Helena and Hermia's Relationship : Midsummer Night's Dream

Kelsey Henderson

Professor Lynn Maxwell

Intro to Shakespeare

8 October 2022

How does  A Midsummer Night’s Dream engage questions of queer desire   and gender identity/roles? You may want to consider Helena and Hermia’s relationship, Hippolyta role, Titania’s various relationships, etc. You might also want to take up the play’s insistence on marriage.

Parameters: Write a 5-7 page MLA-formatted paper with a works cited. Your paper should present your own argument about a text (or texts) that we have studied together. The following prompts are designed to help you craft a thesis. If you have a topic that you would like to write about that you do not see offered, you are welcome to do so. However, I highly recommend that you consult with me via email (or office hours) to make sure that you write a paper an appropriate paper.

Thesis: Shakespeare’s interpretation of Helena and Hermia’s relationship manipulates and exudes a patriarchal view of female relationships.

Evidence:

Using his male view, he creates an illusion of what female relationships look like through the male gaze

Examples: Homoeroticism, Female Cattiness, and Male Subservience.

· Helena versus Hermia

· Helena choosing to make Hermia her enemy instead of Demetrius.

· The common trope of women versus women rather than the blame on the male hedonist.

· When the tables turned, and the boys loved Helena

· It became woman versus woman again. They hated each other.

· Called each other’s puppets

· Called each other jugglers, mistress

· While Helena and Hermia seem to have a homosocial relationship that exist outside the patriarchy, throughout the play their actions combat this idea.

· Women in Midsummer night dream exist as objects of the patriarchy even Helena and Hermia who at first glance seem to have a homosocial relationship that exist on the outside.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream is.