FIRST PAPER

Subject : Shakespeare through Performance

Student´s name : Fayos Juliá, Aroa Lara

Title of the paper : "Midsummer Night´s Dream: Egeus”

Author or topic : Shakespeare, William

1.- INTRODUCTION.

I was thinking about the form in which I could do this paper and it was a little complicated to me. I don´t want to write a narrative essay because other students are going to do it and the result can be too repetitive, so I am going to do a short interview with my character.

My idea is to advertise a new performance of this comedy that is going to take place in my city and the best advertisement can be an opinion of one of the actors and his explanation about his role and the relationship with other characters of the play.

I´m going to talk about Egeus, character of Shakespeare´s comedy “A Midsummer Night´s Dream”.

I have choosen a character of this comedy because “A Midsummer Night´s Dream was the first comedy that I read and I have choosen Egeus because the other characters had been choosen previously and he was my favourite of the rest of characters.

2.- PRESENTATION OF THE PERFORMANCE AND INTERVIEW WITH EGEUS.

The next month we are goint to have a great event in our city. The famous comedy “A Midsummer Night´s Dream” is going to be represented. It was written by William Shakespeare and we have a brief and interesting interview with one of its actors. His name is David García and he performs the character of Egeus.

- Hello Mr García, as we know you are Egeus at the performance, what is the importance of this character in the play?

I´m a minor character but I´m important in the play because I´m the father of Hermia and she is one of the main characters. I appear in Act I, Scene I and I don´t speak a lot of lines but without me there is no Hermia and other characters because Hermia is in the play thanks to me because I am her father. There aren´t conflicts between characters and there isn´t the same argument without me.

- Can you explain your role in the comedy?

Yes, of course. My daugther is in love with Lysander and Lysander is in love with Hermia but I do not agree with her. I have given Demetrius permission to marry Hermia, but Hermia refuses to marry Demetrius. I like Demetrius and I hate Lysander. My daughter has to respect my wishes but she does everything she wants.

Act 1, Scene 1:

Lysander:

“You have her father's love, Demetrius;
Let me have Hermia's: do you marry him.”

Egeus:

“Scornful Lysander! true, he hath my love,
And what is mine my love shall render him.
And she is mine, and all my right of her
I do estate unto Demetrius.”

- And finally she respects you?

If you want to know it you have to go to the next performance. I can´t explain the end. She has to obey me. I´m a respected nobleman in Theseus´s court and I have to control Hermia. I ask Theseus to impose the death penalty on her if she refuses to marry Demetrius. Theseus, however, reduces the penalty for noncompliance from death to life as a nun.

http://nfs.sparknotes.com/msnd/characters.epl

It appears in Act 1, Scene 1:

Egeus: “...

Turn'd her obedience, which is due to me,
To stubborn harshness: and, my gracious duke,
Be it so she; will not here before your grace
Consent to marry with Demetrius,
I beg the ancient privilege of Athens,
As she is mine, I may dispose of her:
Which shall be either to this gentleman
Or to her death, according to our law
Immediately provided in that case.”

- It´s a big conflict, are there more conflicts in which you take part?

There are some conflicts but this is the big one. All of the conflicts of the play evolve from this major event: the conflict among Lysander, Demetrius, Hermia and I (Egeus).

- You are a selfish person. Why do you impose your viewpoint over that of Hermia?

Because I love Hermia and I think that she is wrong and Demetrius is the best husband. I am convinced that this marriage is the best for her future.

- Thank you Mr David for your attention, see you next month at the performance. Good luck.

Thank you.

3.- CONCLUSION

Egeus is a minor character but without him, the comedy doesn´t exist. He takes part in some of the conflicts, the most important conflict is the love among Hermia,Lysander and Demetrius and Egeus is involved in it because he does not agree with his daugther and he wants that she respects his orders.

Egeus is an important character in this comedy and he has an important role. We can think that he is too selfish but it was the mentality of that time in which the father chose the husband for his daugther. Today, we choose our couple but in Shakespeare´s time it was a task of the parents, normally as a business transaction.

It´s a comedy and every conflict is resolved in the end of the play, it finishes with a happy ending.

If you want to know how it finishes, you have to go to the Apolo´s Theatre the next month of December. I hope you enjoy “A Midsummer´s Night Dream”.

4.- SOURCES

http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare.com/shakespeare/msnd/characters.html

http://nfs.sparknotes.com/msnd/character.epl

- 25-11-2006. “Shakespearean characters”. Wikipedia®

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egeus

- 25-11-2006. “A Midsummer Night´s Dream”. I haven´t found the author.

http://library.thinkquest.org/23293/Midextra.html

- 25-11-2006. “Essay: Love in a Midsummer Night´s Dream”. Loyola College.

http://justice.loyola.edu/~mcoffey/lit/essays/midsummer.html