Introduction
Gender roles and the constrictive binary in which they are contained provide a foundation for analyzing many aspects of Shakespeare’s work. During this era, the patriarchal system reigned supreme, and England had legally institutionalized the principles of male dominance with a core societal value to maintain appearances rooted in compliance with these principles. To challenge these social norms could result in a loss of reputation or wealth, result in banishment or imprisonment, or even cost someone their life. Through analyzing gender roles, especially those that have not stood the test of time and are more androgynous, scholars can gain a deeper understanding of a play’s character, plot, themes, or function. By investigating both dominant and weaker expressions of gender and the conflict or connection between the two, it is possible to see to what extent characters are products of their gender identity. In turn, with a closer inspection, scholars may be able to better continue a study on many aspects of the function, purpose, or message of any potential plays where gender roles are particularly manipulated.
It is important to first discuss the aforementioned societal expectations and norms that demonstrate a clear path for what gender is or should look like and what it is or should be transgressive of. There are many cultural expectations associated with gender, any of which can vary according to the internalized values of a given historical period. Besides more obvious conflicts or interpretations of gender, questions of displaced gender, toying with gender ambiguity, or relations to society become necessary to address. Certainly, these questions are merely a small foothold into a complicated tapestry of gender ideology when it comes down to Shakespeare’s complete works, but as aforementioned, they are some of the more explicit gender role-related questions a scholar may design their close readings, interpretations, or theses around.
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Portrayal of Gender
William Shakespeare’s comedy of errors, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, has a lot to say about gender. This play presents us with three very different female characters: Hermia, Helena, and Titania. With the men, however, characters like Lysander and Demetrius are nearly interchangeable at various stages within the play. The power dynamic between the female characters, when they are in the company of men, is a major component of how gender is depicted in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Additionally, Shakespeare employs language to explore how gender is depicted in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Language and rhetoric are also frequently used to express how one might feel about gender roles in the play.
The power dynamic between the female characters in A Midsummer Night’s Dream is much like the power dynamic between male and female characters in the world of the play. For one thing, Hermia is betrothed to Lysander. A more significant power dynamic occurs between Hermia and Egeus, her father. Egeus wants Hermia to marry Demetrius, although Hermia wants to be with Lysander. The power dynamic in Hermia and Egeus’s relationship expands to encompass the court of Athens, as Egeus brings a complaint to court against Hermia for disobeying him.
Lysander and Demetrius, on the other hand, are hardly ever shown to be aggressive toward one another, despite the fact that they both like Hermia. This is because, in the society of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, men were supposed to vie for desirable women like Hermia. Therefore, Lysander and Demetrius are much more alike than it may at first appear. To this point, the male characters in A Midsummer Night’s Dream place a high value on the looks of their love interests. Even after Puck recognizes his mistake about using the love potion, Lysander loves Hermia and refuses to be with the man he overhears Helena and Hermia fighting about. We can liken this to the lackadaisical attitude that Hermia and Helena take toward their female friendship when their love interests become twisted.
Gender Stereotypes and Expectations
The critic once pointed out that “all that men can write or think when many of us are excluded defines and limits our human potential.” This can be seen to be true when we consider a viewing of A Midsummer Night’s Dream as an exploration of “whether the suite of practices that organize cultural relations between men and women are necessary or contingent; whether they bring pleasure and happiness or distress; whether we can change them; and if so, how; and finally, what have men and women been doing and what might they do? The insistence that the exclusion of women and the relegation of men’s concern for women causes a deficit of thought and creativity that cannot be contested is brought to the fore in this play. It is easy to see the unrealistic and shallow characterization of men as bumbling idiots when faced with women and women as irrational and incapable beings as simply a witty portrayal of human character. Unfortunately, this etymological cage, defined by the word itself and expanded by its etymology, allows it to be wholly incorrect.
The characters in A Midsummer Night’s Dream are trapped and confined by their social gender. Men are expected to be dominant, aggressive, and independent, while women are expected to be nurturing, subservient, and accommodating. For instance, one character tells another, “I am, my lord, as well derived as he, as well possessed. My love is more than his; my fortunes every way as fairly ranked, if not with vantage as Demetrius.” The response is, “To you, your father should be as a god... So is Lysander.”
Another character clearly hands over a legal right of personal determination to be owned by another because he seems to have better access to patriarchal consent by invoking the authority of the father, rooted in nature and God, sanctioned by law, a clear indication of bottom lines, and supported by reason, myth, and tradition. However, one character responds that he is only an animal, and few social restrictions can hold him back, even if these few restrictions—women’s behavior—are so weak they deserve little concern. The playwright employs some standard gender metaphors to empower one character. He employs the discourse of wildness (here, untamed animals) to stand against the woman’s natural “mildness” and tame “obedience” in his defense of another’s natural right to choice. In a similar identification sequence, when calling her “mild” or “gentle” does not appease her, the enraged character directly describes her as “forward” and “harsh,” which is typically the language of describing men who do not fulfill their authoritative and legal requirements. When women are seen as out of control, as a force to be tamed, the texts usually say. Not only is it surprising to hear that girls should not be feminine in one speech, but it is also a subversive statement. Likewise, one character concluded that it was nice enough to bloom, and then classified the feminine behavior that men consider to be so sweet, waiting for a strange irony, because it is not at all sweet.
The patriarchal concept of female sweetness has made her suffer. But it should be clarified that sexual and gender stereotypes are not simply similar to double binding. It limits the life space of all characters to make them small and palatable for both.
Gender Norms in the Characters
Hermia and Helena’s pursuit of Lysander’s and Demetrius’s affections is unusual for women in the Elizabethan world, yet is justified according to Athenian law since they are merely following their natural proclivities towards sex and marriage. Their actions at the comforting of Lysander show them to be submissive and typically female. Helena, especially, shows herself to be stereotypically in the throes of unrequited love. While it would be ridiculous to argue that the author is prior to his time, it is hard to deny or ignore the eagerness with which he creates women who sometimes subvert such expectations, challenging pre-existing ideas and teasing an awareness of both the attractions and the follies of a patriarchal value system. In fact, the whole play seems to have an antithesis towards what might be expected. Females here pursue men, challenge their current relationships, and are far from passive in the realm of sexuality. Further concrete evidence at the very beginning of the play ensures that the lovers offer us the greatest challenge to our rigid adherence to certain gender identities. They discuss power and attempt to establish who might appear dominant in their apparent objectification of the opposite sex. Various evidences in this comedy subvert the political authorities on which many expectations of feminine and masculine power are based, and portray womanhood and manhood as in many ways dependent on and determined by each other. These considerations inform the play’s subject of eros, and in this work, the author examines how love depends on, shapes, and is shaped by gender. He seems to suggest here both the sources of personal and philosophical power and its limitations and frailties by casting the immortals as inseparably in love.
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