A Midsummer Night’s Dream, one of William Shakespeare’s most famous works: plot, characters and meaning.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
A Midsummer Night’s Dream – A midsummer night’s dream – is the story of two worlds: an enchanting one, populated by fairies and elves, and a real one, featuring a group of artisans, intricate love stories and the wedding of a duke. The comedy is divided into 5 acts .
A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Plot
A Midsummer Night’s Dream , probably William Shakespeare ‘s most famous comedy, tells three love stories that intersect. The first is that of Theseus, Duke of Athens, who announces his wedding to Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons. As soon as Theseus arrives, Aegeus, Demetrius, Lysander and Hermia enter. The first two try to convince Hermia to put aside her love for Lysander and marry Demetrius instead, especially since the union is strongly desired by her father. When only Lysander and Hermia remain on stage, Helena enters in love with Demetrius: the two lovers confide in her that the next night they will flee from Athens so they can get married. Helena, in order to attract the attention of her beloved Demetrius, confesses to him what she has just learned from the two young people, namely that they will soon flee into the woods.
The love between Helena and Demetrius is the second story that intertwines in the tale.
The third love story instead features Oberon, king of the fairies, and his wife Titania. The latter does not want to make her servant available to her husband, so the two argue. Out of spite, Oberon orders the elf Puck to pick some pansy and squeeze the juice on Titania’s eyes while she sleeps. The flower in fact has the magical power to make the victim fall in love with the first person he sees upon awakening.
Meanwhile, a group of craftsmen are casting their parts to put on a theatrical show. Among these craftsmen is Bottom, a weaver who will later be the victim of Oberon and the crafty Puck. Titania, in fact, upon awakening, sees Bottom first, who, following a spell, has the head of a donkey. Titania, in the midst of her amorous madness, does not realize how incredible what is happening to her is.
At the same time, Puck is given by Oberon the task of giving the pansy to Demetrius too, so that he can fall in love with Helena, but he makes a mistake and inverts the roles: he gives the pansy to Lysander, who falls madly in love with Helena and leaves Hermia.
Then Oberon, trying to make amends, pours the pansy on Demetrius’ eyes too, thus reversing the initial situation: now Demetrius and Lysander love Helena (very offended because she believes she is being made fun of) and despise the previously beloved Hermia, who suffers immensely because of Lysander’s inexplicable attitude.
Puck must then set things right: the two boys challenge each other to a duel and go into the woods, where the clever elf brings down a thick fog on them that prevents them from seeing each other and quickly puts them to sleep.
Then, he uses the pansy to make Lysander love Hermia again.
The next day, Theseus meets the four young people in the woods and cannot understand how two people who hate each other so much can sleep peacefully next to each other without fearing anything. His amazement is immense when he realizes that things have settled down and that all four young people are finally happy: Helena loves and is loved by Demetrius while Hermia and Lysander are happy and in love as always. Theseus then prepares the weddings, which he now knows will be three.
Meanwhile, the craftsmen propose their show to the master of ceremonies who, however, having made the proposal to Theseus, invites him to refuse because he does not believe that the show is worthy of the spectators. Theseus insists: he believes that nothing done with such good will can be truly bad and that everything must be appreciated and never rejected. The show is therefore staged and the famous tragedy becomes almost a comedy because it is ridiculous, funny and coarse. The whole thing is concluded by Puck who invites the audience to pretend nothing happened, to have been asleep if they did not appreciate the show because he will remedy any damage. ” If vain and foolish the story seemed; All memory of it will be dissolved; If you grant us your clemency, Gentle audience, we will make amends .
A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Characters
The characters in William Shakespeare ‘s A Midsummer Night’s Dream are:
- Theseus , the Duke of Athens who will marry Hippolyta;
- Aegeus , Hermia’s father who wanted his daughter to marry Demetrius;
- Lysander , in love with Hermia and who will eventually marry her;
- Demetrius , also in love with Hermia, but thanks to the magic flower he will marry Helena;
- Philostratus , Theseus’ master of ceremonies;
- Quince, Snug, Bottom, Flute, Snout and Starveling , respectively carpenter, cabinetmaker, weaver, bellows-mender, coppersmith and tailor. Bottom is the one with whom, when he has the head of a donkey, Titania will fall in love;
- Hippolyta, Theseus’ betrothed;
- Hermia , Lysander’s lover, whom she will marry;
- Elena, Demetrio’s lover, whom she will marry thanks to the magic flower;
- Oberon, the king of the elves;
- Titania, the queen of the fairies;
- Puck, the mischievous elf who mixed up the love of the four lovers;
- Pea Blossom, Spiderweb, Moth, Mustard Seed and many other goblins and fairies in the service of Oberon and Titania.
