HERMIA
Hermia challenges patriarchal authority by questioning Egeus’ control.
I would my father look’d but with my eyes.
Helena uses a metaphor, showing that she is willing to be mistreated as long as she can stay close to Demetrius.
I am your spaniel; and, Demetrius, / The more you beat me, I will fawn on you.
Here, Oberon asserts dominance over Titania using a rhetorical question and calling her a woman of loose morals.
“Tarry, rash wanton: am not I thy lord?”
Titania subverts expectations by rejecting marital duty (refusing to sleep with Oberon)
What, jealous Oberon? Fairies, skip hence. / I have forsworn his bed and company.
Egeus is furious that his daughter is attempting to defy his order.
“As she is mine, I may dispose of her.” (1.1)
Hermia defies Theseus, choosing death or chastity over an unwanted marriage.
“So will I grow, so live, so die, my lord, / Ere I will yield my virgin patent up / Unto his lordship.” (1.1)
Helena uses this simile which reveals that she only values herself with respect to the male gaze.
I am as ugly as a bear.
Oberon demands the changeling child, asserting his right to control Titania’s choices.
Give me that boy, and I will go with thee.
Titania refuses to hand over the changeling boy, asserting her independence and authority.
The fairy land buys not the child of me.
Egeus values male worth/status over his daughter’s choice.
Demetrius is a worthy gentleman.
Hermia tells Lysander to sleep away from her for modesty and propriety.
Nay, good Lysander; for my sake, my dear, Lie further off yet, do not lie so near.
Helena's contrast between (regarding Hermia) challenges expectations of feminine weakness.
Though she be but little, she is fierce.
Oberon threatens Titania with punishment, reflecting patriarchal dominance and the idea that a husband should discipline a disobedient wife.
Thou shalt not from this grove till I torment thee for this injury.
Titania narrates the myth of the changeling boy’s mother, showing her loyalty and compassion — valuing female bonds over male demands.
But I might see Cupid’s fiery shaft / Quenched in the chaste beams of the watery moon.
Theseus asserts divine patriarchal power.
To you your father should be as a god.
Hermia fiercely argues with Helena, showing independence and fiery spirit, by calling her names.
And are you grown so high in his esteem because I am so dwarfish and so low? How low am I, thou painted maypole? Speak. How low am I? I am not yet so low but that my nails can reach unto thine eyes.
Helena's rhyme reveals emotional distress. This heightens the sense that Helena is the victim of male manipulation.
O spite! O hell! I see you all are bent / To set against me for your merriment.
Oberon is determined to force Titania to give up the boy, showing his belief that male authority must prevail.
I’ll make her render up her page to me.
Titania confronts Oberon directly, blaming him for the chaos in nature, which shows she is unafraid to challenge male authority.
And never, since the middle summer’s spring, / Met we on hill, in dale, forest, or mead … but with thy brawls thou hast disturbed our sport.
Theseus frames marriage as conquest, showing domination over women.
Hippolyta, I woo’d thee with my sword.
Hermia speaks boldly to Theseus, even though she acknowledges that it breaks the expected place of women.
I know not by what power I am made bold,
Nor how it may concern my modesty.
In this antithesis, Helena reveals the natural order of things is reversed.
Apollo flies, and Daphne holds the chase. The dove pursues the griffin. The mild hind / Makes speed to catch the tiger. Bootless speed / When cowardice pursues and valor flies.
Oberon's line as he grants Titania's release reflects male condescension.
Her dotage now I do begin to pity.
Titania personifies nature as a powerful and newly pacified being - showing how nature has been tamed and pacified with the forgiveness of Titania by Oberon further cementing the idea that only chaos comes from defying the roles of gender.
The blots of Nature’s hand / Shall not in their issue stand
Theseus' line reinforces the patriarchal idea that a daughter’s duty is absolute obedience to her father, aligning with Elizabethan values of male authority and female submission.
For you, fair Hermia, look you arm yourself / To fit your fancies to your father’s will.