A Midsummer Night's Dream - William Shakespeare

A Midsummer Night's Dream

This comedy was composed by William Shakespeare in 1593 -95 and is divided in five acts, written in prose and verses. All the actions are narrated by dialogues.

Summary

The action begins at the noble court of Theseus: the Duke of Athens. In the beginning of the story Theseus announces he will marry Hippolyta, the queen of the Amazons in four days and he hears that Egeus wants his daughter Hermia to marry his chosen suitor Demetrius but she has refused because she's in love with Lysander, who Egeus dislikes. Theseus declares Hermia must marry Demetrius, or choose between death or joining a nunnery and gives her four days in which to decide what to do. So Lysander and Hermia decide to flee to the forest: in fact with this escape they can travel to the house of Lysander's aunt and there will be married. Helena, Hermia's best friend, hears  this and decides to inform Demetrius, whom she loves. She decides to do that with the hope to become more liked by Demetrius but Demetrius loves only Hermia and decides to look for her in the forest. So Helena goes in the forest with Demetrius and hopes they will all meet. Meanwhile a band of laborers in which there are Quince, Bottom, Flute, Starveling, Snug, and Snout organizes, in the same place, a play to be performed at Theseus' wedding.

In the forest, Oberon (the King of the Fairies) argues with Titania (the Fairy Queen) because he wants to have her child as his e. Titania objects, asserting she is queen.

To triumph over the Queen, Oberon orders to his servant, Puck, to spread on Titania's eyes, when she sleeps, the magic nectar which will causes the victim to fall in love with the first one she sees.

So Titania falls in love with Bottom, whose head has been turned into that of an ass.

In the same time Oberon sees that Demetrius is very cruel with Helena and orders to Puck to spread the nectar also to his eyes to fall in love him with her.

But Puck commits a wrong and spreads the nectar on Lysander's eyes, so when he wake up and sees first Helena, who with Demetrius has come to them, fall in love with her.

Now there is a very disaster: Hermia loves Lysander but he loves Helena and Helena loves Demetrius but he loves Hermia.

So Puck realizes that he has given the nectar to the wrong man and decides to spread the nectar also on Demetrius eyes but in this way now both men love Helena and she believes that both are false. Helena accuses Hermia of conspiring with the men to tease her. Oberon, realizes that Puck has caused these problems so he orders to him to make the things in the right order.

Puck derives to his master and make Lysander in love with Hermia.

In the same time Oberon awakes Titania and transforms Bottom back to a human so Oberon and Titania now love each other again. In the end of the story Theseus, Hippolyta, and Egeus appear and awake the four so they inform the three of their love. The lords agree to let them marry.

Now, for the marriage of Teseus with Hippolyta and the four youngs the company of actors makes a play . After the play, at midnight, all go to bed then the fairies appear.

Characters of the play  

-THESEUS   Duke of Athens

-HIPPOLYTA Queen of the Amazons, betrothed to Theseus

-EGEUS an old man, father to Hermia

-LYSANDER young gentleman , in love with Hermia

-DEMETRIUS young gentleman , in love with Hermia

-PHILOSTRATE master of the revels to Theseus

-HERMIA daughter to Egeus, in love with Lysander

-HELENA a girl in love with Demetrius

-PETER QUINCE a carpenter

-NICK BOTTOM a weaver

-FRANCIS FLUTE a bellows-mender

-TOM SNOUT a tinker

-ROBIN STARVELING a tailor

-SNUG a joiner

-OBERON King of the Faires

-TITANIA Queen of the Faires

- PUCK the Oberon's server

-PEASEBLOSSOM, COBWEB, MOTH, MUSTARDSEED faires

The most important characters of the play

Puck is Oberon's jester, a mischievous spirit who does a very important rule in the story. In fact he is aslo the closest character: in the end of the story Puck says the last words to the state. He is responsible for many of the complications that make the play intriguing. He is a capricious spirit, he is graceful but not so saccharine as the other fairies, his character permeate the atmosphere of the play. Critics generally say that Puck is the most important character in the play.

Oberon - is the king of the fairies. He uses Puck to manipulate the four lovers in the wood for this we can say that he is sensitive to other people's sufferings. Oberon at the beginning of the play is in argue with Titania but at the end he is in love with her.

Titania - is the beautiful queen of the fairies, Titania resists the attempts of her husband, Oberon, to make a knight of the young Indian prince that she has been given so she has a steady personality.

In the middle of the play she falls in love with Nick Bottom but only for a potion in fact in really she love Oberon.

Lysander - is a young man of Athens, in love with Hermia.  Lysander's relationship with Hermia is the cause of all the love's difficulty in the play: in fact they can't marry because Egeus, Hermia's father, wants her to wed Demetrius. He seem loyal with his love, Hermia.

Demetrius - is another young man of Athens, initially in love with Hermia and ultimately in love with Helena. Demetrius is very obstinate: he wants to marry Hermia  in spite of she isn't in love with him. He is egotist and irreverent and cruel with Helena.

Hermia - is the Egeus's daughter, a young woman of Athens. Hermia is in love with Lysander and is a best friend of Helena. She is very beautiful and, for this, is desires not only by Lysander but also by Demetrius She is also hot-tempered.

Helena - is a young woman of Athens, in desperately love with Demetrius. Helena is the one character who thinks most about the nature of love. Demetrius and Helena were once betrothed, but when Demetrius met Helena's friend Hermia, he fell in love with her and abandoned Helena.

I don't like her personality because when she told to Demetrius the plain of Hermia and Lysander she was unfaithful with her best friend, Hermia.

Egeus - is Hermia's father, who brings a complaint against his daughter: he has given to Demetrius the permission to marry Hermia, but Hermia is in love with Lysander.

He is irrational and obstinate with his daughter, only in the end of the story, when Demetrius isn't in love with Hermia he consents the marriage of Lysandrus and his daughter.

Theseus - is the heroic duke of Athens, engaged to Hippolyta. Theseus represents power and order.

He appears only at the beginning and end of the story.

Hippolyta - is the legendary queen of the Amazons, engaged to Theseus. Like Theseus, she symbolizes order.

Nick Bottom - Nick Bottom is a weaver, and one of the actors who put on the play, 'Pyramus and Thisbe.' He is a hilariously, strong and confident character. Puck magically transforms Bottom's head into an ass's head, which scares his fellow players. When Pyramus and Thisbe is performed, Bottom plays the role of Pyramus with great energy and enthusiasm but little skill.