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,
For aye to be shady cloister mewed,
To live a barren sister all your life,
Chanting faint hymns to the cold fruitless moon.
– William Shakespeare
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 1, Scene 1. Theseus has told Hermia that she has three choices: get married to Demetrius, become a nun, or die. He advises her to think carefully about what she wants. He warns her that she may not be able to tolerate a life of chastity shut up in a convent without husband or children, chanting hymns to the moon.