstacles in her way such as her friend Hermia.
What is Hermia Like? She is described as an independent individual who wants nothing but to follow her heart, but here’s the catch… That is not what her dad wants for her! She is better yet characterized as Feisty;She knows what she wants and does what it takes to get it, she was even prepared to give up on her family and way of life to marry Lysander. In this play she can be Defensive (Compelled to fight for her love and was willing to fight her friend) “
In William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the female characters' desire to question the law of Athens and select their own husbands drives most of the conflict in the play. In a way, Hermia, Helena, and Titania are the protagonists of the play because each of their desires are being thwarted by the patriarchal structure of the society in which they live. The way the women try to overcome such hurdles does not sit well with the men. Accordingly, the men get on edge when their patriarchy is disrupted, so they make strict laws to try and keep the women under their control.