A Midsummer Night's Dream: A Blend of Masculine and Feminine - Research Paper Example

? A Midsummer Night's Dream: A Blend of Masculine and Feminine A Midsummer Night's Dream, according to Hunter has a blend of the feminine and masculine elements that are typically present in plays. The masculine elements are the elements that deal with conquest and war, as Theseus' battle against the Amazons and the slaughter of the Minotaur are referenced in the play. This is one kingdom, according to Hunter (1). The other kingdom is the feminine kingdom, which is the magical kingdom that hearkens to Titania's rule or Queen Mab's rule. This kingdom is not just feminine, but also represents occulted power and the unconscious mind – a dreamworld. This is the Celtic element, according to Hunter, as is the other elements that are in the play - the fairies, sprites and natural magic. At the same time, in the play, there are father figures, which makes the play Oedipal, while there is also feminine non-cooperation, which suggests not just a feminine bent to the play, but a feminist bent as well. The father figures are ruled by the fairies, too, however, which blends the masculine elements with the feminine ones. Lucy (20) states that the superstition in the play is universal, and is superstition that we will never quite be rid of as a human race. Therefore, the superstitious elements in the play appeal to not just our unconscious minds, but our conscious minds as well, as our conscious minds are what seeks out superstition for comfort. This would also imply that the feminine is what our unconscious minds aspire to, more than the masculine. We may be ruled by law and order, but, in our subconscious and our hearts, we yearn to have the freedom of the fairy world. Hemingway (1911) states that Shakespeare was attempting to shake off the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet when writing this play, which his why he made love so fanciful, free and engaging – not gloomy. So, the play served a purpose for Shakespeare as well, in this way. The First Act, which is to be analyzed in this paper, is the Act that, according to Snider (167), is the real world – the real world is based not upon the magical fairies that are in the rest of the play, but, rather, is based upon the Reason of man. The First Act is the Act of common experience. Therefore, this is not the idealized world of the fairies. This comes later. There is little characterization in the play, according to Snider (167). Rather, the characters in the play are light and superficial. The characters do not drive this play so much as the action does – there is not a profound psychological analysis of any one character, no King Lear and his narcissistic mind, or Hamlet with his tortured mind. There is not any indication of the psychological issues that any of these characters have, and perhaps this is for the good. Or, as Sidgwick notes “the characters are mostly puppets, and scarcely any except Bottom has the least psychological interest for the reader” (p. 2). Snider (168) carefully delineates who the pairs are in the First Act, for this is where we are introduced to everybody – in the real world. There are Theseus and Hippolyta, whose love goes all the way through the play, causing a paradigm for the actions of the others. They are the lovers who are not affected by what happens later in the play – their love is pure at the beginning, is not interrupted, and is pure at the end. This is once again the feminine aspect of the play. The masculine aspect is also present in this First Act, in that Theseus is introduced as the head of state, which makes him not just masculine, but all representative of the rational state of man. This is in clear contrast to the feminine state of man that is introduced in the dream world later on. Theseus is the judge and the ruler, and the Real World is is organized through law and justice through his figure. Theseus is above the rest, commanding them, yet not succumbing to the magic that has afflicted the others throughout the rest of the play that plays in the Dream World. While Theseus and Hippolyta's introduction in the First Act represents rationality, justice, and order, the next thread of people introduced in the play, according to Snider (1968), represent discord. This group is Egeus and the group of lovers. Egeus has a problem with authority, in that he cannot convince his recalcitrant daughter to marry the man that Egeus has selected for her. The lovers themselves are a part of this discord as well – Helena is one of the lovers, and she is repelled and loves Demetrius, and Demetrius feels the same for her; Lysander and Hermia are another pair of lovers, and this is the love that is conflict with what Egeus wants. Therefore, this represents discord in the rule of the law and justice, because the law at Athens during this time was that the children were to submit to parental authority. This is what forces the lovers to run from the Family and the State – running from the rational world into the fairy world, essentially. They are abandoning the rational world of institutions, to try to find freedom. To analyze these masculine themes more thoroughly, the Act itself should be more dissected. The beginning of the play features Theseus enraptured by the fact that he is to marry Hippolyta in four days, and he is quite anxious to have this happen. He is lamenting that the days are passing too slowly for him (I, i, 1-5). This seems to be a feminine way of expressing himself – he is the one who can't wait to marry Hippolyta, and Hippolyta is the one reassuring him that the time would soon be nigh when they were be married. At the same time, however, there was a hint of the masculine and violence in Theseus' speech – he indicates that he “wooed tee with my sword and won they love doing thee injuries. But I will wed thee in another key, with pomp, with triumph, and with reveling.” This is distinctly masculine, for it implies the images of war and violence, and this is the way that he was able to win Hippolyta's heart. This is the Real World in this depiction, a world where violence is necessary in every day aspects of life, including when one wants to get the woman one wants. Next, Egeus comes in to complain about his daughter. Egeus is asking Theseus permission to either force his daughter Hermia to marry Demetrius, and, if Hermia resists further, then Egeus wants to have his daughter killed (I, i, 23-45). Again, there is violent imagery that has to do with men forcing women to submit by either violence or the threat of violence. Theseus sides with Egeus on this, stating to Hermia that she must submit to Egeus because “To you your father should be as a god, one that composed your beauties, yea, and one to whom you are as a form in wax, by him imprinted and within his power to leave the figure or disfigure it” (I, i, 45-50). Thus, Egeus has the power to disfigure Hermia or to keep her as she is. This, too, shows the power of the state, and the power of the masculine. This also shows the rationality of man – Hermia is not to be ruled by her heart, but, rather, by the state and the rationality therein. Hermia, being a woman, exhibits the feminine in this exchange, for she is ruled by emotions and her heart. Hermia goes on to ask Theseus what will happen to her if she refuses Egeus and marries Lysander instead of Demetrius. Theseus tells her that she will be executed or forced into a nunnery. Then it is revealed that Helena is in love with Demetrius - “Demetrius, I'll avouch it to his head, made love to Nedar's daugher, Helena, and won her soul. And she, sweet lady, dotes, devoutly dotes, dotes in idolatry upon this spotted and inconstant man” (I, I, 90-110). There is some indication that Demetrius himself exhibits signs of the feminine. Hermia states that she spurns Demetrius, yet, the more she hates him, frowns at him and curses him, the more he loves her (I, i, 190-200). This would imply a feminine element to Demetrius, as he is ruled not by his head, but by his emotions. If he were ruled by his head, he would have seen that Helena loves him, not Hermia, and he would not have followed Hermia around and demand her love. He would have realized that Hermia did not want anything to do with him. In Helena's soliloquy, she voices the issue that faces herself and Demetrius. And that is that love is blind, and one cannot help who they love. Helena loves Demetrius, who won't give her the time of day. Demetrius loves Hermia, who won't give him the time of day. She bemoans that we are ruled by emotions, our feminine side - “Love looks not with the eyes but with the mind. And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind. Nor hath Love's mind of any judgment taste – wings and no eyes figure unheedy haste. And therefore is Love said to be a child, because in choice he is so oft beguiled. As waggish boys in game themselves forswear, so the love is perjured everywhere.” (I, I, 230-240). At this point, then, there is a war between the masculine and the feminine. The masculine is the rule of law and order, and the rule of law and order is fighting the feminine rule of emotions and heart. The heart wants what it wants, but this is going against what is wanted by Hermia's father, and, therefore, by Theseus, who sides with Hermia's father. This is because, presumably, children must obey their parents, or else there would be chaos. Of course, this has never worked, and does not work today. This is shown by the fact that the lovers are making plans to run into the forest and get away from Athens so that they can get married. At the same time, there is a bemoaning that the feminine is winning over the masculine. Helena would like love to be much more rational and less emotional. She wants Cupid to be more rational as well. So, there is interesting dichotomy here – in the war of the masculine and the feminine, there are not clear winners or losers. Law is trying to tamp down emotional love, so the law somewhat has the upper hand here. Yet, emotional love is not able to overcome rational love, so emotional love also has the upper hand. The masculine and the feminine therefore are engaged in a kind of dance, trying to see which one will win out. The next scene of the Act does not necessarily advance the story, although it does provide moments of high comedy. In this scene, Quince and some others are getting ready for a play for the wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta. What is funny about this is Bottom's behavior – he wants to play all the parts, and tries to dominate the rest. He wants to play the men, the women, and the lion. But even this comic exchange is a conflict of the masculine and the feminine. The fact that Bottom is so aggressive is a masculine trait. Yet he is to play the part of a lover who kills himself for love. This would be more of a feminine trait, because the feelings that underly a love that passionate that one kills oneself would mean that the character is possessed of feminine emotion. So, even though this scene does not advance the action, it still have inherent themes that are present in the rest of the Act. Bottom has the masculine energy of domination, but in a comic way, yet he is playing an emotion-filled lover, and wants to also play a woman. Conclusion In Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, there is a perfect blending of the masculine and the feminine. Each of these elements are present throughout the play, and each of these elements are introduced in the very first Act. Throughout the play, there is a virtual war between the two elements of masculinity and femininity. On the one hand, there is the rule of law and order. The father energy permeates the play. This is both because Egeus, who is a father, sets the events in motion by his threats to his daughter, and because the overall play has the juxtaposition and pull of the heart overruling authority. If not for Egeus' attempts to exercise fatherly control, the lovers would not have gone into the forest, and this play would not have been. So, the masculine and feminine must have the conflict right up front. In the first Act, the essential conflict is set up. We meet Theseus, who, as king, is the ultimate in masculine authority. We also meet his future queen. There is the brief story of how Theseus won over Hippolyta, stating that he literally convinced her to fall in love with him by violence. This is the image of war, and the image of the masculine forcing the feminine to give way. The masculine war was able to overcome the feminine emotions, and this is how Hippolyta and Theseus fell in love. So, this is one example of the masculine overcoming the feminine. The next example of the masculine at war with the feminine is when the situation of Egeus, who is trying to force his daughter to love somebody that she doesn't. In this case, the feminine ends up winning over the masculine, because the lovers are able to marry in the end, with the help of the fairies in the forest. The final example of the masculine at war with the feminine is the lamentation of Helena, who wishes that love was more rational and logical, and less based upon emotion. In this case, too, the feminine ends up winning over the masculine, because Demetrius does end up falling in love with Helena, but it is the emotion that he feels for her, not his rationality. His rationality was essentially taken away by the fairies who arranged the whole thing. Therefore, the essential conflict of masculine verses feminine is what undergirds this play, and is present in the very first act. References Hemingway, Samuel. “The Relation of a Midsummer Night's Dream to Romeo & Juliet,” Modern Language Notes, 26.3 (1911): 78-80. Online. Hunter, Dianne. “Cultural Politics of Fantasy in Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream,” PsyArt: An Online Journal of the Psychological Study of the Arts 10 Sept. 2003: 1-3. Online. Lucy, Margaret & Jaggard, William. Shakespeare and the Supernatural. Liverpool: Shakespeare Press, 1956. Print. Shakespeare, William. A Midsummer Night's Dream. London: Penguin Books, 2000. Sidgwick, Frank. The Sources and Analogues of A Midsummer Night's Dream. London: Chatto & Windus, 1963. Print. Snider, D.J. “Midsummer Night's Dream,” The Journal of Speculative Philosophy, 8.2 (1874): 165-186. Online. Read More