A Midsummer Night’s Dream Summary and Analysis: The summary and analysis of William Shakespeare’s famous work.
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM: SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS
A Midsummer Night’s Dream is one of William Shakespeare ‘s most beautiful works , a comedy immersed in a fantastic and fascinating atmosphere, capable of arousing emotions and wonder.
But if by chance during the reading you missed some passages and you can’t complete your summary , then don’t worry, because in this article we will provide you with all the missing pieces to complete your homework. First of all, you should know that the comedy was written between 1593 and 1596 approximately and has a double ending: the song and dance of the fairies and the epilogue of Puck.
The reason could be the fact that at first the work was intended for private performances, while later the text was adapted as a public show. But let’s try to understand something more about the plot and try to shed light on the characters, the main themes and the setting: here is the summary and analysis of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM SUMMARY
Theseus, Duke of Athens, is about to marry the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta. A 4-day ceremony is planned for the occasion and, in view of the celebrations, Egeus arrives with his daughter Hermia and two young men, Lysander and Demetrius. Egeus would like Hermia to marry Demetrius, but unfortunately the girl is in love with Lysander, so she does not intend to submit to her father’s wishes. Egeus then threatens his daughter and gives her time until the wedding: if she does not marry Demetrius, Hermia will be sent to a convent or even killed.
The girl then organizes an escape with Lysander, and together the two plan to get married the next day at the house of Lysander’s uncle. The young people then communicate the plan to Helena, who, secretly in love with Demetrius, confides in him the plan, hoping in this way to win him back. Demetrius and Helena were in fact engaged, but the boy abandoned her after meeting Hermia. Demetrius then follows Lysander and Hermia into the woods, and is in turn followed by Helena. In the woods there are other characters: the fairies, whose king and queen are Oberon and Titania, returned from India to bless the marriage of Hippolyta and Theseus. In addition to the fairies there is also a group of Athenian craftsmen who are rehearsing a comedy to be performed at the wedding. Oberon and Titania argue about the fate of an Indian prince entrusted to Titania: Oberon would like to make him a knight, but Titania does not allow it.
So the king, out of spite, sends his servant Puck to pick a magic flower whose juice, applied to the eyelids of a sleeping person, can make that person fall in love with the first person they see upon awakening.
Oberon intends to apply the potion on Titania’s eyelids and, having seen Demetrius mistreat Helena, orders Puck to put some on the young man’s eyes as well. Puck, however, meets Lysander and Hermia and, mistaking them for the other couple, applies the potion on Lysander’s eyes: however, when he wakes up, the young man sees Helena and falls madly in love with her, abandoning Hermia. Puck tries to make amends, but in the end he also makes Demetrius fall in love with Helena: Hermia becomes jealous and challenges Helena to a fight. Demetrius and Lysander also fight each other, but Puck confuses them by mimicking their voices and in the end the boys get lost in the woods.
Meanwhile, Queen Titania wakes up and the first person she sees is Bottom, an Athenian craftsman whose head Puck has transformed into that of a donkey. In the end, however, everything returns to normal: Oberon can name the young Indian a knight and Puck makes Lysander fall in love with Hermia again. Theseus and Hippolyta discover the lovers in the woods and bring them back to Athens to be married: Demetrius to Helena and Lysander to Hermia. After the weddings, the play prepared by Bottom and the others is performed, a comic version of the story of Pyramus and Thisbe. After the play, the 4 young people retire and the fairies bless them. They all leave, leaving Puck to ask the audience for forgiveness and reveal that it was all just a beautiful dream.
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM, ANALYSIS OF THE PLAY: THE THEMES
In this comedy Shakespeare basically deals with two themes: magic and dreams. As for magic, it is nothing other than love, which with its power can solve everything. Precisely, love is symbolized by the juice of the magic flower that acts on the eyes: it is in fact with the eyes that we fall in love for the first time by scrutinizing the object of our love.
During the comedy it may seem that magic creates a bit of a mess and misunderstandings, but in reality it is thanks to this that in the end everything is resolved. The other theme that often recurs is the dream: the term is present not only in the title, but is frequently mentioned throughout the work to explain events that appear strange and difficult to understand.
But, in general, the whole story is pervaded by the atmosphere of the dream, not only thanks to the presence of magic and fantastic characters, but also thanks to the style and the suggestive setting of the forest.
ANALYSIS OF A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM: THE STYLE AND LANGUAGE OF THE CHARACTERS
The style and language also contribute to making the atmosphere even more dreamy. Shakespeare uses many parallels, word games and classical illusions, and the author’s mastery lies in the fact that he knows how to intertwine three different worlds characterized by different languages: the world of fairies, made of magic formulas and nursery rhymes, the world of lovers, characterized by love verses and the world of Athenian craftsmen, dedicated to parodic language.