The Deconstruction of Patriarchy in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream

The early modern era is mostly known as a historical period in which patriarchy dominated society, therefore, men were believed to be superior to women and capable of controlling the whole society. Meanwhile, Shakespeare as one of the prominent playwrights of the early modern became the mouthpiece of the outcast, to which women belonged, to subvert the idea of patriarchy in his A Midsummer Night’s Dream. That is, Shakespeare depicts a revolt against the patriarchal grand narratives of his time through the characterization of Hermia, Helena, and Titania. In this case, it is manifest that while the early modern era propagated a misogynist attitude for the sake of having a homogenous society, Shakespeare made use of his play and, importantly, his pen to demonstrate the capability of women in breaking down the patriarchal creeds of the time and shed light on the fragility of patriarchal doctrines as well as, on a broader scale, gender roles. Respectively, the current essay aims at analyzing Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream based on the perspectives of feminism discussed in Kate Millet’s Sexual Politics. The findings of the study illustrate that Hermia, Helena, and Titania are the characters who defy the dogmas of patriarchy, and, most significantly, pursue their own agency and individuality. In sum, Shakespeare turned into an author who revealed patriarchy is a brittle belief that can be deconstructed easily and, later on, became a predecessor of later feminists, such as Aphra Behn, Hélène Cixous, or Virginia Woolf, to name a few.

کلیدواژه ها:

feminism ، patriarchy ، Renaissance ، William Shakespeare