Everywhere in the world you go at one point men were seen as the strong breadwinner of the family who pursued the woman he wanted, on the other hand the women are seen as the ones who take care of the family does the cleaning and make sure her husband is happy. However over the years that has changed and women are now "stepping up to the plat" and are moving away from that stereotpye.
The book Midsummer Night's Dream is mainly about the relationships between men and women as it can be seen through the couples "Theseus and Hippolyta, Lysander and Hermia, Demetrius and Helena, and Oberon and Titania" There was also a relationship between Bottom and Titania. Shakespeare grew up in the Victorian period and was influenced by it as during that time men were considered to be superior to women and were given more oppertunities just as in Midsummer Night's Dream.
It is seen as stereotypical where the male characters are portrayed as superior or put in superior positions such as ,Oberon who is king of the fairies and the woods, Theseus Duke of Athens, Lysander and Demetrius who are both wealthy and Egeus who is Hermia's father who thinks he own Hermia as he states that "as she is mine, I may dispose of her". Majority of the actors are also males. We also see some characters go against the so called restrictions of there sex, one such character is Helena where she is the one pursuing Demetrius which is not something women normally do as they are the one's that are pursued.An example is both Hermia and Hippolyta as Hermia is being pursued by both Lysander and Demetrus an Hypolyta was pursued by Theseus.
Also we see where Helena has had sex with Demetrius even though they are not married as opposed to Hermia who waiting on getting married before she has sex. Hermia is following the stereotype of marriage before sex while Helena is moving away from that stereotypical view.
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