Today I will endeavour to explore and describe in detail the different ways in which a parent is presented, in both poems “A Midsummers Night Dream” by Shakespeare and “We Remember Your Childhood Well” by Carol Ann Duffy. I will discover how Egeus acts towards his daughter Hermia’s situation of marriage in “A Midsummers Night Dream,” in contrast to the parent and child who have confliction in “We Remember Your Childhood Well.”
Initially, Shakespeare has selected to present Egeus’s speech through a monologue, which has very powerful effect on the way he speaks and how that impacts Hermia. We can witness he uses domineering sentences, such as: “As she is mine, I may dispose of her.” This indicates Egeus is objectively possessive and dominant, oblivious of anyone’s notions. He uses forceful intimidating language in an aggressive manner, therefore allows no on to speak or interrupt. I consider Shakespeare has probably chosen to present his speech in this certain way, to display a dominant, inconsiderate and aggressive father, who reflects his child’s views and opinions to be nothing. Conversely, this gives Lysander, Demetrius and The King, who are all surrounding him a negative impression; As they will all visualize him to be unforgiving, however, potent. While, since this was in the Elizabethan times they would possibly be not as traumatised as it was a patriarchal society at that time, therefore men leading women was a typical thing. On the other hand, today men and women both have equal rights; as a result this would have been assumed to be ill-mannered and offensive.
On the other hand, Duffy has presented a parental role in an opposing way and he has chosen to do it by a poem, which sounds like answers to questions or statements the kid may have made. We can see that he uses ambiguous sentences, for instance: “Nobody hurt you.” This suggests something occurred, while doesn’t fully describe it, which leaves the reader with numerous questions. It also suggests that the parent is programming the kid and telling him what has happened, rather than letting him state his opinion and comprehending. Yet, the kid is trying to explain to his parent, he is just being neglected. I consider Duffy has chosen to present his poem in this way to show an ignorant parent who brainwashes their kid. Though, this does not meet a modern parent expectation, since currently parents value there child’s thoughts and reflect on their opinions.
In addition, we can see in “A Midsummers Night Dream,” that Egeus is trying to persuade and prove to the king that he is right. We can see this in the line: “Stand forth Demetrius my noble lord.” This indicates he is flattering the king
