A Midsummer Night’s Dream - Play Summary
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- Опубликовано: 19 сен 2024
- Visit us at www.gradesaver... to read the full video transcript and our study guide for this classic play, which includes a full list of characters, themes, and much more.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a comedy written by Shakespeare in the 1590s, around the same time the playwright wrote Romeo and Juliet. With several interweaving storylines, the play takes place on the eve of a wedding between Athenian nobleman, Theseus, and Amazonian queen, Hippolyta, on Midsummer’s Eve. This night is traditionally celebrated and commonly associated with temporary insanity and transformation.
The play opens as Theseus, the Duke of Athens, prepares the city for a large festival to mark his imminent marriage to Hippolyta, the queen of the Amazons.
He is interrupted when Egeus, another nobleman, enters accompanied by his beautiful daughter, Hermia; the man she loves, Lysander; and the man Egeus wants Hermia to marry, Demetrius. Egeus begs Theseus to invoke the ancient Athenian right to either force his daughter to marry Demetrius or have the right to kill her. Instead, Theseus declares that Hermia can either marry Demetrius or join a nunnery.
Next, Lysander convinces Hermia to sneak into the woods to marry him the following night. She agrees. But Hermia’s friend Helena is envious of Demetrius’ affection for Hermia. Lysander tells Helena of his and Hermia’s secret plan to elope. In turn, Helena decides to tell Demetrius about this plan, thereby sabotaging Demetrius’s engagement to Hermia.
Meanwhile, in the forest, a mischievous servant sprite, Robin Goodfellow or “Puck,” witnesses a quarrel between the king and queen of the fairies, Oberon and Titania. Titania has possession of a “changeling boy," whom Oberon wants for himself. When Titania leaves, Oberon vows to get revenge on her, ordering Puck to find some pansies, the juice of which has the magical power to make a person love the first thing he or she sees upon waking up. Oberon plans to drop the juice into Titania’s eyes while she sleeps so that she will fall in love with an animal when she awakes.
Meanwhile, Peter Quince and a group of local artisans plan to perform a tragedy about two fictional star-crossed lovers, Pyramus and Thisbe, for Theseus and Hippolyta’s wedding. Nick Bottom, a weaver acting in the play, is overeager and wants to play several roles at once, but Quince tells him to play only Pyramus. Puck stumbles upon the actors’ rehearsal and decides to transform Bottom’s head into that of a donkey.
Later, finding Titania asleep in the forest, Oberon drops the pansy juice into her eyes. Titania awakes to see Bottom and immediately falls in love with him.
Meanwhile, Demetrius and Helena argue after she has told Demetrius about Hermia’s plan to elope with Lysander, in the hopes that Demetrius will give up on Hermia and fall in love with her. But Demetrius insists he does not love Helena, only Hermia. Oberon overhears this and decides to make Demetrius fall in love with Helena, telling Puck he will drop the pansy juice into the eyes of an "Athenian man” in the woods.
Lysander and Hermia decide to rest. Puck enters and mistakes the sleeping Lysander for the Athenian man Oberon mentioned, dropping the juice into Lysander’s eyes instead of Demetrius’s. Abandoned by Demetrius, Helena spots Lysander and shakes him awake to see if he is dead or asleep. Opening his eyes, Lysander immediately declares his love for Helena and chases her deeper into the woods.
Then, Helena accidentally wakes a sleeping Demetrius, whose eyes Oberon has charmed with pansy juice in an attempt to fix the situation. Opening his eyes, Demetrius joins Lysander in falling in love with Helena. Hermia arrives and accuses Helena of stealing Lysander from her, while Helena is convinced the others are mocking her.
Upset with the mess Puck has made, Oberon orders the sprite to fix the situation by making Lysander and Hermia fall in love again and changing Bottom’s donkey head back to a human one. Oberon lovingly wakes Titania, who believes her love for Bottom was just a dream.
On a crisp morning stroll, the soon-to-be-married Hippolyta and Theseus arrive with Egeus at the place where Hermia, Lysander, Helena, and Demetrius are asleep. Waking up, the four recount their hazy memories of the previous night. Lysander declares his love for Hermia, while Demetrius says he is in love with Helena. Seeing this, Theseus declares that he will go against Egeus’ wishes and allow the two couples to marry as part of his own wedding that day.
Meanwhile, believing his memories of the night were a dream, Bottom and the other actors rush to the wedding. They perform the play so haphazardly that the guests believe it is a farce, instead of a tragedy. Then, Puck breaks the fourth wall by addressing the audience directly, and in a final twist, suggests that what we have been watching might have been a dream too.
I'm reading this at school and completely confused, thank you for this!
For real
meh its not that confusing, but its weird
i was surprised when it said ass in the story.
Not confusing but weird as hell
same
William Shakespeare books are known to be complicated even this one but thanks to you it more easier for me because I am having a literature exam tomorrow
They are, and that is the beauty of Shakespeare. Ive studied MacBeth many times, and read outside interoperations of the lines ; its fun to peel way the layers and find new meanings in the lines. ( Its not like going to a movie, sitting through it, with popcorn and walking out.. ) , Shakespeare is more of a commitment.
@@SIERRATREESit just means he wasnt that of a good writer, not being able to make a coherent tapestry of story.
Watched this play at Shakespeare in the park last night and managed to follow about 25% of the plot... had no idea what to expect... should have read a summary prior...
Damn bro shakespeare be wilding
lmaoooo
🤣
Sock it to me daddio, eight to the bar!
I’m reading this at school and I was confused but thanks to you I understand it now good video ❤️
I'm going to be Helena while performing this in a theatre in London soon, my teacher sent us the link to this to help us understand the play and it was very helpful, thank you! It didn't completely water down the play and instead made it incredibly understandable for dumb people like myself
I'm currently reading this at school. This is gonna a great help
We are doing this as an act in our English lesson
So thank you for explaining me!!
Same we are also doing it as an act in our class
Where do you live like the country and state only
@@Avisha_Vidhan sad hahaha
I'm sorry...I forgot to thank you the first day I watched your video...😅..It may be short but direly helpful especially for the students who don't have any first hand knowledge about this famous play..It really did help me a lot...Thank you !!!
Glad it was helpful!
Thanks for making me to understand this story. It was just good.
oh my word i was struggling with the book ( we're writing a test tomorrow about it ) and this video helped me understand everything in the book! i appreciate it
why is this so weird, like i dont even remember who is who
Same I can't keep up I'm so lost
Bruhhh
Dont mind my weird name :/
Came here just to literally know who Oberon truly is in Fate
King of 3 Turn Buster Farming.
I SWEAR YOU FATE FANS ARE EVERYWHERE
not that I mind
Sussyron
This helped me so much I’m doing this for my GCSE’s for drama and I didn’t understand it one bit
same here
I finally understand this book, thank you so much!
Glad it was helpful!
WE ARE GOING TO DO THIS PLAY AT SCHOOL AND AND I HAVE PUCK'S ROLE 😭😭😨 Gotta get sassy 💋
I'm doing this play at school...I'm playing Hermia (My dream role)...and it's been a while since I've read it so thank you for the summary 😊.
i am too but i’m playing hippolyta!
I played Lysander in middle school, but only in Act 5 Scene 1 (big class, lots of roles to assign to all the students).
This summary really does help clear up what the heck happened in the other acts that I didn't pay attention to!
Yess hermia team🤞🏼🤞🏼
TFSTrunks: "Who's that?"
TFSPiccolo: "That's the Athenian"
T: "No it's not"
TFSTien: "So you're saying that's not the Athenian whose eyes you wanted anointed?"
T: "No, I don't even.."
TFSKrillin: "But you _said_ two Athenians, right?"
T: "Yes, but that's not one of them!"
TFSVegeta: _"Why didn't you tell us what they looked like then!"_
T: "I only ever met the two!"
V: *"WELL LOOK AT THAT, SO DID WE!"*
TFSGoku: "If we saiyans have offended, think but this, and all is mended..."
I’m auditioning for this show soon so thanks for the overview :)
I love the idea of falling asleep in the forest, sounds so romantic.
Thank you! I won't say I completely understand but this helped. I think if the names weren't so unique it would be better.
went to see my friends college perform this last night and wish I knew all of this before as I was completely lost :(
Very well done 👍🏻
I watched this play last night and could barely follow along, thank you for this! Makes so much more sense now
Legends watching this before an literature Exam,This is there for me 7th grade finals
Thank you for the explanation with visuals! Even the Wikipedia plot was too confusing for me, haha. The visuals really helped.
Glad it helped!
I’m doing this play at my school except they made it into “friends” because they don’t want us to do something like that and this helped a lot 😅
Thanks you so much now i understand it very well
amazing.......interestingly explained.....
Thank you for a short story full explanation tomorrow is my exam and the story i understand now
Tnx for making me to understand the story ❤
A Happy End!! How sweet❤
Now summarize The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian / A Raisin in the Sun / Huckleberry Finn! Holes!
What a gracious animation!! ❤
How many pages are there in the original version of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" published in the year 1590?
Puck standing as if he owns everything 😅
Thanks
Thanks for making me understand
this would have helped me SO much 3 weeks ago :(
damn, thanks a lot dude I would've failed my English test if it wasn't for this vid
Thank you .I was so lazy to read the book
That's what we're here for!
shocked for a second by that video thumbnail😂
It's wild isn't it 😂
I laughed so hard when I read this play, it was so random and dramatic
I just got casted as Hermia and am very excited!!
well done 6:33
❤❤❤ they have so many different types of those old school last many different ways of telling those funny dreams,my first story was in a child's Chinese vision when l was 5?or6,❤❤❤my favourite story ever since, haha, English summer camp story
You saved my ass tysm I have a test tmrw
There's so much going one! I lost track!
Spectacular spiderman is why im here.
i have no idea who you are but i love your comment
So Donna, Anthony, Emily, Christopher, Hermia, Lysander, Helena, and Demetrius are Athenian-Greek and speak Shakespearean.
Julius Caesar was also a Shakespeare play
It's a translation
I'm doing this as my play at school ❤
Am really confused when reading this book but thanks for this video
Please add English subtitles also
puck? I had no idea Shakespeare read berserk!
So fair I am still reading this book at school
So Donna and Emily are in a love triangle between Anthony and Christopher, Anthony and Christopher are in a love triangle between Donna and Emily, Hermia and Helena are in a love triangle between Lysander and Demetrius, and Lysander and Demetrius are in a love triangle between Hermia and Helena.
Lol I have an English test tommorow about it and I found out now 😂
I’m reading this at school and I’m at the part where Lysander falls in love with Helena and like I’ve been loving this story
So the Temple Nuns in Athenian-Greece are Mount Olympian-Greek and speak Shakespearean.
I mean this is better than English homework 😂
Good
ty!
Haha
I have read and read but I no understand like that but now I understand small thank u
Helena should be blonde!
like your mom 😂😂
I’m watching this because I want to
-said no except me
Thank you very much it really he😅
Shakespeare should be for grade 11, 12 or post secondary. I’m a grown adult and I couldn’t be paid to read this. My grade 9 has to pick this or Romeo and Juliet.
Some people’s brains just can’t “brain” Shakespeare. And being *forced* to is madness.
It is hilarious to think that this whole play may have happened because Shakespeare was frustrated at audiences falling asleep during performances and wrote the end because of that 😃
Today is my exam and I'm watching it now 😂
beri gut
Thank you for this .. just watched the play and could not follow .
I'm a kurdish girl and i reading this in universty
I was Puck in Elementary school!
You mean that you were a wing man 😂 back in the days
So did the cupid cleared from Demetrius eyes
Personally, I believe Shakespeare was smoking Ayahuasca Peace Out
so like I’m the only one interested in this because of the characters in the sims 2 in Verona? okay
Wait is this the play that was in suite of Zack and Cody. Or am I trippin
I'm so excited, I'm going to see this at the theater in stratford and mathew baynton is playing bottom and i have front row seats, I'm a bit afraid i won't be able to follow it thats why i watched this
That’s it?
god knows this book is damn confusing. Thank you so much
Im cooked
Bottom?
Oof 😅 two boys loving a girl at once
while I was reading the story it made 0 sense now after watching the video this story makes a lot of sense
why is king oberon getting involved in a Love triangle what's in it for him
Puck is here? Wheres guts
So Queen Barbara and Queen Hippolyta are Amazonian-Greek and speak Shakespearean.
I don't understand anything even after reading the book and watching this
From the book and from thus video r confusing
Basically it's mad and complicated.
Who's from SLGS
William Shakespeare plays are be far the dumbest things i have ever read or seen, the way he writes and speck is so nuts poor people back then and now for watching it. sad
Stop making sounds on this microphone 😢
:Cry: bc I have a essay on this :(
girlie what
Shake shake
cant understand funny language so thanks
no rightly to this story .........btw
Aurat ka chakkar babu bhayya aurat ka chakkar
So confusing
I always have soft spot for Helena, althought i dont really admire her attitude 😅