| Act 1 scene 1 | Characters: Theseus, Hippolyta, Egeus, Lysander, Demetrius, Helena, and HermiaSummary of events:Theseus, duke of the land, and Hippolyta, duchess of the land, are getting ready to be married when Egeus comes to them to speak about a problem with his daughter, Hermia, and her two suitors, Lysander and Demetrius. Hermia and Lysander are in love but Egeus has promised her off to Demetrius who only wants her for her looks. Demetrius is known to make girls fall in love wit him and he uses them until he is through and then moves on, like he did with Helena a girl head of heals for him. Hermia is told that she can heed her father’s wishes or become a nun.Hermia and Lysander plan to elope in the night to Lysander’s aunts. While making their plans they run across Helena who goes off bout how Demetrius loves Hermia and she wants to know what to do to get Demetrius to love her instead. Hermia then tells Helena of her plan to elope with Lysander. Helena then plans to tell Demetrius their plan so that she can get on the good side of Demetrius and he’ll fall in love with her. |
| Act 1 scene 2 | Characters: Quince, Snout, Snug, Starveling, Bottom, and Flute.Summary of events:Quince is putting together a play about Pyramus and Thisbe, for the duke’s and duchess’s wedding. Bottom wants to play all the parts because he thinks he can do it the best but he is not allowed to and only plays Pyramus, the hero of the story. Snug is to play the lion but cannot be fierce so that he doesn’t’ scare the ladies. Flute is to play Thisbe, Pyramus’s lover. Starveling is play Thisbe’s mom and Snout plays Pyramus’s father while Quince plays Thisbe’s Father. They plan to meet in the woods at midnight, the same forest and time as Lysander and Hermia plan to meet. |
| Act 2 scene 1 | Characters: Robin, Fairy, Oberon, Titania, Demetrius, and HelenaSummary of events:It starts with Robin and the Fairy talking. The Fairy says she has to go because she is out to help her queen Titania and that she has no time for a mischievous sprite. At that time Fairy King Oberon and Fairy Queen Titania show up. They are fighting because Titania has taken in an Indian boy whose mother was her friend but the mom died and Oberon wants Titania to give her him. She refused and worse she would not sleep wit Oberon anymore. she leaves then before things get worse and that she promises to stay off of Oberon’s turf. He says he will go with her and the fighting will stop of she gives him the boy. Again she refuses. Oberon then sends Robin to get a flower that was hit with cupid’s arrow. He plans to put the juice on Titania’s eyelids as she sleeps so that she’ll fall in love with whatever she first sees. He doesn’t care what it is he just wants to trick her out of the boy before he gives her the cure. Then Demetrius and Helena come by arguing and Oberon listens on invisible.Demetrius and Helena argue because Demetrius wants her to stop falling him because she makes him sick and he doesn’t like her. Helena says that the worse he treats her the more she loves him and she would be his dog. She sees that as an honor. He then says being out there in the woods she could be raped but she replies she is safe with him there. Then he tells her he will run away and leave her there for the animals. She replies that no animal could be as cruel to her as he has.Oberon tells Robin when he gets back with the flower that he is to put the juice on Titania’s eyelids but also the eyelids of Demetrius so that Demetrius’s love is greater than Helena’s for him. |
| Act 2 scene 2 | Characters: Fairies, Titania, Oberon, Lysander, HermiaSummary of events:The fairies sing Titania to sleep and tell all the bad things to stay away from her. Once they leave Oberon shows up and puts the love spell on her and says to wake once something nasty come near.Then Lysander and Hermia are walking through the woods and Hermia is exhausted and Lysander has become lost. They then decide to rest for a while and Hermia tells Lysander not to sleep close to her because they are not married yet. Lysander sees no wrong in sleeping close and promises to be faithful and do nothing wrong but Hermia insists that he sleep further away.Robin then finds them laying down and he thinks this is the couple Oberon spoke of cause the guy is Athenian clothing. He calls Lysander a jerk and puts the full force of the magic of the love spell.The it goes Demetrius and Helena still fighting and she begs him to stop even if just to kill her. He continues to tell her to go away. He then leaves her here to fend for herself. Helena then comes upon Lysander and tries to wake him thinking him dead. Lysander then wakes and falls madly in love with Helena. Helena is confused because he is doting over her and thinks he is only fooling her and toying with her. Lysander continues and tells Hermia’s sleeping form to stay away from him. He leaves and Hermia wakes up alone and freaks out. |
| Act 3 scene 3 | Characters: Titania, Bottom, Quince, Flute, Snug, Snout, Starveling, Robin, PeaseBlossem, Cobweb, Moth, and MustardseedSummary of events:Snout, Bottom, Quince, Flute, Snug, and Starveling are debating on how to fix the play so that there is no violence and will not frighten the ladies in the audience. They decide to announce who they really are and that they are just acting so the ladies will not be worried. As they practice Robin comes around and he plays a joke by making Bottom’s head the head of a donkey. Bottom has no idea and thinks the others are just playing a joke on him by being afraid. Titania then wakes up and falls in love with Bottom, who she happens to see first. She awakes while he is singing and ask him to sing again saying she loves him. She tells him he is stay with her and can have whatever he wants and that she’ll make him a sprite like her so that he will never die. Titania then assigns him the fairies PeaseBlossem, Cobweb, Moth, Mustardseed. |
| act 3 scene 2 | Characters: Oberon, Robin, Demetrious, Hermia, Helena, and LysanderSummary of events:Oberon wonders if Titania has awoken yet and Robin tell him she has and has fallen for a monster. Robin tells of how he frighten the actors and turned one their heads into a donkey’s. Oberon is pleased and then asked about the couple he also asked to be affect by the love spell. Robin says he did it as Demetrious and Hermia walk in. Oberon says that is the man he spoke of and Robin says that that is the woman he saw but that it is a different man. Hermia is scolding Demetrius and wonders if he has killed Lysander. If he has she wants him to kill her too. Hermia gets mad at him when he wont find Lysander and says he is less than a human to her and she despises him. Demetrious then says how hurt he is and that he didn’t kill Lysander and didn’t even know he was dead. Hermia than leaves him. Oberon sends Robin to go find Helena and bring her to where Demetrious is now asleep so that he will fall in love with Helene because Oberon is now going to put the spell on him. Robin finds her near by with Lysander who is trying to convince her to love him. Helena thinks he is just trying to trick her and doesn’t really love her and Lysander argues that that isn’t true. Their arguing cause Demetrious to wake up and he starts to dote over Helena as well. Helena thinks that they are both just being mean spirited and playing a joke. All three of them continue to argue on who really loves her and whether it is true or not. Hermia then walk over hearing the commotion and asks why Lysander left. He tells her that love told him to and that he loves Helena. Helena thinks that Hermia is in on the joke as well and Hermia doesn’t believe that Lysander doesn’t love her anymore. Helena says for them to stop fighting over her if the really love her and Demetrious threatens to make Lysander stop. Lysander becomes rude to Hermia and tells her to go away. Hermia thinks all of it is because Helena is so tall and threatens to hurt her. Helena begs the men to not let Hermia hurt her. They both protect her from Hermia. Lysander then insults Hermia about her height with Helena. Demetrious tells him not to take Helena’s side and treat Hermia so poorly or he’ll pay. The men begin to fight and Helena runs away so that Hermia wont her and Hermia leaves as well.Oberon can’t believe all that has happened and blames Robin for it saying Robin either made a mistake or did it on purpose. Robin says it was a mistake and Oberon tells him to go stop the men from fighting by making them lost and away from each other and then make them fall asleep. After that is done he tells Robin to put the cure in Lysander’s eyes to undue the spell. While Robin does that Oberon plans to go talk Titania into giving him the boy.Robin says they must act fast because night will soon be over. Oberon then reminds him that they can be about in daylight so there is no need but they should hurry anyways. Robin completes his job before sunrise and Lysander, Demetrious, Helena, and Hermia falls asleep in the woods in that order |
| Act 4 scene 1 | Characters: Titania, Bottom, PeaseBlossem, Cobweb, Moth, Mustardseed, Oberon, Robin, Theseus, Hippolyta, Egeus,Summary of events:Titania continues to dote over Bottom while he commands his fairies to do his biding. Titania then begins to sing for him. She then has food fetched for him and he soon falls asleep after asking not to be disturbed. The fairies are told to leave and Titania falls asleep with BottomOberon then tells Robin how he ran in to Titania earlier gathering things for Bottom and how he pities her now, but that she said yes to given him the boy he wanted. He then says he will undue the spell on her now. Titania awakes she had an awful dream of loving a donkey. Oberon tells her it was not a dream and hat the donkey is beside her. Oberon tells Robin to undue the donkey head spell on Bottom. Titania and Oberon then dance for the duke’s wedding. Titania and Oberon the go to walk around the world and he is to explain what happened.Theseus, Hippolyta, and Egeus go out in the woods to hunt when they come across the sleeping Demetrious, Lysander, Hermia, and Helena. Theseus thinks they came out to meet him and says for the hunters to blow their horns and wake them for Hermia must give her answer on what she chooses to do, either marry Demetrious or become a nun. Lysander and Demetrious explain how they got there and Demetrious admits he no longer loves Hermia and instead loves Helena now. Theseus declares Lysander and Hermia and Demetrious and Helena will marry beside him and Hippolyta. They are not sure whether they are really awake or not if what just happened was real.Bottom then awakes thinking it all a dream and wondering where his friends went. Bottom decides to call his dreams Bottom’s Dream and that he will sing it for the duke. |
| Act 4 scene 2 | Characters: Quince, Flute, Snout, Starveling, Snug, and BottomSummary of events:Quince, Flute, Snout, and Starveling worry about where Bottom is and think he has been kidnapped. If he doesn’t show then they can’t perform. Quince gets mad because the duke and two other couples were married and they could have made a lot by performing if it weren’t for Bottom being gone. The Bottom appears and they prepare for the play. |
| Act 5 scene 1 | Characters: Theseus, Hippolyta, Demetrious, Helena, Lysander, Hermia, Philostrate, Quince, Flute, Snout, Starveling, Snug, Bottom, Robin, Oberon, and TitaniaSummary of events:Hippolyta and Theseus have been told by Demetrious, Helena, Lysander, and Hermia what happened to them in the woods. Theseus thinks it is just a part of their imagination, but Hippolyta thinks it may be more than that. Theseus then choose what will be for their entertainment and he chooses the play about Pyramus and Thisbe because it sounded interesting and he hadn’t seen it yet, even though Philostrate spoke badly of it. Philostrate tries to talk the duke out of it but to no avail. The play is preformed and the audience criticizes it. The actors confuse their words and inanimate objects talk, they even talk out of character. The audience believes their imagination will make the play better than what it really is. The audience is not enjoying the play all that much and they sarcastically say how good the actors are. They are given the choice of an epilogue or just a dance and the audience says they cannot take an epilogue and that it is late, they should go to bed.After everyone is asleep the fairies come out and dance to bless the newly weds and Robin makes fun of the play. |
A Midsummer NIght’s Dream
July 16, 2019