Gender Roles In A Midsummer Night's Dream

Gender roles are defined as sets of social norms which dictate the behaviors types that are generally considered acceptable, appropriate or desirable for a person, based on their actual or perceived sex. Throughout time, women have often been seen as lesser than men, only caring about love and unable to have opinions of their own, but Shakespeare used the fairy world to show how society could move past these gender stereotypes. The gender roles switch for the most part in the fairy world, but even then there are still moments of male dominance. Throughout A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare holds both genders at different standards and they are depicted in different ways, causing the two to influence and conflict with each other. Whether it’s Hermia and Demetrius or Hippolyta and Theseus, it was not necessary for women to love their counterpart and it was made obvious that the
In the play, women don’t care if a man loves them back or if their love really exists at all. Helena throws herself at Demetrius, a man who is blatantly disinterested in her. She attempts to guilt Hermia, complementing her on her perfection, begging her to realize Demetrius’ love as a gift (I. i, 181-1) Helena sees that the men’s “wrongs do set a scandal” on women because they can’t “fight for love, as men may do” (II. i, 6). This, once again, shows how Shakespeare continues to make women helpless in commanding their own futures. Throughout the play, one can see that men have more effect when they are the ones to speak boldly and woo, whereas girls are “wooed and were not made to woo" (II.i.6). Although her words may espouse a view of women in a role that is destined to be dependent on the actions of men, her actions are not a reflection of this. As one can see, outside of the constraints of society, where she simply passively attacks Hermia, she grows bolder, consistently attempting to win Demetrius