Miranda And Hermia In Shakespeare's A Midsummer Nights Dream And The Tempest

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In the stories of 'Midsummer Nights Dream ' and 'The Tempest ' there are characters that are strong and weak. There are characters that are magical and normal. There are also characters that move the story/fantasy forward. The characters of Miranda and Hermia are strong, weak, normal and they move the story forward. In these two worlds there are agents of change and there are also captains that captain their own destinies, in some cases both. For instance, Miranda is the agent of change and Hermia is the captain of her destiny.
Miranda is the daughter of Prospero in Shakespeare 's 'The Tempest '. "My dearest father"(The Tempest Act 1.Scene 2.Page 7) Miranda is depicted as the naive young girl who doesn 't know much and is naturally innocent.
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"My daughter Hermia." (Midsummer Nights Dream Act 1.Scene 1.Page 2) Hermia is depicted as the rebeliant young woman with a will and mind of her own. "...come I, with complaint against my child..."(MSND 1.1.2) Hermia 's goal is to marry Lysander to prove to her father that love wins out against him and what he demands."If then true lovers have been ever cross 'd, It stands as an edict in destiny: Then let us teach our trial patience, As due to love as thoughts and dreams and sighs."(MSND 1.1.6) Hermia 's father is very controlling and is willing to let Hermia die if she does not marry Demetrius. "As she is mine, I may dispose of her: Which shall be either to this gentlemen or to her death"(MSND 1.1.3) The way in which Hermia goes about to find her love as a captain of her own destiny is by simply defying her father and running away to the forest with Lysander. "O hell! To choose love by another 's eyes."(MSND 1.1.6) Meaning she won 't love one she doesn 't choose to love because she doesn 't let any thing stop her from reaching her goal. She is not an agent of change, however, because she only changed her destiny and did not impact the things around her in a bigger …show more content…
The biggest difference in which where these two characters are distinct from each other is that one is obedient and the other is defyant. Miranda takes on the role of an agent of change. The way she shines as an agent of change is by listening and doing as her father tells her. Hermia is the captain of her own destiny. The way in which she shines as captain of her own destiny is by following her own will and testing the waters hoping for the best. These two are polar opposites compared to each other. Miranda isn’t really the captain of her own destiny. Being that she always does as she is told and doesn’t know really right from wrong she isn 't able to captain her destiny. Hermia on the other hand does know right from wrong so she is able to captain her destiny but Hermia isn 't an agent of change. Even though she is able to change her destiny she isn 't able to change things around her in a bigger way. If for example Hermia was able to change the ways of traditions in a bigger way than she did then she would be an agent of change and maybe also the captain of her own

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