The play opens as Hippolyta and Theseus are discussing their upcoming marriage. Theseus comments that he

woo'd thee [Hippolyta] with my sword,
And won thy love doing thee injuries;
But I will wed thee in another key,
With pomp, with triumph, and with revelling.
(I.i.16-19)

Theseus is referring to the fact that he conquered Hippolyta in his war with the Amazons. Hippolyta's only lines in this act are in response to Theseus's comment that they will be wed in "Four happy days" (I.i.2). She says simply, in a few lines, that the time will pass quickly. Hippolyta does not appear again until IV.i. She accompanies Theseus and others on a hunt in the wood, and she fondly remembers a moment from her past as queen of the Amazons when she was hunting "with Hercules and Cadmus" (IV.i.112). She comments on the musical quality of the baying of the hounds on that hunt, that she had "never heard / So musical a discord, such sweet thunder" (IV.i.116-17). Theseus then praises his own hounds, when Egeus stumbles upon the four sleeping young lovers.

Hippolyta appears again in Act V, first discussing with Theseus the story of the young lovers, commenting that it was "strange and admirable" (V.i.27). During the performance of "Pyramus and Thisby," Hippolyta makes various remarks throughout the play, sometimes scoffing ("This is the silliest stuff that ever I heard'' [V.i.210]) and sometimes praising ("Well shone, Moon. Truly, the moon shines / with a good grace" [V.i.267-68]). In the end, she and Theseus are blessed, along with the other couples, by Oberon.

Many commentators see Hippolyta's and Theseus's relationship as providing a framework for the dramatic action of the play, given that the couple only appears in the beginning and the end of the play. Additionally, this relationship undergoes no change during the course of the play and arguably represents stability and consistency, in direct contrast to the somewhat capricious relationships of the young lovers. Some commentators, however, have observed Hippolyta's relative silence throughout Act I of the play. They believe that this silence does not reflect Hippolyta's happy acceptance of her marriage to Theseus. Rather, her reticence suggests that she has been coerced into the marriage (remember, she has been taken captive), and that she seems to regard it with resignation and sadness.