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THE PLAY
Plot
Act 1
Theseus, Duke of Athens, is preparing for his wedding to Hippolyta,
the Amazon warrior Queen who he has defeated in battle. Egeus enters,
asking Theseus to arbitrate in a dispute with his daughter, Hermia.
He has planned for her to marry Demetrius, who is in love with her,
but she is in love with Lysander. Theseus explains that under Athenian
law, Hermia must concur with her father’s wishes or face severe
penalties.
Faced with this, Lysander and Hermia decide to elope to the woods
but they reveal their plans to Helena, who is in love with Demetrius.
As Lysander and Helene flee to the woods, they are followed by Demetrius,
still in love with Hermia, and by Helena who follows him.
In the woods, we meet a group of mechanicals, who are discussing
their version of a play, Pyramus and Thisbe, which they are hoping
to present for Theseus and Hippolyta’s wedding. It is here
that we first encounter Bottom, who is insistent that he could play
all the parts himself.
Act 2
Other inhabitants of the woods are now introduced in the form of
the fairies. Oberon, King of the fairies is quarrelling with his
queen, Titania over a young Indian boy who Titania is refusing to
hand over. With the mischievous Puck’s help, Oberon plans
revenge with the aid of the juice of a magic flower dropped into
Titania’s eyes as she sleeps. When she wakes, she will fall
in love with the first thing she sees.
Having witnessed the plight of the lovers, Oberon also asks Puck
to drop the juice into Demetrius’ eyes so that he will fall
in love with Helena. Mistaking one Athenian youth for another, Puck
puts the juice into Lysander’s eyes, who awakes and falls
in love with the first person he sees - Helena.
Act 3
The mechanicals rehearse their play in the woods, watched by Puck,
who sees his chance to create more chaos by placing an ass’s
head on Bottom. The other mechanicals run away, but Titania is awakened
by his singing and immediately falls in love with him.
Oberon is pleased with this last piece of mischief, but realises
that Puck has mistaken the two lovers. As Demetrius sleeps, he uses
the spell on him so that he too wakes and falls in love with Helena.
The four lovers quarrel, with Helena convinced that she is the butt
of their jokes. With Puck’s intervention, the charm is removed
from Lysander’s eyes, so that he is once again in love with
Hermia.
Titania is likewise freed from the spell and Bottom is returned
to his normal appearance.
Act 4
The lovers awake to the sound of Theseus, Hippolyta and Egeus out
hunting. Seeing that things have resolved themselves, Theseus decrees
that the couples can be married at the same time as his wedding
to Hippolyta.
Act 5
The mechanical’s “comedy” is chosen for the wedding
entertainment and performed with much derisory comment from the
duke and the lovers. Oberon and Titania offer their blessings to
the newly weds and Puck rounds off the play by suggesting it may
all have been a dream!
Themes
There are many themes which could be discussed in the play.
Transformation
Throughout the play we see changes of settings or worlds from the
court or mortal world to that of the wood or immortal world. All
of this also happens as day changes to night. People change physically
and they change their minds.
Love
The play was in all probability written for a wedding, and love,
ending in marriage, is its ultimate celebration. Throughout the
play, however, we are presented with many facets of love, starting
with the mature love of Theseus and Hippolyta. In direct opposition
to this is the “doting” love of the four lovers and
later of Titania for Bottom when under the spell of the love juice.
Such love is often linked to “blindness” and is reflected
in the exaggerated courtly love poetry, particularly that of Demetrius
when he awakens under the spell.
The rational nature of mature love is set very much against love
originating in the senses and is best summed up by Bottom’s
“reason and love keep little company together nowadays”
(III.I.138-9)
Order and disorder
Linking very closely to themes of court and wood and night and day,
this is a central idea for the Elizabethan audience, who believed
in the absolute importance of a rightful order and feared the consequences
of a world out of balance, as depicted for example in Macbeth.
In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, all
of the lovers quarrel at some point; we are even reminded that Theseus
and Hippolyta’s relationship was forged in battle. Titania
and Oberon’s dispute is the cause of widespread chaos in the
natural world.
As in all of Shakespeare’s comedies, the plot moves towards
reconciliation, heralded by the use of music and dance. Discord
turns to harmony and the natural balance is restored.
Sleeping / dreaming and waking
As suggested in the play’s title, dreaming and waking are
key elements of both plot and theme. Again, the connection with
the night world of the wood, with all its associations of the moon,
and the day world of the court is clear.
The four lovers plus Bottom and Titania all sleep during the play,
during which time Oberon’s magic can get to work. They wake
to find themselves changed, either physically or emotionally, but
still in their dream like state their reason is clouded. When released
from the spell, the characters question what was real and what was
a dream.
Shakespeare has played with the notion of the play as the ultimate
trick of illusion through out, and at its close Puck’s concluding
trick is to suggest that the audience itself has been dreaming.
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