A Midsummer Night's Dream (Shakespeare)
Short summary
Ancient Athens. Duke Theseus prepared for his wedding to Hippolyta when Egeus arrived demanding his daughter Hermia marry Demetrius. Hermia loved Lysander instead. Theseus upheld the law: marry Demetrius, face death, or become a nun. Lysander and Hermia planned to escape through the forest to his aunt's house. They told their friend Helena, who still loved Demetrius despite his rejection. Helena decided to reveal their plan to win Demetrius's favor.
Meanwhile, local craftsmen prepared a play for the duke's wedding. Bottom the weaver eagerly wanted every role in their production of Pyramus and Thisbe. They agreed to rehearse in the forest.
In the enchanted forest, fairy king Oberon and queen Titania quarreled over a changeling boy. Their dispute disrupted nature itself. Oberon sent his servant Puck to fetch a magic flower whose juice made victims fall in love with the first creature they saw. Oberon witnessed Demetrius cruelly rejecting Helena and ordered Puck to enchant the cruel Athenian youth.
Oberon applied the potion to sleeping Titania. Puck mistakenly enchanted Lysander instead of Demetrius. When Helena woke Lysander, he instantly loved her, abandoning Hermia. Puck transformed Bottom's head into a donkey's. Titania awoke, saw the ass-headed Bottom, and fell in love. Oberon corrected Puck's error by enchanting Demetrius too. Both men now loved Helena, who thought they mocked her. The four lovers quarreled until Puck led them astray and they collapsed from exhaustion.
At dawn, Oberon released Titania from the spell after obtaining the changeling boy. Theseus found the sleeping lovers, and when they woke, their affections were properly arranged. All three couples married together. The mechanicals performed their hilariously inept play at the wedding. After the mortals retired, the fairies blessed the palace. Puck addressed the audience:
If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumber'd here
While these visions did appear.
Detailed summary by acts and scenes
Act titles and scene descriptions are editorial.
Act 1. The forbidden love and the mechanicals play
Scene 1. Hermias dilemma and the lovers escape plan
In ancient Athens, Duke Theseus prepared for his wedding to Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons, eagerly anticipating their nuptial celebration in four days. Their joy was interrupted when Egeus arrived at the palace with his daughter and two young men, bringing a serious complaint before the duke. Egeus demanded that his daughter marry Demetrius, whom he had chosen as her husband, but she refused, having fallen in love with another man.
Hermia stood defiant before the duke, declaring her love for Lysander instead of her father's choice.
Lysander pleaded his case, arguing that he was as worthy as Demetrius in birth and fortune, and more importantly, that Hermia truly loved him.
He also revealed that Demetrius had previously courted Helena and won her heart, only to abandon her for Hermia. Theseus acknowledged this truth but upheld Athenian law, giving Hermia until the new moon to decide: marry Demetrius, face death, or become a nun. After the duke departed with the others, Lysander and Hermia remained alone to lament their situation. Lysander consoled her with wisdom about love's challenges:
The course of true love never did run smooth;
But, either it was different in blood—
Or else misgraffed in respect of years—
Or else it stood upon the choice of friends—
Lysander proposed an escape plan: they would flee Athens and marry at his aunt's house, beyond the reach of Athenian law. Hermia agreed to meet him in the forest the following night. Helena arrived as they finalized their plans.
Helena despaired over Demetrius's rejection, envying Hermia's beauty and lamenting her own appearance. The lovers revealed their escape plan to comfort her, promising that Demetrius would no longer see Hermia once they fled. After they departed, Helena decided to tell Demetrius about their plan, hoping to win his gratitude and perhaps his love. She reflected on love's blindness:
Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind;
And therefore is wing'd Cupid painted blind:
Nor hath Love's mind of any judgment taste
Scene 2. The mechanicals prepare their play
Meanwhile, a group of Athenian craftsmen gathered at Quince's house to prepare a play for the duke's wedding entertainment.
Their chosen play was 'The Most Lamentable Comedy and Most Cruel Death of Pyramus and Thisbe.' Quince assigned roles to his fellow craftsmen, with Bottom the weaver cast as the tragic lover Pyramus.
Bottom eagerly volunteered to play every role, demonstrating his theatrical ambitions with bombastic speeches. The mechanicals worried about frightening the noble audience with their sword fights and lion, planning elaborate solutions including explanatory prologues and careful staging. They agreed to rehearse in the forest outside Athens the following night, away from prying eyes.
Act 2. Fairy quarrels and magical chaos
Scene 1. The fairy quarrel and Pucks magic
In the enchanted forest near Athens, the fairy realm was in turmoil. Puck encountered another fairy and learned of the bitter quarrel between the fairy king and queen.
Oberon and Titania's dispute centered on a changeling boy whom Titania refused to give to her husband.
When the royal couple met, their argument escalated, with Titania blaming their quarrel for disrupting nature itself—causing floods, failed harvests, and seasonal chaos. She refused to surrender the boy, whose mother had been her devoted follower. After Titania departed with her retinue, Oberon plotted revenge. He sent Puck to fetch a magical flower whose juice, when applied to sleeping eyes, would make the victim fall in love with the first creature they saw upon waking. Oberon planned to use this love potion on Titania, describing the flower's location:
I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,
Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,
With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine
While Puck departed on his mission, Oberon witnessed Demetrius pursuing Helena through the forest, cruelly rejecting her devoted love.
Helena desperately followed him, professing her love despite his harsh words and threats. When Puck returned with the magical flower, Oberon instructed him to find the disdainful Athenian youth and anoint his eyes so he would fall in love with the lady who pursued him.
Scene 2. Love potions and mistaken identities
Titania arrived at her bower with her fairy attendants, who sang her to sleep with a protective lullaby. Once she slumbered, Oberon appeared and squeezed the love potion onto her eyelids, ensuring she would fall in love with the first creature she saw upon waking. Meanwhile, Lysander and Hermia, lost in the forest during their escape, decided to rest until dawn. Hermia insisted they sleep apart to maintain propriety, and both fell asleep at a distance from each other.
Puck discovered the sleeping couple and, mistaking Lysander for the cruel Athenian youth Oberon had described, applied the love potion to his eyes. Soon after, Demetrius ran through the forest, still pursued by the exhausted Helena. When she stumbled upon the sleeping Lysander and woke him, the magic took effect immediately. Lysander declared his sudden, passionate love for Helena, abandoning all thoughts of Hermia. Helena, believing he mocked her, fled in distress. Lysander followed, leaving Hermia alone. When Hermia awoke from a nightmare about a serpent eating her heart, she found herself abandoned and set off desperately to find Lysander.
Act 3. Transformations and confusion
Scene 1. Bottoms transformation and Titanias enchantment
The mechanicals gathered in the forest to rehearse their play near Titania's sleeping place. As they practiced, Puck mischievously transformed Bottom's head into that of an ass. When Bottom returned to the rehearsal area, his fellow actors fled in terror, believing him to be a monster. Undaunted, Bottom began singing to prove his courage, which woke Titania from her enchanted sleep. The love potion immediately took effect, and she gazed upon the ass-headed weaver with instant adoration:
What angel wakes me from my flowery bed?
Titania declared her love for Bottom and summoned her fairy servants—Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Moth, and Mustardseed—to attend to him. She promised him jewels from the deep and commanded her fairies to feed him delicacies and light his way with glowworms. Bottom, though bewildered by the situation, accepted the fairy queen's attentions with characteristic confidence, engaging in witty conversation with the tiny sprites about their names and nature. Titania led him away to her bower, completely enchanted by her transformed lover.
Scene 2. The lovers quarrel and Pucks corrections
Oberon discovered from Puck that Titania had indeed fallen in love with a monster, delighting in the success of his revenge. However, when Hermia and Demetrius appeared, Oberon realized that Puck had enchanted the wrong Athenian man. Hermia accused Demetrius of murdering Lysander, since she could not believe her lover would abandon her willingly. Demetrius, exhausted from the night's pursuits, fell asleep, and Oberon applied the love potion to his eyes, instructing Puck to bring Helena so that Demetrius would see her first upon waking.
When Helena arrived with Lysander still pursuing her, Demetrius awoke and immediately fell in love with her, joining Lysander in passionate declarations. Helena, now beloved by both men, became convinced that all three friends had conspired to mock her. The situation deteriorated rapidly as both men competed for Helena's affections while she rejected their sudden devotion as cruel jest. Hermia arrived to find her beloved Lysander not only abandoning her but insulting her appearance and declaring his love for her best friend. Puck observed the chaos with amusement:
Lord, what fools these mortals be!
The confrontation escalated as Helena accused Hermia of joining the conspiracy against her, reminding her of their childhood friendship and shared secrets. Hermia, bewildered by the accusations, protested her innocence while the men prepared to fight for Helena's love. Helena, convinced that even Hermia had turned against her, fled, followed by the quarreling men. Oberon, angry at Puck's mistake, commanded him to lead the men astray in the darkness until they collapsed from exhaustion, then apply an antidote to Lysander's eyes to restore his original love for Hermia.
Puck skillfully led the confused lovers through the forest, imitating their voices and keeping them separated until dawn approached. One by one, they fell asleep from exhaustion—first Lysander, then Demetrius, followed by Helena, and finally Hermia. As they slumbered, Puck applied the corrective herb to Lysander's eyes, ensuring that when he woke, his love for Hermia would be restored while Demetrius would remain enchanted with Helena.
Act 4. Awakening and resolution
Scene 1. Awakening from the magical night
As dawn broke, Titania continued to dote on the ass-headed Bottom, caressing his transformed features and declaring her love. Oberon, having obtained the changeling boy from her distracted state, took pity on his queen and decided to release her from the spell. He applied the antidote to her eyes and instructed Puck to remove Bottom's ass head. When Titania awoke, she was horrified by her recent infatuation and reconciled with Oberon. The fairy king and queen, their quarrel resolved, prepared to bless Theseus's wedding and departed as morning approached.
Theseus arrived with his hunting party, including Hippolyta and Egeus, and discovered the four young lovers sleeping in the forest. When awakened by hunting horns, the lovers found their affections properly arranged: Lysander loved Hermia, and Demetrius now truly loved Helena. Demetrius explained that his previous love for Hermia had melted away like snow, and his natural affection for Helena had returned. Theseus, pleased by this resolution, overruled Egeus's objections and declared that all three couples would be married together. The lovers, still bewildered by the night's events, followed the duke back to Athens, wondering if their experiences had been real or merely dreams.
Bottom awoke alone, his transformation reversed, and struggled to comprehend his extraordinary experience:
I have had a most rare vision. I have had a dream, past the wit of man to say what dream it was: man is but an ass, if he go about to expound this dream.
Scene 2. The mechanicals reunite
The other mechanicals had gathered at Quince's house, lamenting Bottom's disappearance and the ruin of their play. When Bottom suddenly appeared, they rejoiced at his return. He refused to explain his absence but announced that their play had been chosen for the wedding entertainment, and they must prepare immediately for their performance before the duke.
Act 5. The wedding celebration and fairy blessings
Scene 1. The wedding entertainment and fairy blessings
At the palace, the three couples celebrated their triple wedding. Theseus dismissed the lovers' tales of their forest adventures as mere fantasy, while Hippolyta suggested their shared experience held more truth than imagination. For entertainment, Theseus chose the mechanicals' play despite Philostrate's warnings about its quality. The craftsmen performed 'Pyramus and Thisbe' with endearing incompetence, providing unintentional comedy as the noble audience offered witty commentary on their earnest but clumsy efforts. Bottom and his fellow actors played their tragic roles with such sincere enthusiasm that their mistakes became charming rather than ridiculous.
After the play concluded and the mortals retired to bed, the fairy realm reclaimed the palace. Puck entered first, sweeping the dust and preparing the way for his masters. Oberon and Titania arrived with their reconciled court to bless the newlyweds and their future children, ensuring happiness and protection from any defects or misfortunes. As the fairies completed their blessings and departed, Puck remained to address the audience directly, asking for their forgiveness if the play had offended and promising that all would be well. The magical night concluded with harmony restored in both the mortal and fairy worlds, love properly matched, and the promise of lasting happiness for all.