Submitted by: Submitted by peddiec
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Category: Literature
Date Submitted: 11/02/2011 01:08 PM
Charles Peddie
9/26/11
Shakespeare for Non-Majors
Paper 1/Question 1
Power of Women in Patriarchal Society
Although women play a very important role in almost every aspect of society today, these attitudes are only a recent occurence. Up until the 1920’s women had little to no place in society except for acting as the primary care givers for their family and home. However, since then women have slowly began to have great influence over society to the point where it is common for a woman to be the head of a successful company or a valued member of the political system. During the time that William Shakespeare wrote the plays A Midsummers Night Dream and Measure for Measure, women in society were treated with little respect and commonly had very little influence over what happened in their lives. Daughters rarely were given the choice as to whom they wanted to marry and women’s opinions on most matters did not seem to make a difference in the ultimate decision. Regardless of the true roles of women during this time, Shakespeare fills these two plays with women who show desire to control their own lives, it is likely that Shakespeare’s purpose to show that women do have desires and wants of their own despite living in a patriarchal society. Although it is made apparent that the women in these plays do have their own desires, the ultimate power of a patriarchal society leads to the male having the final say in the end result.
The play A Midsummers Night Dream is a comedy that involves a number of relationship stories ranging from a marriage arranged based on victory in battle to true love between two individuals. However, during this time women were given very little choice in the matter of who they were to marry. In this play, Hermia is betrothed to the character Demetrius by her father. Despite this fact, Hermia has fallen in love with another character, Lysander, and refuses to obey her fathers’ commands. In an attempt to gain what she desires,...