... investigates the various gender roles and explores the inferiority of women in Elizabethan society. In A Midsummer Night's Dream elements of social critique are present in the opening seen with the conflict between Hermia and her father Egeus. Rather than submitting to her father's wishes, Hermia's headstrong attitude questions the belief that women are thought to always submit to the wishes of the male dominant ... to the male's desires. The play concludes with the women being physically tamed in their marriage bed binding them to their role as the wife and the mother. Shakespeare uses A...

• Word Count: 866
• Approx Pages: 3
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate