Female power: A magical and mortal impression - page 1
Keywords: A midsummer night's dream comparative essay titania helena patriachal society contemporary monarchy conflict between male and female power fairy and mortal world social factors Shakespeare
By xbryonyx on 13/02/2007
Level: GCSE Key Stage 4 (Years 10-11)
Page Number: 1 of 10 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Female power- a magical and mortal impression
'A Midsummer Night's Dream' is a play written in the Elizabethan times for a wedding. At the time it was written, society was extremely patriarchal and this can be seen throughout the play. Despite this Shakespeare has presented several female characters as extremely strong; this could be because the play was written for a wedding in which a positive atmosphere is desired from both sexes or could have derived from the influences by certain women of the era.
The characters of Titania and Helena in 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' present versions of female power effectively but in contrasting ways. Titania is a strong fairy queen who stands her ground and is confident to express her point of view whereas Helena ultimately shows her power through her intelligence and use of language and strong views on proper behaviour. Despite both women conclusively being over ruled by male dominance, they demonstrate the worth of women that was much underestimated in the Elizabethan society.
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Titania holds a lot of power through her position is society; she is Queen of the Fairies and also Diana/Artemis, a goddess of nature in general and fertility in particular. As Diana/Artemis she is presented as an Amazon goddess, thought to be both virginal and sexual and present female power in a masculine context. This goddess has huge strength and will fight for her beliefs and morals, and Titania portrays this well. As this goddess Titania’s obligations were to use her ‘fairy grace’ to bless the marriage of Theseus and his warrior bride at the end of the play.
The strength of Titania’s character is emphasised by her close link to Queen Elizabeth and many comparisons can be drawn between the two. Both women are members of the monarchy and extraordinarily strong females. Both also represent the moon goddess Diana; Elizabeth because of her virgin reputation, linking to the chaste Diana and Titania because of the shared links to nature and fertility. It could be thought that a lot of Titania’s character was taken from Queen Elizabeth as she was an extremely influential woman in Shakespeare’s society.
At the time of writing the play, Shakespeare was living in a conservative society, in which both religion and tradition proclaimed the natural inferiority of women. Despite this, the contemporary monarch was a woman famous for her strength of character and determined pursuit of an independent life. This is
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