Throughout "A Midsummer Night's Dream", Shakespeare successfully portrays the role of women during his time period. Because this play was written during the Elizabethan Era, the female roles are held to the same standards of their time's society. Whether or not the female characters within this play lived up to the expectations set by the Elizabethan Era society was a decision Shakespeare could make for himself. However, he could not completely remove these expectations completely from his literary works. Due to this, Shakespeare uses this to his advantage and allows his characters societal imperfections to add to their personality and identity. Hermia, Helena, and Hippolyta are all expected to both act innocently and be submissive to their
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Had it not been for the patriarchal society of this time, the plot of this story would have been avoided. At the start of the play, Hermia and her father Egeus argue about who she should marry. While Egeus believes that Hermia should marry Demetrius, she is in love with Lysander. Because of the law that forces Hermia to obey her father, she and Lysander decide to run away together. While Hermia disobeys her father throughout the entirety of the play, Theseus' fiancé Hippolyta respects and acts in accordance with him. This is shown while the two discuss the plausibility of the lover's story, when Hippolyta says, "But all the story of the night told over, and all their minds transfigured so together, more witnesseth than fancy’s images and grows to something of great constancy, but, howsoever, strange and admirable" (5.1. 24-28). Although Hippolyta believes their story, she puts up no argument when Theseus dismisses it as nonsense. Hermia and Hippolyta both offer different reactions to the same expectations.
Shakespeare's decision to place this story within such a patriarchal society, was one he may not have been able to avoid. Not only does he place his female characters under the same standards as most other women of the Elizabethan Era society, he manages to use these expectations to his advantage. Hermia's, Helena's, and Hippolyta's decisions to either conform to or
Had it not been for the patriarchal society of this time, the plot of this story would have been avoided. At the start of the play, Hermia and her father Egeus argue about who she should marry. While Egeus believes that Hermia should marry Demetrius, she is in love with Lysander. Because of the law that forces Hermia to obey her father, she and Lysander decide to run away together. While Hermia disobeys her father throughout the entirety of the play, Theseus' fiancé Hippolyta respects and acts in accordance with him. This is shown while the two discuss the plausibility of the lover's story, when Hippolyta says, "But all the story of the night told over, and all their minds transfigured so together, more witnesseth than fancy’s images and grows to something of great constancy, but, howsoever, strange and admirable" (5.1. 24-28). Although Hippolyta believes their story, she puts up no argument when Theseus dismisses it as nonsense. Hermia and Hippolyta both offer different reactions to the same expectations.
Shakespeare's decision to place this story within such a patriarchal society, was one he may not have been able to avoid. Not only does he place his female characters under the same standards as most other women of the Elizabethan Era society, he manages to use these expectations to his advantage. Hermia's, Helena's, and Hippolyta's decisions to either conform to or