A Midsummer Night's Dream

1. William Shakespeare Life and Work

William

Shakespeare (26

April

1564

(baptised)

23

April

1616) was

an

English poet, playwright and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English
language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and
the "Bard of Avon". His extant works, including somecollaborations, consist of about 38
plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other verses, the authorship of some of
which is uncertain. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are
performed more often than those of any other playwright.
Shakespeare was born and brought up in Stratford-upon-Avon. At the age of 18, he married Anne
Hathaway, with whom he had three children: Susanna, and twins: Hamnet and Judith. Between
1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part-owner of
a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men. He
appears to have retired to Stratford around 1613 at age 49, where he died three years later. Few
records of Shakespeare's private life survive, and there has been considerable speculation about
such matters as his physical appearance, sexuality, religious beliefs, and whether the works
attributed to him were written by others.
Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were
mainly comedies and histories and these works remain regarded as some of the best work
produced in these genres even today. He then wrote mainly tragedies until about 1608,
including Hamlet, King Lear, Othello, and Macbeth, considered some of the finest works in the
English language. In his last phase, he wrote tragicomedies, also known as romances, and
collaborated with other playwrights.

2. The plot
Theseus, the Duke of Athens, is preparing for his marriage to Hippolyta, Queen of the
Amazons, A courtier seeks the Dukes intervention because his daughter, Hermia, will not agree
to his choice of Demetrius as a husband: shes in love with Lysander. The Duke tells Hermia to
obey her father, or either die or accept a life as a nun in Dianas temple. Lysander and Hermia
plan to elope, and they tell Helena, who is in love with Demetrius, but he hates her and loves
Hermia. The lovers run away from Athens but get lost in the woods. They are followed by
Demetrius, and then by Helena, who has told him of their intentions. Oberon, king of the fairies,
who lives in the woods, has quarrelled with his queen, Titania, over an Indian boy she refuses to
give him. Oberon overhears Helena and Demetrius arguing and sends his mischievous servant,
Puck, to get a flower whose juice has the power to make people fall in love with the first creature
they see when the juice is placed on their eyelids while asleep. He instructs Puck to put some
drops on Demetrius eyes. Mistaking the Athenian he seeks, Puck puts the flower juice on the

eyes of the sleeping Lysander so that when he is woken by Helena he immediately falls in love
with her and rejects Hermia. Some artisans are rehearsing a play about the tragic love-story of
Pyramus and Thisbe to present before Theseus on his wedding day. Bottom, the weaver, is to play
the lover, Pyramus, while Flute, the bellows-mender, is to play Thisbe. The others play the parts
of the Moon, the Wall and the Lion and they are directed by Quince, the carpenter. Puck
overhears their rehearsals in the wood and he plays a trick on them by giving Bottom an asss
head which frightens the others away. Bottom is lured towards the sleeping Titania whom Oberon
has treated with the flower juice. On waking, she falls in love with the ass and entertains him with
her fairies, but when Bottom falls asleep beside her, Oberon restores Titanias sight and wakes
her. She is appalled at the sight of what she has been in love with and is reunited with Oberon.
Puck removes the asss head and Bottom returns to Athens and rejoins his friends as they prepare
to perform their play. Meanwhile the lovers arguments tire them out as they chase one another
through the woods and when Demetrius rests, Oberon puts magic juice on his eyes so that both he
and Lysander pursue Helena until the fourlovers fall asleep, exhausted. Puck puts juice on
Lysanders eyes before the lovers are woken by Theseus and Hippolyta and their dawn hunting
party. Happily reunited to each other, Lysander with Hermia, Demetrius with Helena, they agree
to share the Dukes wedding day. The rustics perform the play of Pyramus and Thisbe before the
wedding guests. As the three couples retire Puck and the fairies return to bless the palace and its
people.

3. The characters

Puck - Also known as Robin Goodfellow, Puck is Oberons jester, a mischievous

fairy who delights in playing pranks on mortals. He is the closest thing the play has to a
protagonist. His enchanting, mischievous spirit pervades the atmosphere, and his antics are
responsible for many of the complications that propel the other main plots.

Oberon - The king of the fairies, Oberon is initially at odds with his wife,

Titania, because she refuses to relinquish control of a young Indian prince whom he wants for a
knight. Oberons desire for revenge on Titania leads him to send Puck to obtain the love-potion
flower that creates so much of the plays confusion and farce.

Titania - 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.

Lysander - A young man of Athens, in love with Hermia. Lysanders

relationship with Hermia invokes the theme of loves difficulty: he cannot marry her openly
because Egeus, her father, wishes her to wed Demetrius.

Demetrius - A young man of Athens, initially in love with Hermia and

ultimately in love with Helena. Demetriuss obstinate pursuit of Hermia throws love out of
balance among the quartet of Athenian youths and precludes a symmetrical two-couple
arrangement.

Hermia - Egeuss daughter, a young woman of Athens. Hermia is in love with

Lysander and is a childhood friend of Helena. As a result of the fairies mischief with Oberons
love potion, both Lysander and Demetrius suddenly fall in love with Helena.

Helena - A young woman of Athens, in love with Demetrius. Demetrius and

Helena were once betrothed, but when Demetrius met Helenas friend Hermia, he fell in love with
her and abandoned Helena.

Egeus - Hermias father, who brings a complaint against his daughter to

Theseus: Egeus has given Demetrius permission to marry Hermia, but Hermia is in love with
Lysander.

Theseus - The heroic duke of Athens, Theseus represents power and order

throughout the play.

Hippolyta - The legendary queen of the Amazons, engaged to Theseus.

Nick Bottom - The overconfident weaver chosen to play Pyramus in the

craftsmens play for Theseuss marriage celebration.

Peter Quince - A carpenter and the nominal leader of the craftsmens attempt to

put on a play for Theseuss marriage celebration.

Francis Flute - The bellows-mender chosen to play Thisbe in the craftsmens

play for Theseuss marriage celebration.

Robin Starveling - The tailor chosen to play Thisbes mother in the craftsmens

play for Theseuss marriage celebration. He ends up playing the part of Moonshine.

Tom Snout - The tinker chosen to play Pyramuss father in the craftsmens play

for Theseuss marriage celebration. He ends up playing the part of Wall, dividing the two lovers.

Snug - The joiner chosen to play the lion in the craftsmens play for Theseuss

marriage celebration. Snug worries that his roaring will frighten the ladies in the audience.

Philostrate - Theseuss Master of the Revels, responsible for organizing the

entertainment for the dukes marriage celebration.

Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Mote, and Mustardseed - The fairies ordered by

Titania to attend to Bottom after she falls in love with him.

4. Symbols and Motifs

Theseus and Hippolyta: Shakespeare uses Theseus and Hippolyta, the ruler of Athens and
his warrior bride, to represent order and stability, to contrast with the uncertainty, instability, and
darkness of most of the play. Whereas an important element of the dream realm is that one is not in
control of ones environment, Theseus and Hippolyta are always entirely in control of theirs.

The Love Potion: Because the meddling fairies are careless with the love potion, the

situation of the young Athenian lovers becomes increasingly chaotic and confusing, and Titania is
humiliated. The love potion thus becomes a symbol of the unreasoning, fickle, erratic, and
undeniably powerful nature of love, which can lead to inexplicable and bizarre behavior and
cannot be resisted.

The Craftsmens Play: Because the craftsmen are such bumbling actors, their
performance satirizes the melodramatic Athenian lovers and gives the play a purely joyful,
comedic ending. The craftsmens play is, therefore, a kind of symbol for A Midsummer Nights
Dream itself: a story involving powerful emotions that is made hilarious by its comical
presentation.

5. The main themes: Loves Difficulty, Magic, Dreams

The theme of loves difficulty is often explored through the motif of love out of

balancethat is, romantic situations in which a disparity or inequality interferes with the
harmony of a relationship.

The fairies magic, which brings about many of the most bizarre and hilarious

situations in the play, is another element central to the fantastic atmosphere of A Midsummer
Nights Dream. Shakespeare uses magic both to embody the almost supernatural power of love
(symbolized by the love potion) and to create a surreal world.

As the title suggests, dreams are an important theme in A Midsummer Nights

Dream; they are linked to the bizarre, magical mishaps in the forest. The theme of dreaming
recurs predominantly when characters attempt to explain bizarre events in which these characters
are involved.

6. Reality vs. Illusion

A Midsummers Night Dream displays the theme of fantasy versus reality. We can even see
the theme of dreams in the title; the characters cannot seem to figure out if all of the happenings
existed or if they were dreams. Fantasy in this play is represented through the alternate fairy
world.The fairy world and the human world exist harmoniously, but separately. Also, the humans
are unaware of their existence due to the fact that they work their magic at night. Also, both
realms have similar conflicts regarding love. However, since the fairy world is essentially
regarded as the dream world, this creates conflict when the dream world interferes with real world
perceptions of events. Within both the fairy and human realms, love is out of balance.

7. The Message

In A Midsummer Night's Dream the love affairs of the aristocracy are represented as in a
mirror. While the aristocracy make love partly a frivolous amusement in idleness, partly a sensual
caprice, the lower classes on the contrary regard it from its tragic side. The 'hempen homespuns'
know of no other theme for their masque than the melancholy story of 'Pyramus and Thisbe'; with
them love is bitter earnest; they know its pathos only, although or perhaps because, they do not
understand it. If A Midsummer Night's Dream can be said to convey a message, it is that the
creative imagination is in tune with the supernatural world and is best used to confer the blessings
of Nature upon mankind and marriage.