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I’m doing this partly to show everyone what starting a topic for a character would be like. But I also have fondness for the old coot that is Egeus.
Egeus is always played by an old man and nearly always with a a lot of balled up energy. This time reading, I’m struck by how repetitive he is. When we’re first introduced to him, he seems to blow through the introductions to get to his problems. He’s “vexed” AND has “complaint” about his child, also called “daughter, also called “Hermia.” The repetitions almost read like an old man who is so mad he’s just sputtering, saying the same things over and over. His list of how Lysander has “stolen” Hermia’s love is also excessive. This is a comedy, so surely Hermia and Lysander will get together, but maybe Egeus has be funny so that we feel bad for the kids and not him. If we thought Egeus wasn’t being to harsh, we’d never root for poor Hermia and Lysander. So Egeus has to be this kind of comic old man. Or at least… that’s what occurred to me *this* time I read it!
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I chose to look at the character Egeus because of the way he was portrayed in the 2014 version vs. the 2018 version.
For the 2014 version all the characters behaved almost identical to what I had originally imagined, but with the exception of Egeus who turned out to be much more aggressive, protective, and antagonistic towards Demetrius and his daughter Hermia than I had imagined.
On the other hand, all the characters in the 2018 version did not match up to what I had imagined all of them to be but, again, with the exception of Egeus who was portrayed exactly how I had visualized him.
Egeus’s first line in the play says:
“Full of vexation come I, with complaint Against my child, my daughter Hermia.” (1.1.23-24)
The first thing I imagined was a mentally drained old man dealing with a rebellious daughter whom he has no idea how to deal with. Egeus goes out to seek advice from the Duke, who instills fear upon her and condemns her for her actions. To me the word “vexation” seemed like a word that would be used the way the modern word “rant” would be used (although one is an adjective and the other is a verb, they seem to express a shared feeling/response when faced with a problematic situation) and often times “rants” tend to either be a wordplay of sad/hopeless emotions or angry/infuriating emotions. The first time reading it, I felt as if the old man was “vexed” not in an angry way, but in a hopeless way. Since I watched the 2018 version before the 2014 one, my interpretation of Egeus’s character was solidified.
After watching the 2014 version, I was struck at how different he was portrayed. Like I mentioned previously, Egeus was much more bold and looked much more infuriated with Lysander. I went back to the text to see if I could reread Egeus’s first lines in an angry tone and I actually was able to see how someone would have seen him like that. I believe the first sentence was the big takeaway in visualizing Egeus. One person could have imagined an old man despairingly and hopelessly ranting whereas another person could have seen him angrily ranting to Theseus. Depending on how you read that first part, the way the other sentences will flow will act accordingly to how you saw Egeus and I found that very interesting.
Is there one perfect way to interpret this? I don’t think so. We don’t really know what Shakespeare intended. That is, unless his character develops later on to make it clear the way Egeus is ‘meant’ to be.
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in situations like this, dictionaries are helpful. “Vex” is to irritate or disturb and “rant” is to talk in a wild way (it comes from the dutch word describing talking foolishly). So while a “disturbed” person might rant, that’s more in the sense that someone is emotionally or mentally unstable in such a way to stop making sense (that could be caused by internal disorder or because of an external situation). “Vexation,” for me, locates the problem outside of Egeus. His problem is his daughter (or so he thinks). Hi daughter vexes him. I think you pick up on what I was describing in my post, that he does rant (long lists, repeated sounds, etc.). For me this makes Egeus less sympathetic. I’m not inclined to believe him over anyone else and so I’m more sympathetic to Hermia and Lysander.
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I used this definition of vex instead. Merriam Webster’s definition was slightly different than the one you sent. I do believe that Egeus was not sympathetic and therefore him reacting in an angry tone seems more befitting. I’m curious to know, however, why Egeus is so fond of Demetrius. If Lysander and Demetrius are from a similar social standing, what about Lysander does Egeus not like that makes him react this way? Is it just the fact that Lysander didn’t ask permission from Egeus? Is there more to it than just “permission”? Wouldn’t he love the man who makes his daughter happy or did that one mistake of not asking permission change Egeus perception of Lysander?
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Oh! Good on you for looking it up!
I like Merriam-Webster and I often find its definitions helpful. They don’t publish word origins, though. The other reason I tend to prefer Dictionary.com for casual use, is because it includes word origins and results from other dictionaries for comparison. For professional use, I tend to use a dictionary that’s more widely recognized as reputable (like Merriam-Webster, Oxford, Cambridge, Collins, etc.). The definitions aren’t different (“vex” for us was pretty similar), it’s about professional standards being simply higher.
I’ve also thought about why no one seems to make a case for Demetrius. Both Theseus and Egeus seem to imply they don’t need reasons. The fact that the play doesn’t bother to tell us means Shakespeare didn’t seem to think it mattered either. So maybe we’re not supposed to evaluate who we think is better for Hermia and instead let her decide. After all, wouldn’t we just be sort of like Theseus and Egeus if we ask her to justify her choice? She asks us to see with her eyes.
I don’t know, though. Good questions!
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I chose the monologue given by Egeus (1.1.22-.45). I think this speech is so in character for Egeus because Egeus is a man who is of status and is used to getting what he wants, which is exactly what we can see he’s trying to do. Egeus’s daughter wants to marry a man he does not like, which wasn’t in the plan he made for his daughters life. For what may be the first time in his influential adult life, Egeus is being disobeyed by who may be the only person who can disobey him without being immediately punished. From what I’ve gathered so far, and what I believe will continue to be true is that Egeus is a cranky old man who is mad that his believes aren’t shared by everyone in his vicinity. So he goes to the one person who is more powerful than him to force everyone to agree with him, this case is what his monologue is about. It is easy to tell, especially in performance, how upset Egeus is during his monologue which I think is his defining characteristic. We know that he is “full of vexation” and based on that line we can imagine he is yelling during his speech. Just imagine reading lines like “this man hath bewitch’d the bosom of my child” or “with cunning hast thou filch’d my daughter’s heart” without an angry tone… you can’t can you? That’s because they’re being said, in what I assume, is to be Egeus’s normal voice, that of one who loves to control people and loves to complain when they don’t listen to him.<span class=”Apple-converted-space”> </span>He is clearly irate at the fact that his daughter fell in love with someone other than he who was pre-approved, and rather than try to understand his daughters wishes like a good father would, he immediately calls her his property and tries to get permission to kill her. And what kind of people do we know who don’t like people messing with their property? Thats right, cranky old men. Watch, from now on you won’t be able to hear the phrase “hey you kids, get off my lawn” without picturing Egeus in his vexation.
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Like we discussed earlier, Egeus is essentially a disgruntled dad unhappy with his daughter’s choices. His monologue in Act I paints this portrait perfectly (1.1.22-45). He’s quite angry: he repeats himself, exhaustively lists unnecessary details of Lysander’s courtship of Hermia like “bracelets of thy hair… [and] sweetmeats (1.1.33-34).” don’t think his anger necessarily stems from not getting what he wants, like suggested above, but from what he perceives as his daughter’s being tricked. He takes away Hermia’s agency in the situation by not addressing her in his complaints. Instead, he has quite a few words to spew at Lysander, telling him that “with cunning hast thou filch’d my daughter’s heart.” Egeus is very much a product of his environment when he essentially threatens his daughter with execution to make her follow his wishes.
“I beg the ancient privilege of Athens” (1.1.41)
He’s a high-ranking official in Athens, so this is what he’s been conditioned to think is the appropriate response to his daughter’s disobedience, which is not much of an excuse, but nonetheless, I don’t believe he actually means for her to be killed. He is appealing to Theseus because he is at the end of his rope, and he is hoping that this will snap her out of Hermia’s love-sick daze.
“And my gracious Duke,
Be it so she will not here before your Grace
Consent to marry with Demetrius” (1.1.42-44)
The fact that he leads his appeal with this line clues us into the fact that he finds Hermia making the choice to marry Demetrius and thus avoiding death to be the most favorable and likely outcome. Egeus’s monologue is not an entitled man angry that someone has the nerve to disobey him (okay, maybe it is a little bit that), but a exasperated father hoping to scare his daughter straight.
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