Carlos: A Midsummer Night’s Dream Final Post

The play Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare is a very interesting play. I have never read it before and after reading, watching the play, and doing a bit of my own research to understand it more. Shakespeare involves a huge part of gender roles. Men are expected to be aggressive and dominant. Meanwhile, the women are passive and docile. A scene that begins focuses on Hermia’s father who argues with him to let her chose her own mate. It doesn’t meet Egeus’s standards of who is Hermia’s father. In the part itself, it demonstrates how women in that time had no control over their life. They were to marry the man that the father had chosen for them for their liking, not the daughters. If the daughter is to disobey her father she would be sentenced to death or live as a nun. Another scene that shows deeply how gender role is high is when Helena demonstrates her love deeply for Demetrius and he ignores her and tells her to go away that he wants nothing to do with her at all. Helena speaks on Act 2 “I am your spaniel, and, Demetrius. The more you beat me. I will fawn on you. Use me as your spaniel, spurn me, strike me, Neglect me, lose me, Only give me leave. Unworthy as I am, to follow you”. In this quote, Helena shows subjugation towards Demetrius. Demetrius wants nothing to do with her, but because if a woman does not marry a man she will be less valued. During a scene at the beginning of the play. A father strikes her daughter for talking back to her. Arguing saying that she will marry Demetrius because it’s to his liking and not hers. Continuing in the play Hermia says if he like him that much why not go with him. Both the play and reading the play were good I enjoyed them both very much. All of Shakespeare’s work is incredible on how gender roles played in his time compared to now in the present.