Power, sexism and Titania in Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream"

Oberon, Titania and Puck with Fairies Dancing
William Blake, 1786

Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" presents us with one of the most memorable female characters created by this author. Titania, Queen of the Fairies and Oberon's wife, seems to be the complete opposite of the typical Elizabethan wife: a regular wife would never argue with her husband, she would follow her husband's rules and keep her ideas and opinions to herself. Titania, of course, is nothing like this.

Titania was at odds with her husband, who wanted to possess an Indian prince. Why did this happen? Because Titania denied Oberon's wish! (this was some sort of a sexist conflict, since men were supposed to raise little boys and teach them things only men are supposed to know, ugh). But wait, Oberon wasn't very happy about it, he didn't go "Oh, okay, nevermind": he wanted to take revenge and sent Puck to find a flower that would make his wife fall in love with the first man (or animal?) she would see. The juice of this flower was rubbed on Titania's eyes while she was asleep, and once she woke up and saw Bottom (who already looked like an ass), she fell in love with him. 

Michelle Pfeiffer as Titania in the 1999's
movie "A Midsummer Night's Dream"

But I would like to pay attention to Titania's role as a woman in this play. She was the Queen of the Fairies, and as such, she had to be a strong woman and dominant figure who would challenge her husband's authority. Also, Titania was intelligent, sassy, powerful, daring and proud. Even her husband thinks so:

Oberon: Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania.

Titania: What, jealous Oberon! Fairies, skip hence:

I have fornsworn his bed and company.

And even when she falls in love with Bottom (let's remember she's under the influence of a love potion and Bottom looks like an ass), Titania still acts dominating and decided: Bottom just accepts what is happening and follows whatever Titania says or does. Again, Titania shows herself as an authoritative and dominant woman who likes to have others at her disposal. Anoher evident part of the play in which Titania shows her power, is when she falls in love with Bottom and orders him to stay in the forest:

Titania: Out of this wood do not desire to go:

Thou shalt remain here, whether thou wilt or no.
I am a spirit of no common rate;
The summer still doth tend upon my state;
And I do love thee: therefore, go with me.

A Midsummer Night's Dream depicts
how sexism worked in the Elizabethan
Era, even in Fairyland

By the end of the play, Titania is no longer a strong and dominant woman: she gives up her own will and gives Oberon the Indian boy, they reconcile and she becomes a submissive, humble and conventional Elizabethan woman, which somehow shows how at the end, men still have some dominance over women, even if they are strong, intelligent and daring. Maybe Shakespeare was afraid of giving a female character infinite power and a final victory, especially during the Elizabethan Era, time in which a woman with a voice would become a threat for society. Or even it was  an effective way to criticize the Elizabethan social order: maybe Shakespeare met many strong, intelligent, daring and sassy women who were controlled by a male-dominant society and others who didn't have the chance to speak their minds. 

Whatever Shakespeare tried to do, he successfully provided us with one of the best famale characters presented in literature. Furthemore, Titania represents all those strong, powerful and decided women out there who have been able to speak their minds and make their voices heard. Even though she was controlled by Oberon's power at the end of the play, it's important to pay attention to her as a character who along with other female characters, broke the mold of the typical Elizabethan woman. 

Way to go, Queen T! 

References:

• Shakespeare, William. Four Comedies: A Midsummer Night's Dream, As You Like It, The Tempest, Twelfth Night. NY: Washington Square Press, Inc., 1962.
• Greene, Lenz, Neely, eds. The Woman's Part: Feminist Criticism of Shakespeare. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1980.
• Squyer, Emily. The Feminist Subtext of Shakespeare's Leading Ladies. November 2010. Retrieved from http://www.wsu.edu/~ delahoyd/shakespeare/sample5.html.