Some of the most interesting female characters in Shakespeare's writing are Hermia in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Viola and Olivia in Twelfth Night, and Gertrude, the Queen of Denmark and Hamlet's mother, in Hamlet. ... Egeus is so insistent about the importance of maintaining the dominant gender paradigm that he entreats Theseus to use the full weight and penalty of the law to punish his daughter if she does not obey, even if the punishment means death. ... In Twelfth Night, the reader meets two female characters who are different from Hermia in many ways, but who are affected s...

• Word Count: 2208
• Approx Pages: 9
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Graduate