A Midsummer Night's Dream Comedy or Tragedy
...Demetrius or be put to death. Her father Egeus pleads to Theseus: Be it so she will not here before your Grace Consent to marry with Demetrius, I beg the ancient privilege of Athens: As she is mine, I may dispose of her, Which shall be either to this gentleman Or to her death, according to our law. (1.1.39-44) As grim as this scene appears, it is the necessary impetus compelling Hermia to take to the woods and runaway with her true love Lysander. In another unpleasant exchange between male and female characters Helena follows Demetrius into the woods and she tells him that even if he treated her like a dog she would be happy to beg for his love: Use me but as your spaniel, spurn me, strike me, Neglect me, lose me; only give me leave… What worser place can I beg in your love- And yet a place of high respect with me- Than to be used as you use your dog? (2.1.205-10) To which Demetrius replies "Tempt not too much the hatred of my spirit, for I am sick when I do look on thee" (2.1.211-12). Again, as unpleasant and grim as this exchange is between the two, it is a necessary device to drive them further into the woods, Demetrius in pursuit of Hermia and Helena in pursuit of Demetrius. Once in the woods, we come upon the fairy kingdom and yet another example of a female not buckling to the demands of male authority when Titania, queen of the fairies refuses to give Oberon, king of the fairies the child she has taken from her friend that died while giving birth. Titania tells Oberon "Set your heart at rest, the fairy land buys not the child of me" (2.1.122-23). All of these rather disagreeable exchanges between the male and female characters early on in the play are deliberate, and precisely there to compel all of the characters to be in the woods. Hermia must escape her death sentence and meet Lysander in the woods to run away. Helena follows Demetrius into the woods in the desperate hope of gaining his favor. The couples unwittingly bound into the ki...