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Feminism In A Midsummer Night's Dream

Decent Essays

Shakespeare may be the most known playwright of all time, however, you may be surprised at how many unfair stereotypes this very famous writer incorporated into his plays. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a comedy play written by William Shakespeare in the late 1500s that portrays events surrounding the marriage of Theseus, the Duke of Athens, to the extravagant Hippolyta, the former queen of the Amazons. Such events included Demetrius jilting Helena at the altar and falling in love with Helena’s rival instead, Hermia. However, Hermia is in love with Lysander, not a disdainful youth known as Demetrius. According to feminist theory, the theory that focuses on gender inequality. A Midsummer Night’s Dream would not be considered a feminist empowerment play because throughout the play Shakespeare portrays women as timid/easily frightened. He shows men having more power than women, and perpetuates the unfair stereotype that all women must act a certain way.
Firstly, A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a feminist disempowerment play is because women are repeatedly portrayed as easily frightened. For example, “If you roar to ferociously, you’ll scare the duchess and the other ladies and make them scream,” (AMND, 1.2.29). Quince is saying that the ladies in the audience and Hippolyta, the queen of the Amazons, a woman who hunted a bear with Hercules, will be afraid of an actor dressed as a lion saying ROAR. In addition, Quince only directs this comment towards the ladies, not the men. This

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