[Dramatis Personae

Theseus, Duke of Athens

Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons, betrothed to Theseus

Philostrate, Master of the Revels

Egeus, father of Hermia

Hermia, daughter of Egeus, in love with Lysander

Lysander, in love with Hermia

Demetrius, in love with Hermia and favored by Egeus

Helena, in love with Demetrius

Oberon, King of the Fairies

Titania, Queen of the Fairies

puck, or Robin Goodfellow

Peaseblossom,

cobweb,

mote,  fairies attending Titania

Mustardseed,

Other fairies attending

peter quince, a carpenter, prologue

nick bottom, a weaver, pyramus

Francis flute, a bellows  representing

mender, Thisbe

tom snout, a tinker,  wall

snug, a joiner, lion

robin starveling, a tailor, moonshine

Lords and Attendants on Theseus and Hippolyta

scene: Athens, and a wood near it]

1.1 Location: Athens. Theseus's court.

4 lingers frustrates

5 Stepdame stepmother.  a dowager i.e., a widow (whose right of inheritance from her dead husband is eating into her son's estate)

6 withering out causing to dwindle

7 Four . . . night (The image is of the day sinking into the ocean as night comes on.)

11 solemnities festive ceremonies of marriage.

15 companion fellow. (A pale complexion is linked to melancholy.)  pomp ceremonial magnificence.

16 with my sword i.e., in a military engagement against the Amazons, when Hippolyta was taken captive

19 triumph public festivity

[1.1] A Enter Theseus, Hippolyta, [and Philostrate,] with others.

Theseus

Now, fair Hippolyta, our nuptial hour

Draws on apace. Four happy days bring in

Another moon; but, oh, methinks, how slow

This old moon wanes! She lingers my desires, 4

Like to a Stepdame or a dowager 5

Long withering out a young man's revenue. 6

Hippolyta

Four days will quickly steep themselves in night; 7

Four nights will quickly dream away the time;

And then the moon, like to a silver bow

New bent in heaven, shall behold the night

Of our solemnities.

Theseus Go, Philostrate, 11

Stir up the Athenian youth to merriments.

Awake the pert and nimble spirit of mirth.

Turn melancholy forth to funerals;

The pale companion is not for our pomp. 15

[Exit Philostrate.]

Hippolyta, I wooed thee with my sword 16

And won thy love doing thee injuries;

But I will wed thee in another key,

With pomp, with triumph, and with reveling. 19

Enter Egeus and his daughter Hermia, and Lysander, and Demetrius.

Egeus

Happy be Theseus, our renowned duke!

31 feigning (1) counterfeiting (2) faining, desirous

32 And . . . fantasy and made her fall in love with you (imprinting your image on her imagination) by stealthy and dishonest means

33 gauds, conceits playthings, fanciful trifles

34 Knacks . . . sweetmeats knickknacks, trinkets, bouquets, candies

35 prevailment in influence on

39 Be it so if

45 Immediately directly, with nothing intervening

51 leave i.e., leave unaltered

Theseus

Thanks, good Egeus. What's the news with thee?

Egeus

Full of vexation come I, with complaint

Against my child, my daughter Hermia.--

Stand forth, Demetrius.--My noble lord,

This man hath my consent to marry her.--

Stand forth, Lysander.--And, my gracious Duke,

This man hath bewitched the bosom of my child.--

Thou, thou Lysander, thou hast given her rhymes

And interchanged love tokens with my child.

Thou hast by moonlight at her window sung

With feigning voice verses of feigning love, 31

And stol'n the impression of her fantasy 32

With bracelets of thy hair, rings, gauds, conceits, 33

Knacks, trifles, nosegays, sweetmeats--messengers 34

Of strong prevailment in unhardened youth. 35

With cunning hast thou filched my daughter's heart,

Turned her obedience, which is due to me,

To stubborn harshness. And, my gracious Duke,

Be it so she will not here before Your Grace 39

Consent to marry with Demetrius,

I beg the ancient privilege of Athens:

As she is mine, I may dispose of her,

Which shall be either to this gentleman

Or to her death, according to our law

Immediately provided in that case. 45

Theseus

What say you, Hermia? Be advised, fair maid.

To you your father should be as a god--

One that composed your beauties, yea, and one

To whom you are but as a form in wax

By him imprinted, and within his power

To leave the figure or disfigure it. 51

Demetrius is a worthy gentleman.

54 kind respect.  wanting lacking.  voice approval

65 die the death be executed by legal process

68 blood passions

70 livery habit, costume

71 aye ever.  mewed shut in. (Said of a hawk, poultry, etc.)

76 earthlier happy happier as respects this world.  distilled i.e., to make perfume

80 patent privilege

Hermia

So is Lysander.

Theseus In himself he is;

But in this kind, wanting your father's voice, 54

The other must be held the worthier.

Hermia

I would my father looked but with my eyes.

Theseus

Rather your eyes must with his judgment look.

Hermia

I do entreat Your Grace to pardon me.

I know not by what power I am made bold,

Nor how it may concern my modesty

In such a presence here to plead my thoughts;

But I beseech Your Grace that I may know

The worst that may befall me in this case

If I refuse to wed Demetrius.

Theseus

Either to die the death or to abjure 65

Forever the society of men.

Therefore, fair Hermia, question your desires,

Know of your youth, examine well your blood, 68

Whether, if you yield not to your father's choice,

You can endure the livery of a nun, 70

For aye to be in shady cloister mewed, 71

To live a barren sister all your life,

Chanting faint hymns to the cold fruitless moon.

Thrice blessed they that master so their blood

To undergo such maiden pilgrimage;

But earthlier happy is the rose distilled 76

Than that which, withering on the virgin thorn,

Grows, lives, and dies in single blessedness.

Hermia

So will I grow, so live, so die, my lord,

Ere I will yield my virgin patent up 80

89 protest vow

92 crazed cracked, unsound

98 estate unto settle or bestow upon

99 as well derived as well born and descended

100 possessed endowed with wealth

101 fairly handsomely

102 vantage superiority

106 head i.e., face

110 spotted i.e., morally stained

Unto His Lordship, whose unwished yoke

My soul consents not to give sovereignty.

Theseus

Take time to pause, and by the next new moon--

The sealing day betwixt my love and me

For everlasting bond of fellowship--

Upon that day either prepare to die

For disobedience to your father's will,

Or else to wed Demetrius, as he would,

Or on Diana's altar to protest 89

For aye austerity and single life.

Demetrius

Relent, sweet Hermia, and, Lysander, yield

Thy crazed title to my certain right. 92

Lysander

You have her father's love, Demetrius;

Let me have Hermia's. Do you marry him.

Egeus

Scornful Lysander! True, he hath my love,

And what is mine my love shall render him.

And she is mine, and all my right of her

I do estate unto Demetrius. 98

Lysander

I am, my lord, as well derived as he, 99

As well possessed; my love is more than his; 100

My fortunes every way as fairly ranked, 101

If not with vantage, as Demetrius'; 102

And, which is more than all these boasts can be,

I am beloved of beauteous Hermia.

Why should not I then prosecute my right?

Demetrius, I'll avouch it to his head, 106

Made love to Nedar's daughter, Helena,

And won her soul; and she, sweet lady, dotes,

Devoutly dotes, dotes in idolatry

Upon this spotted and inconstant man. 110

113 self-affairs my own concerns

116 schooling admonition

117 look you arm take care you prepare

118 fancies likings, thoughts of love

120 extenuate mitigate, relax

123 go i.e., come

125 Against in preparation for

126 nearly that that closely

130 Belike Very likely

131 Beteem grant, afford

135 blood hereditary rank

136 cross vexation.

137 misgrafted ill grafted, badly matched

Theseus

I must confess that I have heard so much,

And with Demetrius thought to have spoke thereof;

But, being overfull of self-affairs, 113

My mind did lose it. But, Demetrius, come,

And come, Egeus, you shall go with me;

I have some private schooling for you both. 116

For you, fair Hermia, look you arm yourself 117

To fit your fancies to your father's will, 118

Or else the law of Athens yields you up--

Which by no means we may extenuate-- 120

To death or to a vow of single life.

Come, my Hippolyta. What cheer, my love?

Demetrius and Egeus, go along. 123

I must employ you in some business

Against our nuptial, and confer with you 125

Of something nearly that concerns yourselves. 126

Egeus

With duty and desire we follow you.

Exeunt [all but Lysander and Hermia].

Lysander

How now, my love, why is your cheek so pale?

How chance the roses there do fade so fast?

Hermia

Belike for want of rain, which I could well 130

Beteem them from the tempest of my eyes. 131

Lysander

Ay me! For aught that I could ever read,

Could ever hear by tale or history,

The course of true love never did run smooth;

But either it was different in blood-- 135

Hermia

Oh, cross! Too high to be enthralled to low. 136

Lysander

Or else misgrafted in respect of years-- 137

139 friends relatives

141 sympathy agreement

143 momentany lasting but a moment

145 collied blackened (as with coal dust), darkened

146 in a spleen in a swift impulse, in a violent flash.  unfolds reveals

149 confusion ruin.

150 ever crossed always thwarted

152 teach . . . patience i.e., teach ourselves patience in this trial

155 fancy's amorous passion's

156 persuasion doctrine.

159 seven leagues about 21 miles

160 respects regards

165 without outside

Hermia

Oh, spite! Too old to be engaged to young.

Lysander

Or else it stood upon the choice of friends-- 139

Hermia

Oh, hell, to choose love by another's eyes!

Lysander

Or if there were a sympathy in choice, 141

War, death, or sickness did lay siege to it,

Making it momentany as a sound, 143

Swift as a shadow, short as any dream,

Brief as the lightning in the collied night 145

That in a spleen unfolds both heaven and earth, 146

And ere a man hath power to say "Behold!"

The jaws of darkness do devour it up.

So quick bright things come to confusion. 149

Hermia

If then true lovers have been ever crossed, 150

It stands as an edict in destiny.

Then let us teach our trial patience, 152

Because it is a customary cross,

As due to love as thoughts, and dreams, and sighs,

Wishes, and tears, poor fancy's followers. 155

Lysander

A good persuasion. Therefore, hear me, Hermia: 156

I have a widow aunt, a dowager

Of great revenue, and she hath no child.

From Athens is her house remote seven leagues; 159

And she respects me as her only son. 160

There, gentle Hermia, may I marry thee,

And to that place the sharp Athenian law

Cannot pursue us. If thou lovest me, then,

Steal forth thy father's house tomorrow night;

And in the wood, a league without the town, 165

Where I did meet thee once with Helena

167 To do . . . May to perform the ceremonies of May Day

170 best arrow (Cupid's best gold-pointed arrows were supposed to induce love; his blunt leaden arrows, aversion.)

171 simplicity innocence.  doves i.e., those that drew Venus's chariot

173, 174 Carthage queen, false Trojan (Dido, Queen of Carthage, immolated herself on a funeral pyre after having been deserted by the Trojan hero Aeneas.)

180 fair fair-complexioned. (Generally regarded by the Elizabethans as more beautiful than a dark complexion.)

182 your fair your beauty (even though Hermia is dark complexioned).  happy fair lucky fair one.

183 lodestars guiding stars.  air music

184 tunable tuneful, melodious

186 favor appearance, looks

190 bated excepted

191 translated transformed.

193 sway the motion control the impulses

To do observance to a morn of May, 167

There will I stay for thee.

Hermia My good Lysander!

I swear to thee, by Cupid's strongest bow,

By his best arrow with the golden head, 170

By the simplicity of Venus' doves, 171

By that which knitteth souls and prospers loves,

And by that fire which burned the Carthage queen 173

When the false Trojan under sail was seen, 174

By all the vows that ever men have broke,

In number more than ever women spoke,

In that same place thou hast appointed me

Tomorrow truly will I meet with thee.

Lysander

Keep promise, love. Look, here comes Helena.

Enter Helena.

Hermia

God speed, fair Helena! Whither away? 180

Helena

Call you me fair? That "fair" again unsay.

Demetrius loves your fair. Oh, happy fair! 182

Your eyes are lodestars, and your tongue's sweet air 183

More tunable than lark to shepherd's ear 184

When wheat is green, when hawthorn buds appear.

Sickness is catching. Oh, were favor so, 186

Yours would I catch, fair Hermia, ere I go;

My ear should catch your voice, my eye your eye,

My tongue should catch your tongue's sweet melody.

Were the world mine, Demetrius being bated, 190

The rest I'd give to be to you translated. 191

Oh, teach me how you look and with what art

You sway the motion of Demetrius' heart. 193

Hermia

I frown upon him, yet he loves me still.

197 Oh, that . . . move! Would that my prayers could arouse such desire!

204-5 Before . . . to me (Love has led to complications and jealousies, making Athens hell for Hermia.)

209 Phoebe Diana, the moon

210 glass reflecting surface (of a lake, etc.)

211 liquid pearl i.e., dew

212 still always

215 faint pale

216 counsel secret thought

Helena

Oh, that your frowns would teach my smiles such

 skill!

Hermia

I give him curses, yet he gives me love.

Helena

Oh, that my prayers could such affection move! 197

Hermia

The more I hate, the more he follows me.

Helena

The more I love, the more he hateth me.

Hermia

His folly, Helena, is no fault of mine.

Helena

None, but your beauty. Would that fault were mine!

Hermia

Take comfort. He no more shall see my face.

Lysander and myself will fly this place.

Before the time I did Lysander see 204

Seemed Athens as a paradise to me. 205

Oh, then, what graces in my love do dwell,

That he hath turned a heaven unto a hell?

Lysander

Helen, to you our minds we will unfold.

Tomorrow night, when Phoebe doth behold 209

Her silver visage in the watery glass, 210

Decking with liquid pearl the bladed grass, 211

A time that lovers' flights doth still conceal, 212

Through Athens' gates have we devised to steal.

Hermia

And in the wood, where often you and I

Upon faint primrose beds were wont to lie, 215

Emptying our bosoms of their counsel sweet, 216

There my Lysander and myself shall meet,

---

Excerpted from A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.