Back to the Renaissance and Shakespeare PageTheseus, Duke of Athens
Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons, betrothed to Theseus
Egeus, Hermia's father
Lysander, in love with Hermia
Demetrius, in love with Hermia
Hermia, daughter of Egeus, in love with Lysander
Helena, in love with Demetrius
Philostrate, Theseus' master of the revels
Quince, a carpenter, author and director of the "lamentable comedy" presented
before the Duke
Bottom, a weaver
Flute, a bellows mender
Snug, a joiner
Starveling, a tailor
Snout, a tinker
Oberon, King of the Fairies
Titania, Queen of the Fairies
Robin Goodfellow or Puck, a fairy
Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Moth, Mustardseed, fairies
Attendants to Theseus and other fairies
Act I. Theseus, Duke of Athens, is to wed Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons, at the next new moon and has ordered Philostrate, his master of the revels, to "stir up the Athenian youths to merriments." Among those who are preparing to entertain the royal couple is a group of Athenian craftsmen, who select parts in a home-spun tragedy entitled "The most lamentable comedy, and most cruel death of Pyramus and Thisby" and disband after having agreed to meet for rehearsal at the Duke's oak. But not all Athenian youths are happy. Lysander and Demetrius both love Hermia; she favors Lysander, but Egeus her father insists in the Duke's presence that she must marry Demetrius or suffer the alternative of death or life in a nunnery. To escape the Athenian law, Lysander and Hermia arrange to meet in the same wood, "a league without the town," in which the craftsmen are to rehearse their play, and to escape thence to a place of safety. The lovers err, however, in revealing their plot to Hermia's friend Helena, who still loves Demetrius although he has jilted her; this jealous girl in turn decides to tattle to her erstwhile suitor, thinking to win his favor by her duplicity.
Act II. The wood in which the lovers and the craftsmen have planned to meet is haunted by fairies who have come from India to bless the wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta. But even with the fairies not all is harmonious; Oberon, the king, is quarreling with Titania, the queen, over the possession of "a little changeling boy," and all nature is disturbed by their bickerings. To punish the Queen for keeping the child, Oberon sends Puck, his hobgoblin jester, to get a flower, the juice of which squeezed into sleeping eyelids will make the victim dote on the first live creature that he sees; the fairy king plans to embarrass Titania by causing her to fall in love with some monster. While Puck is on the errand, Oberon is disturbed by two quarreling mortals; Demetrius, warned by Helena of Hermia's flight, is trying to find the runaways in the wood and is chiding the foolish Helena for following him. When Puck returns, therefore, Oberon commands him to anoint the eyes of "the disdainful youth," whom the hobgoblin will know "by the Athenian garments he hath on"; he himself seeks Titania, asleep on a flowery bank, and squeezes the juice of the flower into her eyes. Puck's mission is not, however, so well carried out; for he finds not Demetrius but Lysander asleep on the ground with Hermia near him, and anounts this true lover's eyes. Thus when Helena, still pursuing Demetrius, finds and awakens Lysander, he tries to woo her and pursues her into the wood. Hermia, awakening and finding herself alone, wanders off in search of Lysander.
Act III. The craftsmen meet near the bower of the fairy queen to rehearse their crude play. But Puck, who has been spying on them, takes a part by slipping an ass's head upon the shoulders of Nick Bottom, the most foolish of the yokels The others flee in terror, but Bottom, singing to keep up his courage, awakens the fairy queen, who falls violently in love with him and assigns fairy servitors to wait upon him. While Puck is reporting this prank to Oberon, Hermia and Demeterius, who has encountered her, come quarreling through the wood. Hermia accuses him of having murdered Lysander and runs from him; and he exhausted, lies down to sleep. Having sent Puck to bring in Helena, Oberon anoints the eyes of Demetrius with the flower juice. Helena comes in with Lysander following; their squabbling awakens Demetrius, who falls in love with her, and the men begin competing for her favor as they did before for that of Hermia. Hearing the noise, Hermia returns, and believing that Helena has stolen her lover's devotion, she berates her savagely. The youths seek a level place to fight, and Helena, fearing to be left alone with the unhappy Hermia, runs off with her rival after her. At Oberon's command, Puck amends his mistake by causing the four lovers to sleep near each other, and by removing the enchantment from Lysander's eyes with the juice of another flower.
Act IV. While the lovers sleep on the ground, Queen Titania carries on her absurd courtship of the ass-headed Bottom. Finally, the ill-assorted pair go to sleep in each other's arms. Oberon, having previously secured possession of the changeling child, removes the spell from the Queen's eyes, awakens her in her right mind, and orders Puck to pluck the ass's head from Bottom's shoulders. The sun rises, and Theseus, Hippolyta, and their train come into the wood to hunt. There they discover the sleeping lovers, and awaken them with the hunting horns. Again Egeus demands that his daughter marry Demetrius, but that youth, now in love with Helena, gives up to Lysander all claim to Hermia, a solution of the disagreement which so pleases the Duke that he invites the lovers to be wed in one festivity with him and his bride. Nick Bottom, the last of the sleepers, stretches and awakes, certain that he has had "a most rare vision."
Act V. The "most lamentable comedy" of Pyramus and Thisby is chosen by the Duke as an "abridgment" for the evening, and Bottom as Pyramus, Flute as Thisby, and the others as Wall, Moonshine, and Lion, put time to flight with the "tragical mirth" of the heroic interlude. The craftsmen end the play with a "Bergomask dance" and leave well pleased with themselves. "The iron tongue of midnight" tolls twelve, and the lovers retire. Into the palace come Oberon and Titania with their train; dancing and singing, they bless the sleepers and trip away, leaving only Puck as Epilogue to present the apologies of "the shadows" and to beg applause of the audience.
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