A Midsummer Nights Dream Scene Analysis
Act 3 Scene 1: A Reversal of Opression
Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream deals primarily with clashing ideas about love, an oppressive patriarchy, and if love should be the basis of marriage. The play does however offer hints of a need to transform the culture of the day, and offers women a greater say in their love or lack thereof. In the third act of the play, the power women possess is truly expressed, even if it must come about due to a man’s oppression. Further investigation of this scene will bring to light the meaning behind Titania’s newfound oppressive nature, and how it contributes to the overlying issues of the play.
The theme of reluctance accompanied with forcefulness looms throughout the play and is shown in the first and second act between Hippolyta and Theseus; Hermia and Egeus; and Titania and Oberon. The latter of each pair oppresses the former. We finally see oppression that is not battled by unwillingness in act three scene one. In this scene, Titania captures Bottom because she falls in love with his voice due to Oberon’s deception. Bottom is escorted away by Titania’s fairies without contest. True to his overly dramatic character, Bottom treats the abduction as a scene from a play and eagerly inhabits his role.
First, the conflicting notions of love portrayed by male and female characters are essential to the theme of this play. Characters like Helena and Hermia think of love as a longing and a need for someone. The female idea of love is of the romantic type, where as characters such as Egeus and Demetrius see love in the way of beauty and worthiness being most important. The male perspective tends to be very oppressive towards the females in the play, but, this being a patriarchal society, the male viewpoint on love is the dominant one even when a woman inhabits it.
The idea of an oppressive female character is important to understanding how this scene contributes to the play’s issues. In this scene, Titania has been forced
Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream deals primarily with clashing ideas about love, an oppressive patriarchy, and if love should be the basis of marriage. The play does however offer hints of a need to transform the culture of the day, and offers women a greater say in their love or lack thereof. In the third act of the play, the power women possess is truly expressed, even if it must come about due to a man’s oppression. Further investigation of this scene will bring to light the meaning behind Titania’s newfound oppressive nature, and how it contributes to the overlying issues of the play.
The theme of reluctance accompanied with forcefulness looms throughout the play and is shown in the first and second act between Hippolyta and Theseus; Hermia and Egeus; and Titania and Oberon. The latter of each pair oppresses the former. We finally see oppression that is not battled by unwillingness in act three scene one. In this scene, Titania captures Bottom because she falls in love with his voice due to Oberon’s deception. Bottom is escorted away by Titania’s fairies without contest. True to his overly dramatic character, Bottom treats the abduction as a scene from a play and eagerly inhabits his role.
First, the conflicting notions of love portrayed by male and female characters are essential to the theme of this play. Characters like Helena and Hermia think of love as a longing and a need for someone. The female idea of love is of the romantic type, where as characters such as Egeus and Demetrius see love in the way of beauty and worthiness being most important. The male perspective tends to be very oppressive towards the females in the play, but, this being a patriarchal society, the male viewpoint on love is the dominant one even when a woman inhabits it.
The idea of an oppressive female character is important to understanding how this scene contributes to the play’s issues. In this scene, Titania has been forced