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A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare/ Author Introduction / Historical Context / About the Work / Themes / Characters/ Summary & Analysis

 

A Midsummer Night's Dream

by 

William Shakespeare




Brief Biography of William Shakespeare

Shakespeare's father was a glove-maker, and Shakespeare received no more than a grammar school education. He married Anne Hathaway in 1582, but left his family behind around 1590 and moved to London, where he became an actor and playwright. He was an immediate success: Shakespeare soon became the most popular playwright of the day as well as a part-owner of the Globe Theater. His theater troupe was adopted by King James as the King's Men in 1603. Shakespeare retired as a rich and prominent man to Stratford-upon-Avon in 1613, and died three years later.

Other Books Related to A Midsummer Night's Dream

Unlike many of Shakespeare's plays, there's no single source for the plot of A Midsummer Night's Dream. But Shakespeare did take various tales and characters from a wide number of sources and stitch them together to create his play. For instance, the characters of Theseus and Hippolyta come from an English translation of Plutarch's Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans, the tale of Pyramus and Thisbe and the name of Titania comes from Ovid's Metamorphoses, the story of a man turned into an ass is told in Apuleius's Golden Ass, and Oberon's name comes from a medieval French romance entitled Huon of Bordeaux. Further, a plot that hinges on two lovers fighting to marry according to their will and in defiance of their fathers was standard in both Greek and Roman drama (and also drove the plot of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet).
Key Facts about A Midsummer Night's Dream
  • Full Title: A Midsummer Night's Dream
  • When Written: Early to mid 1590s
  • Where Written: England
  • When Published: 1600 (though it was first performed earlier, probably between 1594-96).
  • Literary Period: The Renaissance (1500 - 1660)
  • Genre: Comic drama
  • Setting: The city of Athens and the forest just outside, in some distant, ancient time when it was ruled by the mythological hero Theseus.

Themes:

  1. Love: Love is the central theme of the play, and it is portrayed in various forms. The characters experience love as irrational, confusing, and transformative. The play highlights the volatility of love, as seen in the shifting affections between Lysander, Hermia, Demetrius, and Helena, and the magical influence of the love potion. The theme of love also explores how it can lead to both joy and chaos.

  2. Magic and Fantasy: The play is set in a magical, otherworldly forest where supernatural elements—such as fairies, magic potions, and transformations—disrupt the natural order. The magic brings about humorous and sometimes troubling situations but also plays a role in resolving the conflicts between the characters.

  3. The Nature of Reality: The play frequently blurs the lines between reality and illusion. Characters often find themselves confused about what is real, especially when magic is involved. The forest, for instance, represents a place where the ordinary rules of society don’t apply, and dreams and fantasies become indistinguishable from reality.

  4. Appearance vs. Reality: Along with the theme of reality, the play examines how appearances can deceive. The magical interventions cause characters to misinterpret others' identities, such as when Bottom is transformed and Titania falls in love with him. This highlights how perceptions can be altered, leading to misunderstandings.

  5. Transformation: Many characters undergo physical or emotional transformations in the play. Bottom is transformed into a donkey, while Titania's love for him is an example of emotional transformation influenced by magic. These changes underscore the fluid and unpredictable nature of both love and identity in the play.

  6. Social Order and Disorder: The play reflects on the tension between order and chaos. The rules of Athens, embodied by the strict authority of Egeus and Theseus, contrast with the wild, unruly realm of the fairies in the forest. The conflicts between the lovers, as well as the behavior of the mechanicals, illustrate the disruption of social norms and conventions, which is ultimately resolved by the end.

  7. Dreams: Dreams are a significant metaphor throughout the play, with the characters often questioning what is real and what is imagined. The title itself suggests a connection between the play’s events and the dream world, where strange, fantastical things happen. The closing lines, which refer to the events as being like a "dream," reinforce this theme.

 Characters :

1. Theseus:

  • The Duke of Athens, Theseus is a figure of authority and order. He is preparing for his wedding to Hippolyta and represents the structured, rational world outside the magical forest.

2. Hippolyta:

  • Queen of the Amazons, she is set to marry Theseus. Her relationship with him is a symbol of power and authority, though there is a sense of an unequal match in their engagement, as it comes after a conquest.

3. Egeus:

  • Hermia's father, who insists that she marry Demetrius, even though she loves Lysander. Egeus represents the societal pressures and parental authority, trying to enforce his will over his daughter.

4. Hermia:

  • A young woman in love with Lysander, but forced by her father, Egeus, to marry Demetrius. She defies her father’s wishes and runs away with Lysander into the forest. She represents love’s resistance to authority.

5. Lysander:

  • Hermia’s true love, Lysander is passionate and determined to marry her, even against the will of Egeus. He also becomes the victim of a magical love potion, which causes him to fall in love with Helena.

6. Demetrius:

  • Initially in love with Hermia, Demetrius is disdainful of Helena, but under the influence of a magic potion, he eventually falls in love with her. His transformation from one love to another highlights the fickleness of romantic affection.

7. Helena:

  • Helena is Hermia's best friend, who is hopelessly in love with Demetrius, even though he rejects her. She is portrayed as insecure and self-deprecating, and she goes to great lengths to win Demetrius’s love, even if it means humbling herself.

8. Oberon:

  • The King of the Fairies, Oberon is a powerful, yet somewhat capricious, figure who uses magic to control others. He becomes involved in the romantic chaos when he orders Puck to use a love potion on Titania, his queen, and on the young lovers.

9. Titania:

  • The Queen of the Fairies, Titania is initially at odds with her husband, Oberon, over a young Indian boy. She is also affected by magic, falling in love with Bottom after Puck transforms him into a donkey, demonstrating the irrationality of love.

10. Puck (Robin Goodfellow):

  • A mischievous fairy and servant to Oberon, Puck is the cause of much of the confusion and comedy in the play. He is responsible for applying the love potion to the wrong people and transforming Bottom, and he enjoys the chaos he causes.

11. Bottom:

  • A weaver and one of the "mechanicals," Bottom is an overconfident, humorous character who is transformed by Puck into a donkey. Titania falls in love with him due to the magic potion. His self-assurance and obliviousness to the absurdity of his situation make him a source of comedy.

12. Quince:

  • The leader of the group of Athenian tradesmen (mechanicals) preparing a play for the Duke and Duchess's wedding. He is well-meaning but often inept in his attempts to direct the group, adding humor to the play.

13. Snug, Starveling, Snout, and Flute:

  • Other members of the mechanicals. Each of them plays a role in the performance of Pyramus and Thisbe, the amateur play-within-a-play. Their earnest but bumbling attempts at theater provide comic relief.

14. Fairies:

  • There are several minor fairy characters in the play, including Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Moth, and Mustardseed, who serve Titania and Oberon. They help carry out the magical events of the play, further complicating the romantic entanglements.
Summary & Analysis

In the palace in ancient Athens, Duke Theseus and his fiancé Hippolyta are planning their wedding festivities when Egeus, an Athenian nobleman, arrives. Egeus has with him his daughter, Hermia, and two men, Lysander and Demetrius. Egeus wants Hermia to marry Demetrius, but Hermia loves Lysander. Egeus asks Theseus to uphold Athenian law, which forces a woman to marry the man her father chooses or be executed. Lysander points out that Demetrius is an inconstant lover, who had until recently loved Hermia's childhood friend Helena before falling for Hermia, but Theseus says he must uphold the law, and exits. Lysander and Hermia decide to elope by escaping into the forest outside Athens. They tell only Helena of their plans, but she tells Demetrius in order to try to regain his love.

Elsewhere in Athens, a group of manual laborers discuss a play, Pyramus and Thisbe that they hope to perform at the Duke's wedding. Bottom, a weaver with many ridiculous opinions about acting, gets the part of Pyramus. The group agrees to rehearse in the forest outside Athens. Meanwhile, in the forest, Oberon, the king of the Fairies, is fighting with his queen, Titania, over possession of a beautiful Indian changeling boy. Oberon decides to punish his wife for refusing to obey him. He sends his servant, Robin Goodfellow, a mischievous fairy also known as Puck, to bring him the love-in-idleness flower. The magical juice from this flower causes a person (or fairy) to fall in love with the first thing he or she sees. Just then, Oberon sees Helena following Demetrius through the forest and hears him threaten to abandon her. Oberon decides to make Demetrius love Helena and tells Puck to put the love juice on the eyes of the man in Athenian clothes. Oberon then sneaks up to the sleeping Titania and drops the potion on her eyes.

As all this is going on, Lysander and Hermia get lost in the forest, and find a place to sleep, apart, for the night. Puck sees Lysander's Athenian clothes, and puts the love juice on his eyelids. Nearby, Demetrius finally abandons Helena. Lysander wakes, sees Helena, and falls in love. Helena thinks Lysander is mocking her with his declarations of love, and stalks off. Lysander follows. A moment later, Hermia wakes up. Shocked that Lysander would abandon her, she goes to search for him.

The laborers rehearse their play in the forest, close to where Titania sleeps. They can't remember their lines or cues, amusing Puck, who's watching them. Puck transforms Bottom's head into the head of an ass; the other laborers, terrified, run away. Not knowing what's happened, and thinking his friends ran away as a joke, Bottom sings to show he isn't frightened. His song wakes up Titania. She falls instantly in love.

Oberon is pleased with Puck's work, until he discovers that Puck put the love juice in Lysander's rather than Demetrius's eyes. He sends Puck to bring Helena to Demetrius, and puts the love potion in Demetrius's eyes. Helena arrives, followed by Lysander. Demetrius wakes, and falls in love. Both men argue over who deserves Helena, while she now thinks they're both mocking her. Hermia then shows up, and is furious that Lysander is now wooing Helena. Soon Hermia and Helena are on the verge of fighting. When the men go off to duel in the forest, Helena runs. Hermia chases her. Oberon sends Puck out to make sure no one hurts each other. Puck uses his trickery to get them all to fall asleep in the same small glade, and then puts the love juice on Lysander's eyelids so he'll love Hermia again. Titania, meanwhile, is still doting on Bottom, and has given Oberon the changeling. While she sleeps, Oberon removes the spell, and Puck removes Bottom's ass-head.

On a hunting expedition in the forest, Theseus, Hippolyta and Egeus encounter the four sleeping lovers. When Lysander admits that he and Hermia were eloping, Egeus insists that the law be brought down on their heads. But Theseus sees that Lysander now loves Hermia while Demetrius loves Helena, and says the four lovers can marry at his wedding. At the same time, Bottom returns to Athens just as the laborers were starting to despair they wouldn't be able to perform their play because they had no Pyramus.

As entertainment after the wedding, the Duke chooses to watch the laborer's play. It is terrible and ridiculous, but the Duke and lovers enjoy making fun of it. After the three married couples go to bed, the Fairies enter and bless the marriages.

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