A Midsummer Night's Dream- Summary
This is my summary of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, for those who have not yet read the play.
A Midsummer Night's Dream takes place in Athen's. The duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta, are getting married in a few days. The whole region is excited and preparing for the wedding. Egeus, a nobleman, enters the room with his daughter, Hermia, Lysander, her lover, and Demetrius. Egeus is upset that Hermia refuses to marry Demetrius, despite her father's request. In their time, the daughter had to follow her father's orders. Theseus says that Hermia has to marry Demetrius, or become a nun. Lysander tries to convince Theseus to let him marry her, but it does not work. They all leave, and Lysander and Hermia come up with a plan to run away to a nearby town, where they would be able to get married. They decide to tell Helena, Hermia's childhood friend about this as they are leaving. Instead of keeping it a secret, Helena tells Demetrius, because she is madly in love with him, and hopes that he will love her for telling him this. Unfortunately for Helena, this doesn't happen. Demetrius sets out to find Hermia, and Helena follows him.
For Theseus and Hippolyta's wedding, local townspeople are going to be performing plays. Peter Quince is going to be directing a play called The most lamentable comedy and most cruel death of Pyramus and Thisbe. He has assembled some locals, who aren't very good actors, to be apart of his play. Nick Bottom, a self-centred weaver, is going to be playing Pyramus. Francis Flute will be playing Thisbe, despite him not wanting to play a woman. Robing Starveling is Thisbe's mother, Tom Snout is Pyramus's father, Quince will be playing Thisbe's father, and Snug, a shy man, will be playing the part of the lion. They decide that they will meet in the forest for rehearsals.
In the woods, Robin Goodfellow, who is a puck (a mischievous fairy) and Oberon's, the king of fairies, jester, runs into a fairy who serves Titania, the queen of fairies. He warns her that she should get the queen away from the woods, because Oberon is in them, and if they run into each other, they will fight. Unfortunately, they didn't have enough time, because they see each other. They begin to argue of a little boy from India that Titania stole and is now taking care of, who Oberon wants, but she won't give to him. Titania leave, and Oberon gets an idea to get revenge on her. He sends Robin to go find a flower that has juice that will make someone fall in love with the first person, or thing they see when it is squeezed onto their eyes.
After Robin leaves, Oberon sees Helena and Demetrius. Helena is begging him to love her, but he is determined to find Hermia, so he leaves Helena alone in the woods. Oberon decides to intervene and have some fun with them. When Robin returns with the flower, he orders him to put some of the juice onto Demetrius' eyes when he is sleeping so he will fall in love with Hermia. Oberon takes some of the juice and sets out to find Titania, who is sleeping, and squeezes the juice onto her eyes.
Robin is looking for Demetrius, but accidentally finds Lysander, and gives him the juice instead. Helena finds him, and wakes him up, making him fall in love with her. He completely forgets about Hermia, which makes Helena think that he is playing some joke on her. Lysander keeps trying to get her, and chases her into the woods.
The rehearsal is beginning. They aren't doing great and they keep messing up the lines. They are worried that the play is going to be too convincing for the audience, so they decide to change it so they are reminded that it is just acting. They decide to have Snug say that he is actually a man, not really a lion, and that Bottom will say he is not actually dying, it's just pretend. They are oblivious to the fact that this will ruin the play. Robin comes across the actors, and decides he wants to have some fun. He catches Bottom alone, and turns his
head into a donkey. Bottom doesn't realize this, and returns back to the other's, who all run away in fear. He starts walking around and singing, where he wakes up Titania, who falls in love with him. He begins to get treated by royalty by all of the fairies.
Oberon and Robing spot Lysander and Helena. Oberon realizes that Robin gave the juice to him instead of Demetrius, so he decides to fix it by giving Demetrius the juice, too. Demetrius wakes up and falls in love with Helena. Helena is convinced that Lysander and Demetrius are playing some cruel joke on her. Hermina then arrives, looking for Lysander, and she has not idea what is happening. Lysander and Demetrius believes they hate Hermia, so they begin being very rude to her. They all start arguing. Lysander and Demetrius want to fight for Helena's love. Oberon decides that this has gone too far, so he order's Robin to fix it. Robin has another juice that will reverse the effects of the other flower, so he lures Lysander out into the woods and gives it to him, making him fall back in love with Hermia.
Oberon sees Titania and Bottom, and starts to feel guilty for making her fall in love with such a hideous creature. He decides to have Robin undo the spell on Bottom, and give Titania the juice to fall out of love with Bottom. Titania and Bottom wake up, and believe that it was all a dream. Titania and Oberon reunite, and decide to stop fighting.
Theseus is out hunting with a group for food for the wedding. Egeus is with him, and they find Lysander, Hermia, Demetrius, and Helena in the woods. They explain what happened to them, which is hard to believe. Although, Demetrius is now in love with Helena, and does not want to marry Hermia. Theseus believes that this is enought to have them not get married, despite Egeus' protests. Theseus allows Lysand and Hermia to get married, and Demetrius and Helena to get married on the same day as him.
After the wedding, it is time to watch the plays. Theseus decides that he wants to watch Quince's play first. Bottom returns just in time for the play, believing that it was all just a dream. The play was very good, despite many errors, but they all enjoyed it.
At the end, Puck and the fairies arrive and clean up. Oberon and Titania come to bless the houses of the newlyweds. They all leave, except for Puck, who apologizes to anyone who was offended, and to all believe that it was just a dream.
A Midsummer Night's Dream takes place in Athen's. The duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta, are getting married in a few days. The whole region is excited and preparing for the wedding. Egeus, a nobleman, enters the room with his daughter, Hermia, Lysander, her lover, and Demetrius. Egeus is upset that Hermia refuses to marry Demetrius, despite her father's request. In their time, the daughter had to follow her father's orders. Theseus says that Hermia has to marry Demetrius, or become a nun. Lysander tries to convince Theseus to let him marry her, but it does not work. They all leave, and Lysander and Hermia come up with a plan to run away to a nearby town, where they would be able to get married. They decide to tell Helena, Hermia's childhood friend about this as they are leaving. Instead of keeping it a secret, Helena tells Demetrius, because she is madly in love with him, and hopes that he will love her for telling him this. Unfortunately for Helena, this doesn't happen. Demetrius sets out to find Hermia, and Helena follows him. |
| Lysander and Hermia. |
In the woods, Robin Goodfellow, who is a puck (a mischievous fairy) and Oberon's, the king of fairies, jester, runs into a fairy who serves Titania, the queen of fairies. He warns her that she should get the queen away from the woods, because Oberon is in them, and if they run into each other, they will fight. Unfortunately, they didn't have enough time, because they see each other. They begin to argue of a little boy from India that Titania stole and is now taking care of, who Oberon wants, but she won't give to him. Titania leave, and Oberon gets an idea to get revenge on her. He sends Robin to go find a flower that has juice that will make someone fall in love with the first person, or thing they see when it is squeezed onto their eyes.
After Robin leaves, Oberon sees Helena and Demetrius. Helena is begging him to love her, but he is determined to find Hermia, so he leaves Helena alone in the woods. Oberon decides to intervene and have some fun with them. When Robin returns with the flower, he orders him to put some of the juice onto Demetrius' eyes when he is sleeping so he will fall in love with Hermia. Oberon takes some of the juice and sets out to find Titania, who is sleeping, and squeezes the juice onto her eyes.
Robin is looking for Demetrius, but accidentally finds Lysander, and gives him the juice instead. Helena finds him, and wakes him up, making him fall in love with her. He completely forgets about Hermia, which makes Helena think that he is playing some joke on her. Lysander keeps trying to get her, and chases her into the woods.
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| Titania and Bottom |
head into a donkey. Bottom doesn't realize this, and returns back to the other's, who all run away in fear. He starts walking around and singing, where he wakes up Titania, who falls in love with him. He begins to get treated by royalty by all of the fairies.
 |
| Lysander, Demetrius, Hermia and Helena fighting. |
Oberon sees Titania and Bottom, and starts to feel guilty for making her fall in love with such a hideous creature. He decides to have Robin undo the spell on Bottom, and give Titania the juice to fall out of love with Bottom. Titania and Bottom wake up, and believe that it was all a dream. Titania and Oberon reunite, and decide to stop fighting.
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| Theseus and Hippolyta. |
After the wedding, it is time to watch the plays. Theseus decides that he wants to watch Quince's play first. Bottom returns just in time for the play, believing that it was all just a dream. The play was very good, despite many errors, but they all enjoyed it.
At the end, Puck and the fairies arrive and clean up. Oberon and Titania come to bless the houses of the newlyweds. They all leave, except for Puck, who apologizes to anyone who was offended, and to all believe that it was just a dream.
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