Women In A Midsummer Night's Dream

Women were discriminated and humiliated by men continuously in the past. Men used their authority over women to their advantage and controlled women into doing whatever they wanted. Females were deprived of their rights and did not have their freedom. In the play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare, evidence from the past show how much men mistreated women in the Elizabethan times. Egues is the first male character to present to the audience how men had excessive control over females. In earlier scenes, the audience can see how he was forcing his daughter, Hermia, to marry Demetrius. In the beginning of the play, Egeus complains about his daughter to Theseus, the ruler of Athens and tells him:

Scornful Lysander, true he hath my love,

And she is mine, and all my right of her

I do estate unto Demetrius(1.1 95-98).

This recitation shows how Egeus did not care about Hermia's feelings. It also shows how Egeus is exposing his daughter to the danger of being murdered for disobeying her father because of the Athen’s law which allows fathers to murder their daughters if they choose to obey them. Moreover, another character that mistreats women in this play is Demetrius. Demetrius was chasing after Helena, Hermia’s sister, when he got bored of her and became interested in Hermia. Lysander, Hermia’s lover, tells Theseus about Demetrius’s actions through the following recitation:

Why should not I then prosecute my right?

Demetrius, I'll avouch it to his head,

Made love to Nedar's daughter, Helena,

And won her soul; and she, sweet lady,