Who was Theseus in A Midsummer Night’s Dream?



Theseus is the Duke of Athens, and consequently the most powerful character in the courtly realm of the play. Though he’s missing entirely from Acts 2 and 3, his upcoming wedding to HippolytaHippolytaHippolyta is the Amazon Queen who marries Theseus (off-stage in Act 4, Scene 1). Shakespeare bases Hippolyta’s character on the ancient historian Plutarch’s portrayal of her in his “Life of Theseus,” which covers the big, mythological battle between Theseus and the Amazons.