A Midsummer Night’s Dream Summary
Act 1- Scene 1
At his palace, Theseus, duke of Athens, and Hippolyta, his fiancée, discuss their wedding, which will be held in four days. Theseus promises Hippolyta that though he wooed her with his combat abilities, he will wed her “with pomp, with triumph, and with revelling” - with an instant grand celebration to last until their wedding.
Egeus, a citizen of Athens, strides into the palace, followed by his daughter Hermia and youthful Athenians, Lysander and Demetrius. Egeus has come to see Theseus with a complaint against his daughter: although Egeus has promised her admirer Demetrius that he would marry her, Lysander has won Hermia’s heart, and Hermia refuses to marry Demetrius, therefore disobeying her father. Theseus speaks to Hermia sharply, telling her to expect to be sent to a nunnery or put to death. Lysander interrupts, accusing Demetrius of being inconsistent in love, saying that he was once engaged to Hermia’s friend Helena but abandoned her after he met Hermia. Theseus admits that he has heard this story, and he takes Egeus and Demetrius aside to discuss it. Before they go, he orders Hermia to take the time remaining before his marriage to Hippolyta to make up her mind. Theseus, Hippolyta, Egeus, and Demetrius depart, leaving Hermia alone with Lysander.
Lysander proposes a plan: he has a wealthy and childless aunt, who lives seven leagues from Athens and who treats Lysander like a son. At her house, Hermia and Lysander can be married—and, because the manor is outside of Athens, they would be free from Athenian law. Hermia is overjoyed, and they agree to travel to the house the following night.
Helena, Hermia’s friend whom Demetrius jilted, enters the room, lovesick and rather depresssed because Demetrius no longer loves her. Hermia and Lysander confide their plan to her and wish her luck with Demetrius.
Helena also conjures up a plan: if she tells Demetrius of the escape that Lysander and Hermia are planning, he will be bound to follow them to the woods in an attempt to stop them; if she then follows him into the woods, she might have a chance to win back his love.
Act 1- Scene 2
In another part of Athens, far from Theseus’s palace, a group of common labourers meets at the house of Peter Quince (a carpenter an leader of the craftsmen) to rehearse a play that the men hope to perform for the grand celebration preceding the wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta. Quince tries to conduct the meeting, but the talkative weaver Nick Bottom continually interrupts him with advice and direction. Quince tells the group what play they are to perform: The Most Lamentable Comedy and Most Cruel Death of Pyramus and Thisbe, which tells the story of two lovers, separated by their parents’ feud, who speak to each other at night through a hole in a wall. In the play, a lion surprises Thisbe one night and tatters her mantle before she escapes. When Pyramus finds the shredded garment, he assumes that the lion has killed Thisbe; stricken with grief, he commits suicide. When Thisbe finds Pyramus’s bloody corpse, she too commits suicide. Bottom is to play Pyramus; Francis Flute, Thisbe; Robin Starveling, Thisbe’s mother; Tom Snout, Pyramus’s father; Quince himself, Thisbe’s father; and Snug, the lion.
As Quince hands out the parts, Bottom often interrupts, announcing that he should be the one to play the assigned part. Quince eventually convinces him that Pyramus is the part for him, by virtue of the fact that Pyramus is supposed to be very handsome. Snug worries that he will be unable to learn the lion’s part, but Quince reassures him that it will be very easy to learn, since the lion speaks no words and only growls and roars. This worries the craftsmen, who reason that if the lion frightens any of the noble ladies in the audience, they will all be executed; since they are only common laborers, they do not want to risk upsetting powerful people. The group disperses, agreeing to meet in the woods the following night to rehearse their play.
Act 2- Scene 1
In a nearby forest, two fairies, one a servant of Titania (queen of the fairies), the other a servant of Oberon (king of the faries), meet by chance in an open space. Oberon’s servant tells Titania’s servant to be sure to keep Titania out of Oberon’s sight, for the two are very angry with each other. Titania, he says, has taken a little Indian prince as her attendant, and the boy is so beautiful that Oberon wishes to make him his knight. Titania, however, refuses to give the boy up.
Titania’s servant is delighted to recognize Oberon’s servant as Robin Goodfellow, better known as Puck, a mischievous sprite notorious for his pranks and jests. Puck admits his identity and describes some of the tricks he plays on mortals.
The two are interrupted when Oberon enters from one side of the clearing, followed by a train of attendants. At the same moment, Titania enters from the other side of the clearing, followed by her own train. Titania accuses Oberon of loving Hippolyta, while Oberon accuses Titania of loving Theseus. The conversation turns to the little Indian boy, whom Oberon asks to be his. But Titania responds that the boy’s mother was a devotee of hers before she died, and in honour of his mother’s memory, Titania will hold the boy near to her. She invites Oberon to go with her to dance, but Oberon declines, saying that they will be at odds until she gives him the boy.
Titania storms away, and Oberon vows to take revenge on her before the night is out. He sends Puck to seek a white-and-purple flower called love-in-idleness, which was once hit with one of Cupid’s arrows. He says that the flower’s juice, if rubbed on a sleeper’s eyelids, will cause the sleeper to fall in love with the first living thing he or she sees. Oberon announces that he will use this juice on Titania, hoping that she will fall in love with some ridiculous creature; he will then refuse to lift the juice’s effect until she yields the Indian prince to him.
Act 2- Scene 2
As Puck flies off to seek the flower, Demetrius and Helena pass through the clearing. Oberon makes himself invisible so that he can watch and hear them. Demetrius rants on at Helena, saying that he does not love her, does not want to see her, and wishes that she would stop following him immediately. He curses Lysander and Hermia, whom he is pursuing, hoping to prevent their marriage and subsequently slay Lysander. They exit the grove, with Helena following closely behind Demetrius, and Oberon appears. He declares that before the night is out, Demetrius will be the one chasing Helena, not Hermia.
Puck appears, carrying the love flower. Oberon takes the flower and says that he knows of a fragrant stream bank surrounded with flowers where Titania often sleeps. Before hurrying away to anoint Titania’s eyelids with the flower’s juice, Oberon orders Puck to look for a young Athenian being pursued by a lady and to put some of the juice on the youth’s eyelids, so that when he wakes he will fall in love with the lady. He informs Puck that he will know the youth by his Athenian clothing. Puck agrees to carry out his master’s wishes.
After her dancing and revelry, Titania falls asleep by the stream bank. Oberon creeps up on her and squeezes the flower’s juice onto her eyelids, chanting a spell, so that Titania will fall in love with the first creature she sees. Oberon departs, and Lysander and Hermia wander into the open space. Lysander admits that he has forgotten the way to his aunt’s house and says that they should sleep in the forest until morning, when they can find their way by daylight. Lysander wishes to sleep close to Hermia, but she insists that they sleep apart, to respect custom and good behavoir. At some distance from each other, they fall asleep.
Puck enters, stumbling upon the sleeping forms of Lysander and Hermia, assuming that they are the Athenians of whom Oberon spoke. Puck spreads the potion on Lysander’s eyelids, and he departs.
Simultaneously, Helena pursues Demetrius through the clearing, but he storms off without her. Helena remains behind, sees the sleeping Lysander and wakes him up. The potion takes effect, and Lysander falls deeply in love with Helena. Helena reminds him that he loves Hermia, and Lysander declares that Hermia is nothing to him. Helena believes that Lysander is making fun of her, and leaves in a huff, which causes Lysander to follow her. Hermia soon wakes and is shocked to find that Lysander is gone. She stumbles into the woods to find him.
Act 3- Scene 1
The craftsmen meet in the woods at the appointed time to rehearse their play. Since they will be performing in front of a large group of nobles, Bottom declares that certain elements of the play must be changed. He fears that Pyramus’s suicide and the lion’s roaring will frighten the ladies and lead to the actors’ executions. The other men share Bottom’s concern, and they decide to write a prologue explaining that the lion is not really a lion nor the sword really a sword and assuring the ladies that no one will really die.
As the craftsmen rehearse, Puck enters and, unbeknownst to the others, transforms Bottom’s head into that of a donkey. Bottom re-enters the scene, the others become terrified and run for their lives. Puck chases after them while Bottom, confused, remains behind.
In the same location, the sleeping Titania wakes. When she sees Bottom, she falls deeply and instantly in love with him, insists that he remain with her, embraces him, and appoints a group of fairies—Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Mote, and Mustardseed—to see to his every wish. Bottom takes these events in stride, having no notion that his head has been replaced with that of an ass. Titania looks on him with undisguised love as he follows her to her forest home.
Act 3- Scene 2
Puck later informs Oberon that Titania has fallen in love with Bottom, and Hermia enters the clearing with Demetrius. Oberon realizes that a mistake has been made and says that he and Puck will have to remedy it. Hermia presses Demetrius about Lysander’s whereabouts, fearing that he is dead, but Demetrius does not know where Lysander has gone. Hermia grows angrier and angrier, and Demetrius decides that it is pointless to follow her. He lies down and falls asleep, while Hermia stalks off to find Lysander.
When Hermia is gone, Oberon sends Puck to find Helena and squeezes the flower juice onto Demetrius’s eyelids. Puck quickly returns, saying that Helena is close behind him. Helena enters with Lysander, who wakes Demetrius. Demetrius sees Helena and immediately falls in love with her. He then joins Lysander in declaring this love. Helena believes that they are both mocking her and refuses to believe that either one loves her.
Hermia re-enters, and is appalled that Lysander loves Helena and begins to suspect that Helena has somehow acted to steal Lysander’s love from her. Hermia grows furious with Helena and threatens to scratch out her eyes. Demetrius and Lysander vow to protect Helena from Hermia, but they quickly become angry with each other and storm off into the forest to have a duel. Helena runs away from Hermia, and Hermia departs.
Oberon dispatches Puck to prevent Lysander and Demetrius fighting. Puck flies through the forest hurling insults in the voices of both Lysander and Demetrius, confusing the would-be combatants until they are hopelessly lost.
Eventually, all four of the young Athenian lovers wander back separately into the clearing and fall asleep. Puck squeezes the love potion onto Lysander’s eyelids, declaring that in the morning all will be well.
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