The opening scene introduces the audience to not only some main characters, but also to the main theme of the play – love and all its problems. It begins with Theseus and his bride-to-be, Hippolyta, discussing their wedding. Immediately, Shakespeare injects some pretty hefty meaning into what is meant to be a comedy. As Theseus waxes lyrical about his love for Hippolyta, it becomes glaringly obvious that she isn’t as happy as he is, or at least, isn’t as vocal about it. When Theseus delivers the pretty awkward and uncomfortable line, “Hippolyta, I wooed thee with my sword, / And won thy love doing thee injuries,” she literally doesn’t have a chance to respond before Egeus enters. This deliberate silencing of Hippolyta is important, as it meditates upon the gender paradigms which characterised Shakespeare’s society. Already, on the first page of the script, Shakespeare is exploring gender inequality in his society, by contrasting Theseus’ grand and pompous language with Hippolyta’s silence.
