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
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.
– William Shakespeare
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 1, Scene 1. A defiant Hermia, whose heart is set on Lysander, asks the Duke of Athens Theseus what her fate will be if she refuses to marry Demetrius. Tell me the worst that will happen me, she demands. Hermia is an outspoken and self-assertive young Athenian woman and has the courage to speak up for herself to the highest authority figure in the city.