Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream Supports Queen Elizabeth's Personal Dominion

Dominion was a very significant religious and political notion in Shakespearean times. Dominion refers to the actual power rather than legal power to control one's fate. In Elizabethan times, it was customary for women to have their husbands chosen for them. Queen Elizabeth was a contradiction to this custom, as she insisted on remaining single while ruling her nation. As if an ode to the Queen, Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream is a comical play that indirectly supports the Queen's own decision to remain unmarried, thus claiming personal dominion reigns over traditional customs.

In Act I Scene 1 of A Midsummer Night's Dream, Egeus and Hermia disagree about her marriage plans. Shakespeare addresses the issue of dominion immediately when the father-daughter pair visits Theseus, the Duke of Athens, for a solution to the conflict. Egeus addresses Theseus "with
Hermia is not happy with her father's decision and she pleads her case to her father, requesting, "I would my father look'd but with my eyes" (257). Hermia wants her father to look at the situation from her perspective. Seeing that Egeus is unwilling to do this, Hermia asks to be informed of "the worst that may befall me in this case, if I refuse to marry Demetrius" (257). Asking this question, Hermia is showing control over her own dominion. While the Law of Athens may allow her father dominion to choose her husband, she freely decides to refuse her father's command when she replies, "My soul consents not to give sovereignty" (257).

When Hermia and Lysander discuss their plight, the pair realizes that "it is a customary cross" (258). Love often brings difficult times, and the lovers agree to flee from Athens so they may be together. Hermia makes the conscious decision to promise Lysander, "I swear to thee, by Cupid's strongest bow ... Tomorrow truly will I meet with thee" (258). She also shares the plans with her friend, Helena, when she admits, "My Lysander and myself shall meet, and thence from Athens turn away out eyes" (259). Much like the Queen of England, Hermia places her own personal dominion ahead of tradition.

Shakespeare takes the lovers on a fanciful journey throughout the remainder of the play, and the pair is eventually united in marriage, as personal dominion overruled the traditional habits of arranged marriages. Oberon, King of the Fairies, tells the audience, "So shall all the couples three ever true in loving be" (280). The ending of the play not only reaffirms the love that Hermia and Lysander share, but also, it validates the personal decision that Hermia makes. Her happy ending proves that she is correct in fighting for her right to make marriage her own decision. As Hermia states her decision, she is urged to "take time to pause" and is given the ultimatum, "Upon that day either prepare to die for disobedience to your father's will, or else wed Demetrius, as he could, or on Diana's alter to protest for aye austerity and single life" (257). According to the law, Hermia will either marry Demetrius, live as a nun or die for disobedience to her father. Even with the knowledge of her fate, Hermia does not relent as she cries to Lysander about the "hell, to choose love by another's eyes!" (258). This specific complaint Hermia makes is a direct link to dominion, as she is stating she wants to be free to make her own choices, especially regarding love.