A Midsummer Nights Dream - Research Paper Example

A Midsummer Night’s Dream Introduction ‘A Mid Summer Night’s Dream falls under the category of many of Shakespeare’s plays written during the reign of Elizabeth in the late fifteenth century. The play gained popularity extremely fast because of its unique, rich use of language and the themes brought out through the characters, which portrayed the way of life and the complicated relationships that existed between men and women in England during the sixteenth century. Shakespeare’s thematic approach in plotting out the script of the play brings out a clear picture of the contrast; that exists between life then and currently in the modern world. Shakespeare based the play on four different stories all of which revolved around the complicated relationships between women and men during the reign of Queen Elizabeth. For example, Oberon and Titania marriage and separation after a long custody battle, Theseus and Hippolyta’s courtship filled with several strained circumstances and the complicated love of the other two couples in the play (Shakespeare p. 18). Mirroring these troubled relationships, this research paper concentrates on highlighting the traditions, beliefs, marriage laws, gender roles and love during the sixteenth century England as portrayed by Shakespeare, through the strained relationships that existed between women and men in the play “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”. Similar to the current institution of marriage and love, laws, beliefs and traditions also existed in marriage and love during the renaissance period as portrayed by Shakespeare in the play ‘A Midsummer Night Dream; whereby people regarded the marriage institution as purely sacred and secular. According to the secular law, marriage served a way of uniting two people bound together by love, while, on the other hand, the folks believed in the sacredness of marriage and love because it brought two individuals together in holy matrimony for the sole purpose of procreation just like in the case of Oberon and Titania. The two couple loved each other at first that they decided to get into a sacred union where they bore their son, though later they go through an endless custody battle as their relationship hits a sour note (Shakespeare p. 28). Based on the monarchy and patriarchy structures of power in the renaissance era, marriage acted the key cornerstone that led to the continuity of power in the society. However, despite the belief in the secular and sacred aspect of marriage, debates still loomed as to what balances should exist in the rights and family expectations in relation to planning for marriages. In virtue of traditions and beliefs to the notion of virginity before marriage, Theseus objects Hermia’s actions clarifying that she needed to retain her maidenhood and chastity; for motherhood and marriage because her father’s affirmations did not favor any of her interests at all. In addition, the aspect of the gender role of a woman emerges evidently in Hermia’s case, surrounded by lots of male figures, father and lover they all claim property ownership of her; displaying the object perception of the woman figure during the renaissance era. This created a serious conflict between Hermia, Egeus and Theseus angered by the self- possession singleness that Hermia had by denying him access to use her body. In addition, the gender role perception between husbands and wives brought conflicts in the family relationships hence straining the sanctified unions of marriage and love. Men had the right to the supreme authority in issues that involved politics, family and the community when it came to their gender role aspect in the sixteenth century. Evidently, in the play, male dominated most of the leading hierarchy’s in state at that time, and the woman figure had limited influence in any matter pertaining to the societal interests. Women were under a lot pressure and normally the society objectified them as in the case Hermia; her father Egeus orders her daughter to marry Demetrius although she deeply loves Lysander the younger brother and yet the father does not expect any objections. According to the belief of the society, the children ought to perceive their fathers as god and respect their every word without question. The law of tied to the gender role of a woman asserted the aspect of male dominance; as Egeus dominated his daughters life and forced her to marry someone she did not love (Shakespeare p. 58). On the other hand, the role of a man in the society revolved around their duty in caring and loving their wives who Hermia based on in refusing marriage to Demetrius because she believed that he did was not responsible enough for a husband. Shakespeare strengthened this male domination gender aspect in the father daughter relationship between Hermia and Egeus, which faced a lot of strain due to the marriage issue at hand. The structure of the play portrays the restoration of the Amazonian nurture and gender back to the patriarchal norms of this society; as Theseus, masters Hippolyta’s warrior like authority after marriage and Oberon’s degradation of Titania following his jealous fits. However, a deepened conflict between the woman and man figures results when Hermia disobeys her father. Shifting to the Shakespeare love plot in the play, the laws of love restricted a woman from choosing her own spouse as the society believed in arranged marriages as in the case of Hermia; which later failed. They believed that a daughter’s future laid in their best choice of mate for her; therefore, her choice did not matter because the family had to ensure she got a man responsible, caring and an excellent provider. On the contrary, the secular law on love also held love in high respect as we see couples; Lysander and Helena marry out of love and not other financial inheritances and gains. Shakespeare displays love through characters driven by their own self-will, for example, when Theseus and Hippolyta openly discuss their marriage highlighting that the laws also had the freedom to entry into marriage as opposed to the case of Hermia’s spouse matchmaking (Shakespeare p.10). He strongly opposed the societal norms by asserting that the couples displayed their own desire to love and effectively defended the sanctity of courtship and love before marriage; by disapproving their family imposed decisions. Just as Hermia did and planned to elope with Lysander and formalize their union rather than Demetrius who her father had chosen for her. The play carries potential, traditional setting and outcome on love; whereby more than one man loved one woman leaving a woman with too many suitors and only one decision to make to avoid conflicts. In this case, despite Helena loving and dedicating her love to Demetrius, he still obsesses and fights for Hermia’s love with Lysander who Hermia truly loves. This not only displays the social imbalance present in the courtship before marriage during Elizabeth’s reign, but also strongly builds on the traditional outcome of lovers tangle and traditional pairings that end up into happy unions. However, the author builds on the place of a woman in the family in relation to love; that as much as Demetrius beat up and mistreats Helena, she still clings to him and begs for more beating at least to get his attention. The traditional aspect of a man treasuring and respecting a woman arises when Oberon and Titania conflict because he covets the wife’s Indian boy; that he loves Titania displaying the uniqueness and the essence of love in the institution of marriage (Shakespeare p. 16). Shakespeare portrays the belief in love potions binding the laws of love through the meddling fairies who use the love potion to influence Lysander and Demetrius; to transfer their love to Helena and Hermia through magic. Additionally, with magic, Titania argues with her husband and ends up compelled to fall in love with the ass-headed Bottom, hence the mix of drama, love, jealousy and social fidelity in ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream literary merges to build the social history of the relationships between men and women in the renaissance period. Based on the traditions and laws governing love and marriage in the sixteenth century, Shakespeare highlights the belief in magic; through his erratic writing on the power of love and the bizarre love actions between couples in the play (Shakespeare p.20). According to the laws of marriage, the role of the husband and the wives differed and related to the strained relationships; whereby the men assumed superiority over their wives, and the ideal expectation of marriage considered women as subordinates of men. For instance, in Oberon and Titania’s marriage Oberon dominated and had the responsibility of heading and caring for the family that is why the two fought over the custody of their child at the verge of their marriage breaking. In conclusion, although Shakespeare builds the sacredness of the institution of marriage and love in the renaissance era, through the characters in the play; the traditions and beliefs of the society engulf the couples in troubled relationships. As a result, marriages break and relationships between husbands and wives (Titania and Oberon), father & daughter and courting couples like Demetrius and Helena face enormous strains and gender challenges. Work Cited Shakespeare, William. A Mid summer nights dream. Evanston, Ill.: McDougal Littell, 2002. Print. Read More