A Midsummer Night’s Dream
A Midsummer Night’s Dream: A Midsummer Night's Dream is a comedy written by William
Shakespeare c. 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several
subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. A Midsummer Night’s Dream One subplot
involves a conflict among four Athenian lovers. Another follows a group of six
amateur actors rehearsing the play which they are to perform before the
wedding. Both groups find themselves in a forest inhabited by fairies who
manipulate the humans and are engaged in their own domestic intrigue. The play
is one of Shakespeare's most popular and is widely performed.
Act 1 Scene 1
A Midsummer Night’s Dream: The play opens with Theseus and Hyppolyta who
were four days away from their wedding. Theseus was not happy about how long he
had to wait while Hyppolyta thinks it's a dream. A Midsummer Night’s Dream Theseus is confronted by Egeus and
his daughter Hermia, who is in love with Lysander, resistant to her
father's demand that she marries Demetrius, whom he has arranged for her
to marry. Enraged, Egeus invokes an ancient Athenian law before Duke
Theseus, whereby a daughter needs to marry a suitor chosen by her father, or
else face death. Theseus offers her another choice: lifelong chastity as
a nun worshipping the goddess Diana, but they both deny his
choice and make a secret plan to escape into the forest for Lysander's Aunt's
house, in order to run away from Theseus. A Midsummer Night’s Dream Hermia tells their plans to Helena,
her best friend, who pines unrequitedly for Demetrius, who broke up
with her to be with Hermia. Desperate to reclaim Demetrius's love, Helena tells
Demetrius about the plan and he follows them in hopes of finding Hermia.
Act 1 Scene 2
A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Peter Quince and his fellow players Nick Bottom, Francis
Flute, Robin Starveling, Tom Snout and Snug plan to
put on a play for the wedding of the Duke and the Queen, "the most
lamentable comedy and most cruel death of Pyramus and Thisbe". Quince
reads the names of characters and bestows them on the players. Nick Bottom, who
is playing the main role of Pyramus, is over-enthusiastic and wants to dominate
others by suggesting himself for the characters of Thisbe, the Lion, and
Pyramus at the same time. Quince insists that Bottom can only play the role of
Pyramus. A Midsummer Night’s Dream Bottom would also rather be a tyrant and recites some lines of Ercles. Bottom
is told by Quince that he would do the Lion so terribly as to frighten the
duchess and ladies enough for the Duke and Lords to have the players hanged.
Snug remarks that he needs the Lion's part because he is "slow of
study". Quince assures Snug that the role of the lion is "nothing but
roaring." Quince then ends the meeting telling his actors "at the
Duke's oak we meet".
Act 2 Scene 1
A Midsummer Night’s Dream: In a parallel plot line, Oberon, king of the fairies,
and Titania, his queen, have come to the forest outside Athens. Titania
tells Oberon that she plans to stay there until she has attended Theseus and
Hippolyta's wedding. Oberon and Titania are estranged because Titania refuses
to give her Indian changeling to Oberon for use as his
"knight" or "henchman", since the child's mother was one of
Titania's worshippers. A Midsummer Night’s Dream Oberon seeks to punish Titania's disobedience. He calls
upon Robin "Puck" Goodfellow, his "shrewd and knavish
sprite", to help him concoct a magical juice derived from a flower called
"love-in-idleness", which turns from white to purple when struck by
Cupid's arrow. A Midsummer Night’s Dream When the concoction is applied to the eyelids of a sleeping
person, that person, upon waking, falls in love with the first living thing
they perceive. He instructs Puck to retrieve the flower with the hope that he
might make Titania fall in love with an animal of the forest and thereby shame
her into giving up the little Indian boy. He says, "And ere I take this
charm from off her sight, / As I can take it with another herb, / I'll make her
render up her page to me." Helena continually makes advances towards
Demetrius, promising to love him more than Hermia. However, he rebuffs her with
cruel insults. Observing this, Oberon orders Puck to spread some of the magical
juice from the flower on the eyelids of the young Athenian man.
Act 2 Scene 2
A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Instead, Puck mistakes Lysander for Demetrius, not having
actually seen either before, and administers the juice to the sleeping
Lysander. Helena, coming across him, wakes him while attempting to determine
whether he is dead or asleep. Upon this happening, Lysander immediately falls
in love with Helena. Helena, thinking Lysander is playing a trick on her, runs
away with Lysander following her. A Midsummer Night’s Dream When Hermia wakes up after dreaming a snake
ate her heart, she sees that Lysander is gone and goes out in the woods to find
him.
Act 3 Scene 1
A Midsummer Night’s Dream: A drawing of Puck, Titania and Bottom in A Midsummer
Night's Dream from Act III, Scene II by Charles Buchel, 1905 Meanwhile,
Quince and his band of six labourers ("rude mechanicals", as
they are described by Puck) have arranged to perform their play about Pyramus
and Thisbe for Theseus' wedding and venture into the forest, near
Titania's bower, for their rehearsal. Quince leads the actors in their
rehearsal of the play. Bottom is spotted by Puck, who (taking his name to be
another word for a jackass) transforms his head into that of a donkey.
When Bottom returns for his next lines, the other workmen run screaming in
terror: They claim that they are haunted, much to Bottom's confusion. A Midsummer Night’s Dream Determined to await his friends, he begins to sing to himself. Titania, having
received the love-potion, is awakened by Bottom's singing and immediately falls
in love with him. She lavishes him with the attention of her and her fairies,
and while she is in this state of devotion, Oberon takes the changeling boy.
Act 3 Scene 2
A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Oberon sees Demetrius still following Hermia, who thinks
Demetrius killed Lysander, and is enraged. When Demetrius goes to sleep,
Oberon, outraged about Puck's mistake, sends him to get Helena while he charms
Demetrius' eyes. Upon waking up, he sees Helena. Now, both men are in love with
Helena. However, she is convinced that her two suitors are mocking her, as
neither loved her originally. Hermia finds Lysander and asks why he left her,
but Lysander claims he never loved Hermia, just Helena. Hermia accuses Helena
of stealing Lysander away from her while Helena believes Hermia joined the two
men in mocking her. Hermia tries to attack Helena, but the two men protect
Helena. Lysander, tired of Hermia's presence, insults her and tells her to
leave. Lysander and Demetrius decide to seek a place to duel to prove whose
love for Helena is the greater. The two women go their own separate ways,
Helena hoping to reach Athens and Hermia chasing after the men to make sure
Lysander doesn't get hurt or killed. A Midsummer Night’s Dream Oberon orders Puck to keep Lysander and
Demetrius from catching up with one another and to remove the charm from
Lysander so Lysander can return to love Hermia, while Demetrius continues to
love Helena with none of them having any memory of what happened, as if it were
a dream. He arranges everything so Helena, Hermia, Demetrius and Lysander will
all believe they have been dreaming when they awaken. A Midsummer Night’s Dream Puck distracts Lysander
and Demetrius from fighting over Helena's love by mimicking their voices and
leading them apart. Eventually, all four find themselves separately falling
asleep in the glade. Once they fell asleep, Puck administers the love potion to
Lysander again, returning his love to Hermia again, and cast another spell over
the four Athenian lovers, claiming all will be well in the morning.
Act 4 Scene 1
A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Having achieved his goals, Oberon releases Titania, orders
Puck to remove the donkey's head from Bottom. A Midsummer Night’s Dream The fairies then disappear, and
Theseus and Hippolyta arrive on the scene, during an early morning hunt. They
find the lovers still sleeping in the glade. They wake up the lovers and, since
Demetrius no longer loves Hermia, Theseus over-rules Egeus's demands and
arranges a group wedding. The lovers at first believe they are still in a dream
and can't recall what has happened. The lovers decide that the night's events
must have been a dream.
Act 4 Scene 2
After they exit, Bottom awakes, and he too decides that he
must have experienced a dream "past the wit of man". A Midsummer Night’s Dream At Quince's
house, he and his team of actors worry that Bottom has gone missing. Quince
laments that Bottom is the only man who can take on the lead role of Pyramus.
Bottom returns, and the actors get ready to put on "Pyramus and
Thisbe".
Act 5 Scene 1
A Midsummer Night’s Dream: In Athens, Theseus, Hippolyta and the lovers watch the six workmen perform Pyramus and Thisbe. The performers are so terrible playing their roles that the guests laugh as if it were meant to be a comedy, and everyone retires to bed. A Midsummer Night’s Dream Afterwards, Oberon, Titania, Puck, and other fairies enter, and bless the house and its occupants with good fortune. After all the other characters leave, Puck "restores amends" and suggests that what the audience experienced might just be a dream.
For PDF and Handwritten
WhatsApp 8130208920
0 comments:
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.