How is Theseus controlling? To begin with, he kidnaps Hippolyta, his bride-to-be, after defeating her people, the Amazons, and uses force to get her to agree to marry him. As he puts it in act 1, scene 1,
Hippolyta, I wooed thee with my sword
And won thy love doing thee injuries.
Theseus also upholds the patriarchy in this scene, backing Egeus, Hermia's father, in his assertion of his right to decide who Hermia will...
How is Theseus controlling? To begin with, he kidnaps Hippolyta, his bride-to-be, after defeating her people, the Amazons, and uses force to get her to agree to marry him. As he puts it in act 1, scene 1,
Hippolyta, I wooed thee with my sword
And won thy love doing thee injuries.
Theseus also upholds the patriarchy in this scene, backing Egeus, Hermia's father, in his assertion of his right to decide who Hermia will marry. Theseus tells Hermia he should think of her father as a god. If Egeus thinks Demetrius is a better husband for Hermia than Lysander, Hermia should arrange her mind to think so too, Theseus says. Theseus enforces this sense of male control by telling Hermia she will either marry Demetrius or go to the nunnery for the rest of her life.
Theseus, however, will later prove himself to be a just and even-handed ruler, and in the end, true love will prevail for Hermia and the other young people.
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