Robin’s
epilogue at the end of A Midsummer Night’s Dream is intriguing. Shakespeare
seems to have ‘jumped the shark’ in suggesting that all was a dream at the end
of the play. Why would Shakespeare end the play by saying it was all a dream
and then apologize if it offended? It may have been because of the strong
female characters that behave uncharacteristically for the time. The apology, “Gentles, do not reprehend. If
you pardon, we will mend” (5.2.7-8) could be intended for the men in the audience
who will have to deal with the aftermath of women who are inspired by Hermia, Helena and Titania.
A
female character publically opposing her father must have been controversial.
Women of the time would have been awestruck by Hermia’s defiant behavior towards
her father. They might have been inspired by Hermia’s stance on not marrying someone
she doesn’t love. Hermia statement, “Ere I will yield my virgin patent up Unto
his lordship whose unwished yoke. My soul consents not to give sovereignty” (1.1.
80-83) could have planted seeds of rebellion in young girls. Hermia does not waiver in her defiance and is
prepared to live a life of chastity if she cannot have the one she loves. Could
Shakespeare have been accountable for young women of the era standing up to
their fathers and taking control of their own destinies?
Helena’s
character could have also gotten Shakespeare into trouble. While I love Helena
she is the epitome of obsessed even in today’s world. She doesn’t pursue Demetrius shamelessly, “Your
wrongs do set a scandal on my sex. We cannot fight for love as men do;”
(2.1.240-241) she admits she is behaving unabashedly yet she does not yield in the
face of rejection. If Helena’s behavior is a part of the offense and included
in the apology how does it reconcile with the fact that she gets Demetrius in
the end? If I were an impressionable young girl in the audience I might think
that if I super stalked someone I could end up with him.
Titania
is yet another female character that defies male authority. Robin tells the fairy that Titania
forcibly “withholds the loved boy”
(2.1.26) from Oberon. Like Hermia and Helena, Tiatnia carries out her assertion
until she is tricked into giving the boy up. In class we discussed the interpretation of the
relationship between Titania, her voltress
and the mens’ merchant ships. The notion
of women being more valuable than men
because of reproduction seems to be what Shakespeare would have needed to apologize
for most of all.
I
wonder how the dream was received in Shakespeare’s time. I think it was a
crafty way for him to get his ideas across and save himself from public scrutiny.
Today’s audiences don’t seem to appreciate the ‘dream’ explanation. We want to
be told what it means rather than finding the meaning ourselves.
