A Midsummer Night's Dream

A Midsummer night's

Dream

by William Shakespear

Author:

"A Midsummer Night's Dream" was written by William

Shakespeare, who was born in Stratfort-upon-Avon, in 1564. After he had

attended the Stratfort School, he married in November 1582 Anne Hathaway

and five years later they got their first daughter. For whatever reason, he went

to London and became an actor- dramatist. In the beginning of his career he

was both actor and writer. His earliest plays were Henry VI, Richard III, The

Comedy of Errors, Titus and Andronicus,... all of them were written in 1952.

Other important plays are Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, King Lear, Romeo and

Juliet and of course A Midsummer Night's dream (one of his earlier

comedies).

He died on 23rd April, 1616 in London.

Published :

ItÒ's a Spring Book, published by The Hamlyn Publishing

Group Limited. It was first published in 1958 under the title "The Complete

Works of William Shakespeare".

Type of book:

" A Midsummer Night's Dream" is a stage play. It includes a

mixture of elements and a style which enables William Shakespeare to be serious

and not serious at the same time. For him, the plot is as important as the characters.

Many of his acts have, like this one, an open end and a nearly sudden beginning.

This play in V Acts throws up both, romantic and anti romantic attitudes. He

stimulates the imagination of the spectator by fantastic contrasts and the creation

of an exotic fairy world in the theatre.

Subject:

ItÒ's a play about an entertainment more obvious than a realistic

representation of what life is like. So it is more a comedy which may have

moments that disturb, but it will find its way past them to a happy ending and

a celebration in harmony and with good hope for the future.

It is the story about four different plots which I will describe more exactly in

the plot synopsis.

The most important persons:

There are four different groups of characters:

Theseus and Hippolyta; the young lovers Lysander, Demetrius, Hermia and

Helena; Oberon, Titania and the fairies with Puck; Bottom and the Anthenian

workmen.

Theseus: He is the Duke of Athens and chief administrator of the law.

Hippolyta: She is the Queen of the Amazons, betrothed to Theseus.

Oberon: He is the King of the fairies. He is jealous that Titania will not

allow him to have her cheeriched Indian boy to serve as his page and gains

revenge by using a magic flower to make her love the transformed Bottom.

Titania: She is the Queen of the fairies. After she was bewitched by the

magic flower, she fell in love with the goss Bottom, made even gosser than

usual by the ass's head he got from Puck. She is a proud woman. She also has

a special friendship with the mother of the Indian boy, which the whole

quarrel is about.

Egeus: He is the father of Hermia and wants her, by law, to marry Demetrius.

Lysander: He loves Hermia really and flees with her to the near forest.

Demetrius: He loves Hermia too and Hermia's father wants him to marry

her, but after he got the magic juice in his eyes, he loves Helena.

Hermia: She is the daughter of Egeus. She is in love with Lysander, but her

father wants her to marry Demetrius.

Helena: She loves Demetrius and she is what Demetrius thinks beautiful,

but he is distinguish from Hermia by her greater height and appearence.

Fairies:

Peasblossom:

Cobwew:

Moth: fairies

Mustardseed:

Puck: He is the fairy-lieutnant, so he is able to fly. But he is not

allknowing, what is shown to us, the spectators, by his mistake, as he

mistakes Lysander for Dymetrius and the other way round.

The Athenian workmen:

Quince: the Carpenter

Snug: the Joiner

Flute: the Bellows-mender

Snout: the Tinker

Starvelling: the Tailor

Bottom: He is slightly dull, naive and unintelligent but he is also

enthusiastic, creative, self confident, honest and laughable. He is one of

the Athenian workmen and works as a weaver.

All assemble under Quince's direction to cast the play of "Pyramus and

Thisby", which they would like to play for the duke's wedding. So they

meet for rehearsals in the wood.

Plot