In his plays, Shakespeare critically examines the nature of female and male friendships in relation to sexual desire. Specifically, Shakespeare contrasts the strong and faithful bonds of female sisterhood with the chaotic and contentious nature of male rivalries. Without men, the women of Shakespeare's plays are perfectly capable of sustaining fulfilling relationships, nourished by the loyalty and intimacy of sisterly love. Left to their own devices, men compete with each other, almost as if fighting and dissent were the default states of male interaction. These profound differences between male and female relationships are manifested in the characters of A Midsummer Night's Dream. While men are bound exclusively by mutual jealousy, women are bound by kinship ties. While men are unstable with their affection, women remain faithful to their feelings. In the play, heterosexual desire is seen as destroying, even damaging, the innate innocence and virtue of female friendships. Furthermore, the conflict that arises from this desire is seen as a product of patriarchal law, a system that Shakespeare also criticizes. By making these palpable distinctions, juxtaposing love and devotion with the tumult and fickleness of patriarchy, A Midsummer Night's Dream proposes sisterhood as a superior alternative to heterosexual relationships. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay A Midsummer Night's Dream follows four young Greeks, Hermia, Lysander, Demetrius, and Helen, as they flee a strict Athenian society for the sexual freedom of the forest (Shakespeare's "The Green World"). In the context of the play, Athenian patriarchal law, much like the law that dictated the political climate of Elizabethan England, is founded on a principle of male supremacy. This belief holds that women are “naturally inferior to men and must therefore accept male domination.” Furthermore, marriages in Athens require a parent's consent, echoing the moral ideas espoused by Puritans in Shakespeare's time. Therefore, unmarried daughters are considered the property of their fathers. This is the case of Hermia and her father, Egeus. Privileged in this way, Egeus has the right to choose who Hermia will marry; he chose Demetrius. However, Hermia has found her own love with Lysander and refuses to marry another man. According to the provisions of the law, she risks death or “a vow of unmarried life” (Ii121) if she does not obey her father's command. Faced with the decision to accept married life with Demetrius or suffer the consequences of his opposition, Hermia decides to flee with Lysander to her aunt's house. Here, outside the city's jurisdiction, they can be free to marry. A widow, Lysander's aunt is known as a femme sole, one of the few women within this patriarchal order capable of maintaining her property. Therefore, Hermia and Lysander's escape is an inversion of the patriarchal model embodied by Aegeus, as they are replacing a harsh Athenian government with the laws of nature and free love. This scenario not only provides a critique of Egeo's point of view, but also establishes a context in which the vivid disparity between male and female friendships can be fully discerned. Early in the play, Shakespeare establishes the bonds of sisterhood shared between Hermia and Helena. We learn that they are childhood friends who often ran away into the woods, where "on faint beds of primroses [they] used to lie" (Ii215). However, it is clear that the girls' current sexual attraction to Lysander and Demetrius threatensthe stability of their relationship. Because she has agreed to elope with Lysander to this same place in the woods, Hermia is sacrificing an emblem of her friendship with Helena to her heterosexual desire for Lysander. In this way it is supplanting Helena's place in Hermia's life. “Goodbye, sweet playmate” (Ii220), says Hermia, equating her escape from Athens with the breaking up of this childhood union. Here, the show illustrates how heterosexual relationships can only be forged once the bonds of sisterhood are dissolved. We will see the girls' behavior in the forest solidify this chasm, as the damage their friendship has suffered due to sexual desire becomes more evident. In stark contrast to this brotherly love is the fierce rivalry maintained by the youth of the play. From the beginning of the play we observe the controversial relationship between Demetrius and Lysander. Because his marriage to Hermia was sanctioned by Aegeus' approval, Demetrius feels entitled to Hermia as one would feel entitled to a piece of property. He asks, “Give thyself, sweet Hermia, and, Lysander, yield / Thy foolish title to my certain rights” (Ii91-92). While Lysander articulates at least one concept of “love” in relation to Hermia, as he believes this sufficiently legitimizes their marriage, Demetrius never makes such mention. He invokes purely legal language. For example, in asking Lysander to "surrender his foolish title", Demetrius is confusing what Lysander's love is, for an erroneous and unfounded claim on Hermia. Evidently Demetrius can only understand it in these terms. Therefore, it seems that Demetrius wants Hermia not because he cares for her or even regards her emotionally and organically. He is simply busy competing with Lysander, wanting to gain the upper hand in their rivalry. However, it is crucial to note that Lysander also speaks of Hermias as a property. To Aegeus' insistence that he has unequivocally bestowed his legal right to Hermia on Demetrius, Lysander responds: I am, my lord, as much descended as he, as well possessed; my love is more than his; My fortunes at all events are as equally ranked (if not with advantage) as those of Demetrius, and (which is more than all this boasting can be) I am loved by the fair Hermia. Why then shouldn't I assert my right? (Ii99-105)Lysander does not dispute Aegeus' rights to his daughter. In fact, he accepts the patriarchal model and recognizes Hermia as his father's property. Sympathizing with Aegeus, Lysander questions the integrity of his supposed love for Hermia. Because it structures both the language and the conceptions that come to define “heterosexual relationships,” patriarchal law itself is seen as encouraging male rivalry. Even with the transformative power of the forest and Oberon's love potion, this male bitterness and dissent does not waver. Waking up under the potion's "love in idleness" spell, Lysander looks at Helen for the first time. Immediately, he transfers to her the (perhaps not so true) love he expressed for Hermia throughout the show. However, he immediately follows (and in a certain sense underlines) this revelation by exclaiming: «Where is Demetrius? Oh, how fitting a word / That vile name must perish on my sword! (II.ii.106-107) His capacity to love is weakened by the ease with which he moves, by his susceptibility to change. On the other hand, Lysander's brotherly hatred, the contempt he feels for Demetrius, cannot be penetrated by external forces. Lysander's complete abandonment of Hermia as the object of his affection reflects another issue at the heart of Shakespeare's inquiry: the problem of male inconstancy. In counteracting the effect that the love potion has on both male rivalry and.