Women s Portrayals Of Women During Shakespeare s A...

Chrisa Georgakis Professor Hizme ENGL 332-Spring May 20, 2017 Women’s Portrayals in MND The topic of women and their roles in William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream appears to be controversial and of great significance. Shakespeare’s views on women are shown in this play through Helena’s despair, Hermia’s carelessness, and Hippolyta’s hypocritical behavior as they rebel against the Athenian laws and its society. Helena chases after men, which goes against how women were supposed to act. She breaks society’s norms of the women obeying their fathers and letting the father choose the husband, by chasing men by herself instead. Hermia also disobeys her father Egeus by running away with Lysander, even though her father wanted her†¦show more content†¦(I.i.16-19) This is at the beginning of the play, and Levine identifies Theseus’ words as an alluding to rape. Theseus’ choice of words, â€Å"pomp†¦triumph†¦revelling† indicate that he has won her over and has officially made Hippolyta his own. To Theseus, Hippolyta was a mere conquest, with the sole purpose of proving that no one, not even the Amazonian queen, can surpass his power. When the play opens, Hippolyta is no longer the Amazonian warrior-queen. She has already been conquered by Theseus and he obnoxiously reminds her that with the words quoted above. Levine argues that Shakespeare depicts Theseus turning to theater to alter the way sexual violence is presented, but ultimately fails to do so. The words â€Å"pomp, triumph, and revelling† are an indication of theater and acting. The imagery these words create also supports the transformation of â€Å"a rape to a legitimate marriage† (Levine, 210). Although, no such thing, meaning the rape, i s never actually exhibited, Levine examines the choice of words spoken by Theseus, and claims that there is an â€Å"alluding to something like a rape† (210). Furthermore, Levine delves in the aspect of nature and how it relates to rape. The way nature is described and through the use of imagery, Levine establishes that Shakespeare included this rape of nature in order to create a mood. As stated by Levine, â€Å"Titania claims that â€Å"every little flower† weeps,Show MoreRelatedEssay on A Midsummer Nights Dream: Critical Analysis3103 Words   |  13 PagesAnalysis of quot;A Midsummer Nights Dreamquot; William Shakespeare, born in 1594, is one of the greatest writers in literature. He dies in 1616 after completing many sonnets and plays. One of which is quot;A Midsummer Nights Dream.quot; They say that this play is the most purely romantic of Shakespeares comedies. The themes of the play are dreams and reality, love and magic. This extraordinary play is a play-with -in-a-play, which master writers only write successfully. Shakespeare proves here toRead MoreFemale Sexuality in Shakespeare4830 Words   |  20 PagesQuestion Compare and contrast the representation of female sexuality in Cymbeline, the Sonnets, and one of the plays: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Richard II, Hamlet, Antony and Cleopatra, Measure for Measure or King Lear.       Both Cymbeline and A Midsummer Night’s Dream  (AMND)  are both set in a patriarchal environment where both genders grapple for control. Valerie Traub defines the distinction between gender sex and gender behavior as â€Å"Sex refers to the . . . biological distinctions betweenRead More Love and Hate in Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet Essay3761 Words   |  16 PagesAnalyze the Portrayal of Love and Hate in ‘Romeo and Juliet’ The emotions of love and hate are at the forefront of the theme in this play by William Shakespeare. The Oxford Standard English Dictionary defines ‘love’ as ‘to have strong feelings of affection for another adult and be romantically and sexually attracted to them, or to feel great affection for a friend or person in your family’ and defines ‘hate’ as ‘a feeling of dislike so strong that it demands action dislike intensely, to feel antipathy