Shakespeare's Midsummer night's dream - Essay Example

Number: Lecturer: In, Shakespeare’s comedy, a midsummer night’s dream, the female character rebels against male social dominance. Linder Bamber says that the female in his plays ’is always something unlike and external to the self, who is male…. In Shakespeare’s the self always as it were referred to the other”. The feminine is then the other which challenges the societal norms of the masculine self .in a midsummer night’s dream we have a set of woman who are at odds with this male society and with each other .

one woman is loved and admired by the male gaze the other ignored or despised (Natanson 32).The two woman are treated so differently because “the feminine either rebels against the restraining social order or presides in alliance with force that challenge its hegemony romantic love ,physical nature ,the love of pleasure in all its form .”Biana rebels quietly as Kate rages and use the masculine realm of language as a weapon. Biana’s rebellion is then not seen until her sister becomes silent.

Hermia , white she openly challenges her father’s authority ;does not take on a masculine role as Helena are treated with distain because they directly challenge the masculine self by adopting its features Biana and Hermia instead embody the attribute of country love , because they are off limits. Biana is unattainable because her sister will not marry and Hermia because her father wants to marry one man and the heart belonged to another. This embodiment allows them to preside over the realm of romantic love which is outside the control of masculine social order (male gaze) (Natanson 27).

Works CitedNatanson, Martin. Literature, philosophy, and the social sciences. The Hague: Martin Nijhoff, 1968.