Read the excerpt below from act 1.1 of A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare and answer the question that follows. EGEUS: Happy be Theseus, our renownèd Duke! [20]
THESEUS: Thanks, good Egeus. What’s the news with thee?
EGEUS: 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.— [25]
Stand forth, Lysander.—And, my gracious Duke,
This man hath bewitched the bosom of my child.
Thou, thou, Lysander, thou hast given her rhymes,
And interchanged love tokens with my child.
Thou hast by moonlight at her window sung [30]
With feigning voice verses of feigning love,
And stol’n the impression of her fantasy
With bracelets of thy hair, rings, gawds, conceits,
Knacks, trifles, nosegays, sweetmeats—messengers
Of strong prevailment in unhardened youth. [35]
With cunning hast thou filched my daughter’s heart,
Turned her obedience which is due to me
To stubborn harshness. And, my gracious Duke,
Be it so she will not here before your grace
Consent to marry with Demetrius, [40]
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. [45]
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 [50]
To leave the figure or disfigure it.
Demetrius is a worthy gentleman.
HERMIA: So is Lysander.
THESEUS: In himself he is,
But in this kind, wanting your father’s voice,
The other must be held the worthier. [55]
HERMIA: I would my father looked but with my eyes.
THESEUS: Rather your eyes must with his judgment look.
HERMIA: I do entreat your grace to pardon me.
I know not by what power I am made bold,
Nor how it may concern my modesty [60]
In such a presence here to plead my thoughts,
But I beseech your grace that I may know
The worst that may befall me in this case
If I refuse to wed Demetrius.
THESEUS: Either to die the death, or to abjure [65]
For ever the society of men.
Therefore, fair Hermia, question your desires.
Know of your youth, examine well your blood,
Whether, if you yield not to your father’s choice,
You can endure the livery of a nun, [70]
For aye to be in shady cloister mewed,
To live a barren sister all your life,
Chanting faint hymns to the cold fruitless moon.
Thrice blessèd they that master so their blood
To undergo such maiden pilgrimage; [75]
But earthlier happy is the rose distilled
Than that which, withering on the virgin thorn,
Grows, lives, and dies in single blessedness.
HERMIA: So will I grow, so live, so die, my lord,
Ere I will my virgin patent up [80]
Unto his lordship, whose unwishèd yoke
My soul consents not to give sovereignty.
THESEUS: Take time to pause, and by the next new moon—
The sealing day betwixt my love and me
For everlasting bond of fellowship— [85]
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. [90]
The “ancient privilege of Athens” refers to all of the following EXCEPT
A.
a father’s right to make important decisions for his daughter until she is married
B.
a father’s right to choose his daughter’s husband
C.
a father’s right to take his daughter’s life for disobedience
D.
a father’s right to force his daughter into marriage or a nunnery
E.
a father’s right to take the life of suitors he deems unworthy of his daughter