But O, methinks how slow This old moon wanes! She lingers my desires Like to a stepdame or a dowager
Long withering out a young man’s revenue. (3-6)
The passage of time is signified by the moon. The wedding of Theseus and his bride will occur on the day of a new moon. But the old moon will continue to appear in the night sky for four more nights. Theseus compares the moon in a simile (notice the word like). The moon is like a stepmother of a young man whose father has died. The young man cannot receive his inheritance as long as his stepmother is still alive, and he is unhappy that his stepmother continues to live for so long and spend all of the money that he would have inherited. The young man desires money, but cannot get it. Similarly, Theseus desires Hippolyta, but cannot have her.
The passage is, then, about lust. Theseus’ desire is sexual desire. Four days is just too long for him to have to wait before he can satisfy his desires on his honeymoon.
Hippolyta, on the other hand, is not so eager. She explains that half of the time that they need to wait will be night, when they can dream away the time pleasantly (line 8). Shakespeare thus early establishes the importance of dreams in his play.
Theseus realizes that he has no choice but to wait, and so he turns his attention to getting ready for the grand celebration that will occur on their wedding day (and which will appear in Act V). The first conflict is thus resolved before it even has a chance to develop.
However, a second conflict arises immediately after the first. Egeus, a lord who serves Duke Theseus, enters the palace with his daughter Hermia. With them are two young aristocrats named Lysander and Demetrius. Egeus wants his daughter to marry Demetrius, but Hermia is in love with Lysander and refuses to accept her father’s choice.
Although today this type of problem is not so common in most places around the world, centuries ago the problem was quite serious. Daughters were considered to be the property of their fathers and were forced to marry men for political or social reasons. Love was not a factor in these marriages made for convenience or social position. Quite obviously, Shakespeare did not agree with this sort of treatment of women; and his portrayal of Egeus is not a positive one. Thus, his comedy also functions as social criticism. Shakespeare is clearly speaking out against overbearing fathers and the treatment of women as if they were mere property.
The seriousness of the situation becomes all too evident when Egeus declares that either his daughter must accept his choice or she will receive a terrible alternative:
As she is mine, I may dispose of her, Which shall be either to this gentleman Or to her death. (42-44)
Egeus thus demands that if Hermia does not marry Demetrius, then she should be executed. Egeus would rather see his own daughter dead than to have her alive but act against his wishes or commands. Many fathers were tyrants in their own families, and the law of those early times sided with these dictatorial parents.
The frequency that this kind of problem arose in early society is suggested by Shakespeare’s other plays. More than once, Shakespeare has spoken out against this sort of problem. In the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, Juliet cannot marry Romeo because her parents are in conflict with Romeo’s parents; and Juliet’s father wants her to marry a man of his choosing. But Juliet loves Romeo; and, because of her father’s stubbornness and contrary views, the story ends with Juliet’s death. Only then does Juliet’s father realize that he behaved horribly and foolishly.
An even closer parallel occurs in the tragedy of Othello. Brabanzo complains against his own daughter, Desdemona, when she goes against his wishes and marries a dark-skinned Moor, Othello. There is even a similarity in the language used by Egeus and Brabanzo. Egeus claims that Lysander tricked Hermia into loving him:
This hath bewitched the bosom of my child. (27) With feigning voice verses of feigning love. (31)
Egeus is claiming that Lysander has cleverly seduced Hermia and that Lysander’s love is not genuine. Brabanzo pushes the claim even further.
She is abused, stol’n from me, and corrupted
By spells and medicines bought of mountebanks.
(Othello I, iii: 60-61)
Brabanzo directly claims that Othello used a magic potion to seduce Desdemona into running away with him, and even specifically uses the word witchcraft a few lines later (Othello I, iii: 64). Brabanzo believes that only by the use of magic would Desdemona disobey him. In a manner of speaking, Brabanzo is partially correct. Shakespeare suggests that a type of magic does explain the disobedience of the daughters, but such magic comes not from a potion. It is the magic of love. However, neither Egeus nor Brabanzo seem to understand this kind of magic. If they once had, they have forgotten it.
Shakespeare may also be implying that the tyranny of the fathers on a small scale symbolizes the tyranny of kings and rulers on a large scale. Tyranny in any degree is foolish and harmful.
Hermia, made bold by her love, asks Duke Theseus what will be the consequences if she disobeys her father by refusing to marry Demetrius (lines 62-64). Although in Greek mythology Theseus was noted for his wisdom and sagacity, in Shakespeare’s comedy he is a stern autocrat who will not bend or break the laws of his Dukedom. He informs Hermia that if she disobeys her father, she will be punished in one of two ways:
Either to die the death, or to abjure For ever the society of men. (65-66)
In other words, Hermia will either (1) be executed or
Theseus then grants Hermia three days to change her mind. Hermia’s situation thus looks bleak for her; and if this play were a tragedy, like Romeo and Juliet or Othello, Hermia might have had the same destiny as had Juliet – a destiny of death. However, this play is a comedy; and Shakespeare reveals that he can take a serious situation that might be found at the start of a tragedy and transform the plot so that all ends happily.
And, so, Hermia’s tragic problem thus becomes the catalyst for the comic events that follow afterwards.