Saturday, April 28, 2007

Is this a fallacy?

When I was writing my Midsummer Night's Dream essay, I came across this one quote in which Egeus states:

"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." (Act I, Scene i.)

To me, this statement seems like a false dilemma. Egeus presumes fewer options by saying that he either can let his daughter marry Demetrius, or have her die. He doesn't consider other options such as letting Hermia marry Lysander. What do you guys think?

2 comments:

SharkySpy said...

Looks good to me - nice heads up!

BC said...

It works.