How does Shakespeare make men appear stronger than women in his play "A Midsummer Nights Dream "

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Tom Briggs

How does Shakespeare make men appear stronger than women in his play “A Midsummer Nights Dream “? How does this affect society at the time of writing?

“A Midsummer Nights Dream” was written by William Shakespeare and was rumoured to be written around 1598, when Elizabeth the 1st was on the throne. The reason that it is believed to be written around this era is that at the time there was a few years of bad weather in England. This links to the effects of Titania and Oberon’s argument over the changeling child whereby the fairy and mortal world are changed. Titania is the Queen of the fairies and Oberon is the King of the fairies. In this essay I will be providing evidence that men seem stronger than women in “A Midsummer Nights Dream” by using quotations and personal reasons.

As ‘A Midsummer Nights Dream’ is set in Athens and there are four main groups of characters, the lovers, the mechcanicals  Theseus, the duke of Athens is getting married to Hippolyta, the Queen of amazons. Egeus has chosen a husband for his daughter, Hermia, who has refused to marry Demetrius. Egeus has gone to the Duke to ask him what he can do about his uncooperative daughter. The Dukes solution is to punish Hermia for disobeying her father; to die or to marry Demetrius. This contradicts my essay title that men are more powerful than women, however, this is only one of the very few times when women seem to be more powerful than men. Hermia is actually in love with Lysander and he is in love with her so he refuses to give her up to Demetruis.

          To avoid punishment from the Duke, they both flee the nearby forest just outside of Athens were they are followed by Helena and Demetruis. The problems start to arise when Puck, the henchman of Oberon places a love potion in the wrong athenians eye. Making Lysander fall in love with Helena and when he tries to resolve the problem he puts the “love potion” in Demetrius’s eyes. Demetruis and Lysander are now madly in love with Helena leaving Hermia with nobody loving her. Again Puck creates another problem by messing about while a group of work men are rehearsing for a play that they hope to perform at the Duke’s wedding. This creates a very humorous moment in the play. This is also evidence that the play was written for the Queen Elizabeth 1st as she liked comedies. This is ideal for Oberon’s plan to humiliate the Queen of the Fairies to get the changeling boy that he desires so much.

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        During the period of time when the love juice is in effect, there is a lot of misunderstandings and bewilderment. The fairies create a lot of trouble in the play as well as a paranormal element. It is also like a dream when the play is set in the forest and then when it is set in the city of Athens it more realistic.

        In the play Egeus can not control his daughter so we assume that he is a weak person especially as in Shakespeare’s time it is thought that women were controlled by males and they weren’t suppose ...

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