Egeus Quotes

Full of vexation come I, with complaint
Against my child, my daughter Hermia. –
Stand forth, Demetrius. – My noble lord,
This man hath my consent to marry her. –
Stand forth, Lysander. – And my gracious duke,
This man hath bewitch’d the bosom of my child. –
Thou, thou, Lysander.

– William Shakespeare

A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 1, Scene 1. An angry Egeus complaints to Duke Theseus that his daughter Hermia is disobeying his wish that she marry Demetrius and she wants to wed Lysander instead. He effectively accuses Lysander of witchcraft: putting a spell on his daughter’s heart.

Thou hast by moonlight at her window sung
With feigning voice, verses of feigning love,
And stol’n the impression of her fantasy
With bracelets of thy hair, rings, gauds, conceits,
Knacks, trifles, nosegays, sweetmeats – messengers
Of strong prevailment in unhardened youth.

– William Shakespeare

A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 1, Scene 1. Egeus accuses Lysander of wooing his daughter by pretending to love her by singing at her window by moonlight. He says that he recited fake love poems, offered her various gifts, and even gave her a lock of his hair. All designed to influence an innocent child. Egeus is maintaining that Lysander’s so-called love is not true, but an illusion.

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.

– William Shakespeare

A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 1, Scene 1. Egeus is demanding that his daughter Hermia marry the man he chooses for her, Demetrius, but she defies him because she loves Lysander. In this passage Egeus appeals to the Duke of Athens Theseus to enforce the law, saying that if his daughter disobeys she would be put to death. "As she is mine, I may dispose of her," an enraged Egeus ominously declares. Egeus sees her simply as his property, to do what he will with her under the law of Athens, including killing her!

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.

– William Shakespeare

A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 1, Scene 1. The young Athenian woman Hermia has been told by her father Egeus that she must marry Demetrius. In this passage the Duke Theseus, who is the authority in the city of Athens, upholds her father’s demand. Using a series of similes the Duke tells her that her father is "as a god" to her and she is to him "as a form of wax" to be shaped by him. Theseus is asserting a father’s complete power over his daughter and that she should obey him. As his daughter’s creator Egeus can do what he wishes with her, even "disfigure" her, according to Theseus.

Enough, enough, my lord; you have enough:
I beg the law, the law, upon his head.
They would have stolen away; they would, Demetrius,
Thereby to have defeated you and me,
You of your wife and me of my consent,
Of my consent that she should be your wife.

– William Shakespeare

A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 4, Scene 1. Egeus is a controlling father and wishes to the sole decider of who his daughter Hermia marries. After Lysander explains that he and Hermia ran away to be married, Egeus wants him to be punished. He demands that Duke Theseus bring the law down on his head. Even though Hermia loves Lysander, the unrelenting Egeus still demands that his daughter marry Demetrius.

Fair lovers, you are fortunately met.
Of this discourse we more will hear anon. –
Egeus, I will overbear your will,
For in the temple, by and by, with us,
These couples shall eternally be knit.

– William Shakespeare

A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 4, Scene 1. Theseus overrules Egeus’ commmand that his daughter Hermia must marry Demetrius. He decrees that later in the temple the marriages of Lysander and Hermia and Demetrius and Helena will take place along with his own. The two sets of young Athenian lovers achieve their happy ending – with the help of the Duke’s intervention and the magic love juice which Demetrius is still under the spell of.
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