This essay examines the pervasive patriarchal control depicted in William Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (1595), arguing that the play reflects the gender hierarchies of early modern England. Through close textual analysis of Hippolyta, Hermia, and Helena, the paper demonstrates how male authority—whether exercised by the Duke, fathers, or even fairy kings—dictates female autonomy in love, marriage, and social participation. The essay shows that women are systematically denied agency across both the mortal and supernatural realms, unable to make choices about their own futures without male approval or facing severe consequences including death, confinement, or eternal heartbreak.
William Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream was written in 1595, during a time when a woman's role in her family and community was determined entirely by patriarchal society. It was during this era that women were being persecuted across Europe, subject to violence and control by male-dominated institutions. Through the intertwined plots of Hippolyta, Hermia, and Helena, Shakespeare captures the systematic powerlessness of women in a world where every major decision—from marriage to freedom itself—requires male approval.
The play opens in an Athenian palace before the wedding of Theseus, Duke of Athens, to Hippolyta. Theseus greets his bride-to-be with the words: "Now, fair Hippolyta, our nuptial hour / Draws on apace" (I:I:I). Hippolyta is the legendary Queen of the Amazons, a figure associated with female power and autonomy. Yet Shakespeare portrays her as conquered—a woman who has been defeated in battle and now submits to marriage. The playwright uses this character to establish that even legendary female warriors must surrender their independence to male authority.
According to the play, Theseus and Hippolyta met in combat, and he wooed her "with his sword"—a violent, martial conquest. Despite this violent beginning, Theseus promises they will wed "with pomp, with triumph, and with reveling" (I:I:19). The celebration masks the underlying reality: Hippolyta's marriage represents not a union of equals but the submission of female authority to male dominance.
The central conflict begins when an Athenian father, Egeus, appeals to Theseus for help with his daughter Hermia. Egeus has chosen Demetrius as Hermia's husband, but she refuses because she loves Lysander instead. Outraged at her disobedience, Egeus demands that the law punish his daughter. He accuses Lysander of manipulating her, saying: "With cunning hast thou filched my daughter's heart, / Turned her obedience, which is due to me, / to stubborn harshness" (I:I:36-38). Notice that obedience is framed as Hermia's natural obligation to her father—a debt she owes by virtue of being female and unmarried.
After hearing both sides, Theseus sides with Egeus and imposes Athenian law upon Hermia directly: "Either to die the death or to abjure / Forever the society of men" (I:I:65-66). Theseus then offers Hermia three choices: marry Demetrius, enter a convent, or face execution. None of these options permit her to follow her own heart. She cannot marry Lysander even at the cost of being disinherited or disowned; such consequences are not permitted as alternatives. Marriage to an unloved man, lifelong celibacy, or death—these are the only paths available to a young woman who dares to choose her own husband.
This moment crystallizes the paper's central argument: patriarchal systems do not merely constrain women; they eliminate the very possibility of female choice. Hermia is not offered compromise or negotiation. The law itself becomes an instrument of male authority, turning her father's will into civic law and her Duke's judgment into fate.
While Hermia is constrained by law and paternal authority, Helena experiences a different but equally damaging form of powerlessness: she cannot initiate love. She confesses that "We cannot fight for love, as men may do; / We should be wooed and were not made to woo. / I'll follow thee and make a heaven of hell, / to die upon the hand I love so well" (2:I:241-244). Helena pursues Demetrius relentlessly, yet she does so from a position of accepted inferiority. She believes she is unworthy—too tall, too plain—and accepts that her role is to wait passively for a man's attention.
Helena's internalized powerlessness is perhaps more insidious than Hermia's legal constraint. She has accepted that women "should be wooed and were not made to woo." She pursues Demetrius only to beg for his affection, never to claim her own agency. When he rejects her with vindictiveness, she blames herself and her appearance rather than recognizing his cruelty. Her statement that she will "make a heaven of hell" for a man's love reveals how thoroughly she has surrendered her own happiness to his judgment.
The play reinforces patriarchal control not only in Athens but in the supernatural realm as well. Theseus orders his Master of the Revels to "stir up the Athenian youth to merriments," and this command sets in motion a chain of magical manipulation. Oberon, King of the Fairies, orders his servant Puck to obtain a magical flower whose juice causes whoever smells it to fall in love with the first person they see upon waking. Note that it is exclusively the males—the Duke, the fairy king, and the mischievous servant—who decide to create chaos in the young Athenians' lives.
Oberon instructs Puck to anoint Demetrius' eyes with the magical juice, intending to make him love Helena. However, Puck mistakes Lysander for Demetrius and anoints the wrong man. When Lysander awakens, he sees Helena first and immediately abandons Hermia. Puck's attempt to correct his error results in both Lysander and Demetrius pursuing Helena, leaving her bewildered and overwhelmed. The women have no control over their own romantic fates; their hearts are manipulated by male figures who treat their emotions as objects to be controlled and rearranged.
Even in the fairy realm, where one might expect different rules to apply, male authority reigns supreme. Oberon's power over the magical flower and his command of Puck ensure that female characters remain passive subjects of male will, whether in the mortal court of Athens or the enchanted forest.
The women in A Midsummer Night's Dream are at a profound social disadvantage. No decisions can be made without male approval, even in matters as intimate as love and marriage. Athenian males rule society, and this patriarchal authority extends into the fairy kingdom as well. Throughout the play, it is the males who control the emotions and destinies of the females—from the conquest of Hippolyta to the constrained marriage options of Hermia to Helena's unrequited and self-denigrating pursuit of an indifferent man. Shakespeare's play does not critique this arrangement; rather, it depicts patriarchal control as the natural order of things, embedded in law, custom, magic, and the hearts of the women themselves.
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