Quote 10
THESEUS
Hippolyta, I wooed thee with my sword
And won thy love, doing thee injuries,
But I will wed thee in another key,
With pomp, with triumph, and with reveling. (1.1.17-20)
It turns out that Theseus and Hippolyta are getting hitched because Theseus conquered Hippolyta's people, the Amazons. As we know, the Elizabethans were fascinated by classical myths about Amazons, women who cut or burned off their breasts so they could shoot a bow and arrow more efficiently, raised their daughters to be warriors, dominated their husbands, and treated their sons badly by sending them away, making them do "girlie" housework, and/or by killing them.
Why does this matter? Well, because Amazons dominate men, they flip the traditional European gender system on its head. In Shakespeare's play, though, men regain their positions of power over women. (Theseus marries the Amazonian Queen he won in battle and, also, Oberon humiliates Titania and takes away her foster child). At least that's how literary critic Adrian Montrose sees it. He argues that A Midsummer Night's Dream "eventually restores the inverted Amazonian system of gender and nurture to a patriarchal norm."
Brain Snack: In one of Shakespeare's major sources (Plutarch's "The Life of Theseus"), Theseus easily beats the Amazons in battle and captures Hippolyta after luring her onto his boat. (According to Plutarch, Theseus is the McLovin of the ancient world, so Hippolyta could hardly resist his charms.) You can read the story here.
Quote 11
THESEUS
What say you, Hermia? be advised fair maid.
To you your father should be as a god,
One that composed your beauties, yea, and one
To whom you are but as a form in wax
By him imprinted and within his power
To leave the figure or disfigure it.
Demetrius is a worthy gentleman. (1.1.47-53)
Theseus says that fathers are like "gods" and daughters are like globs of wax. (This is a pretty common idea in 16th-century literature, where kids are often said to look like their fathers because they're "imprint[ed]" by their dads' images, much humans are said to be made in God's image.) Here, Theseus's metaphor is sinister because he says that, because Egeus had the power to make Hermia in his own image, he also has the "power" to "disfigure" her (body/face) if he feels like it.
Quote 12
THESEUS
Take time to pause; and, by the nest new moon
(The sealing day betwixt my love and me,
For everlasting bond of fellowship),
Upon that day either prepare to die
For disobedience to your father's will,
Or else to wed Demetrius, as he would;
Or on Diana's altar to protest
For aye austerity and single life. (1.1.85-92)
Hermia is left with very few choices if she refuses to marry the man her father has chosen for her. Here, we learn that she must either wed Demetrius or choose from the following: 1) become a nun, or 2) die. It seems that Egeus and Theseus attempt to control Hermia's sexuality by trying to force her into an unwanted marriage or, alternatively, a nunnery, where she will be forced to live a life of "austerity."