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Introduction
A Midsummer Night's Dream was written in a highly creative period in
Shakespeare's career, when he was moving away from the shallow plots that
characterized his earlier drama and discovering his more mature style. Most
critics believe the play was written for and performed at an aristocratic
wedding, with Queen Elizabeth I in attendance. Scholars estimate the play was
written in 1595 or 1596 (when Shakespeare was 31 or 32 years old), at
approximately the same time as Romeo and Juliet and Richard II. Obvious plot
links exist between A Midsummer Night's Dream and Romeo and Juliet, and
critics disagree about which play was written first. Not only do both dramas
emphasize the conflict between love and social convention, but the plot of
"Pyramus and Thisbe," the play-within-the-play of A Midsummer Night's
Dream, parallels that of Romeo and Juliet. Critics have wondered if Romeo and
Juliet is a serious reinterpretation of the other play, or just the opposite: Perhaps
Shakespeare is mocking his tragic love story through the burlesque of "Pyramus
and Thisbe."
Sources and Allusions
Unlike most of Shakespeare's dramas, A Midsummer Night's Dream does not
have a single written source. The story of "Pyramus and Thisbe" was originally
presented in Ovid's The Metamorphosis, making it one of many classical and
folkloric allusions in the play. Other allusions include Theseus and Hippolyta's
wedding, which is described in Chaucer's "Knight's Tale" in The Canterbury
Tales, while the theme of a daughter who wants to marry the man of her choice
despite her father's opposition was common in Roman comedy. The fairies that
dance and frolic throughout this play were most likely derived from English
folk tradition. On the one hand, these creatures have a sinister side — Puck, for
example, is also known as Robin Goodfellow, a common name for the devil —
but they can also be viewed as fun-loving nature spirits, aligned with a
benevolent Mother Nature. The interaction of this eclectic array of characters
— from the classically Greek royalty such as Theseus (derived from Plutarch's
tale of "Theseus" in hisLives of the Noble Grecians and Romans) to more
traditionally Celtic fairies such as Puck — emphasizes Shakespeare's facility in
using elements of the old to create something completely new.
Performance History
The first Quarto edition of the play, printed in 1600, announces that it was
"sundry times publickely acted, by the Right honourable, the Lord
Chamberlaine his seruants." Indeed, this drama has seen "sundry" performances
over the past 400 years. Its spectacle and its emphasis on dance and magic and
song have led it to be interpreted and performed in a variety of ways. For
example, numerous composers have been inspired by Shakespeare's Dream. In
1692, Purcell wrote an operatic version, The Fairy Queen, although it contains
little of Shakespeare's original story line. In 1826, Mendelsohn composed an
overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream, which is still popular. The play has
also seen many famous, and often infamous, interpretations. For example, the
1900 Beerbohm Tree production had live rabbits hopping around the stage,
while Peter Brook's 1970 production was presented on a bare stage that looked
like a big white box. Most modern productions of the play, including the 1999
film, emphasize its erotic, savage undertones.
Structure of the Play
Showing his usual dexterity in creating coherent dramatic frameworks,
Shakespeare here interweaves four separate plots and four groups of characters.
Theseus, the Duke of Athens, and Hippolyta, the Queen of the Amazons and
Theseus' fiancée, are the first characters introduced. Theseus is a voice of law
and reason in the play, as shown by Egeus' entrance into the drama: Egeus
needs Theseus to adjudicate a dispute he is having with his daughter, Hermia.
The second plot features Hermia and her three friends, Helena, Demetrius, and
Lysander. These young lovers stand on the boundaries of the law; like many
adolescents, Lysander and Hermia rebel against authority, in this case, by
refusing to accept Theseus' laws and, instead, planning to escape from Athenian
tyranny. Although the lovers have one foot in the conventional world of Athens,
the play forces them to confront their own irrational and erotic sides as they
move temporarily into the forest outside of Athens. By the end of the play,
though, they return to the safety of Athens, perhaps still remembering some of
the poetry and chaos of their night in the forest. This irrational, magical world is
the realm of the play's third group of characters: the fairies. Ruled by Titania
and Oberon, the enchanted inhabitants of the forest celebrate the erotic, the
poetic, and the beautiful. While this world provides an enticing sojourn for the
lovers, it is also dangerous. All of the traditional boundaries break down when
the lovers are lost in the woods. Finally, the adventures of Quince, Bottom, and
the other amateur actors compose the play's fourth plot layer.
Shakespeare dexterously weaves these four worlds together, by having
characters wandering in and out of each other's world, by creating echoes and
parallels among the different groups. For example, the themes of love and
transformation reverberate through all levels of the play, creating coherence and
complexity. Coherence is also produced by the play's emphasis on time. The
action is associated with two traditional festivals — Midsummer Eve and May
Day — both allied with magic, mayhem, and merriment. To emphasize further
the connections between the different groups, many modern directors of the
play cast the same actor for the roles of Theseus and Oberon, and for those of
Hippolyta and Titania.
Dramatis Personae :
•Theseus, Duke of Athens
•Egeus, father of Hermia
•Lysander, in love with Hermia
•Demetrius, in love with Hermia
•Philosrate, Master of the Revels
•Quince, a carpenter
•Snug, a joiner
•Bottom, a weaver
•Flute, a bellows-mender
•Snout, a tinker
•Starveling, a tailor
•Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons; betrothed of Theseus
•Hermia, in love with Lysander
•Helena, in love with Demetrius
•Oberon, King of Fairies
•Titania, Queen of Fairies
•Puck, or Robin Goodfellow
•Peaseblossom, a fairy
•Cobway, a fairy
•Moth, a fairy
•Mustardseed, a fairy
•Other Fairies, attendants to Oberon and Titania
•Attendants to Theseus and Hippolyta
Themes
While the play rejoices in the magical power of love to transform our lives, it
also reminds us of love's excesses and foolishness. More ominously, it tells of
the violence often perpetrated in the name of lust: Mythological references to
the tales of Philomela and Perogina, for example, remind us that desire results
not only in happy, consensual union, but also in rape. In addition to love's
combat with violence, the play shows passion's conflict with reason. For
example, Egeus' rigid, patriarchal view of the world clashes with his daughter's
notion of love and freedom. Another important theme is the duality between
fantasy and reality. Indeed, the play highlights the imagination and its
inventions: dreams, illusions, and poetry.
One of the central quotes in the play is Theseus' statement that lovers, madmen,
and poets share the same propensity to fantasize (V.1, 7-8). Shakespeare is
concerned with the relationship between imagination and reality and with the
way our emotions alter our perceptions. Early in the play, for example, Egeus
accuses Lysander of bewitching Hermia with love charms and intriguing songs
(I.1, 27-32), but the perceptive reader knows this is simply Egeus creating a
fantastic excuse to justify his cruel treatment of his daughter. Similarly, Helena
recognizes love's blindness and fickleness when she argues that strong emotions
such as love can make the vile beautiful (I.1, 232-236) — our perceptions are
too often skewed by capricious emotion.
Besides weaving together various themes, the play is also intriguing as a
spectacle of dance, music, and costume. Numerous critics have noted the
important role of dance in this drama, suggesting that the rhythm of the play's
poetry and the movement of the characters in and out of scenes have an
underlying dance rhythm.
The Elizabethan Theater
Attending the theater in Shakespeare's time was quite unlike attending a
professional performance today. First, the theaters were of two distinct kinds:
public and private. The government closely regulated both, but particularly the
public theaters. Public theaters such as the one in which Shakespeare made his
livelihood were fairly large open-air structures, able to hold about 3,000 people.
In order to compete with rival theaters, as well as the popular pastimes of
bullbaiting and bearbaiting, acting troupes changed their show bills often,
generally daily. They introduced new plays regularly, helping partially explain
why about 2,000 plays were written by more than 250 dramatists between 1590
and the closing of the theaters in 1642. Public performances generally started in
the mid-afternoon so spectators could return home by nightfall.
Because of weather, plague, Puritan opposition, and religious observances,
theaters often advertised on a day-to-day basis (unlike today when we know in
advance the dates a show will run). One of the most memorable advertising
techniques troupes employed involved running a specific flag atop the theater to
signal a performance that day (a black flag for a tragedy, a red flag for a history,
and white flag for a comedy). Scholars estimate that during the first part of the
seventeenth century, performances in public theaters took place about 214 days
(about 7 months) each year.
Although we commonly associate elaborate lighting and scenery with
producing plays, in the public playhouses of Elizabethan England, the only
lighting came from natural sources. All action took place in front of a general
three-tiered façade, eliminating the need for elaborate sets. Public theaters
varied in shape (circular, octagonal, square), yet their purpose was the same: to
surround a playing area in such a way as to accommodate a large number of
paying spectators. Most theaters had tree-roofed galleries for spectators, one
above the other, surrounding the yard. Each theater was also made up of three
distinct seating areas, each increasingly more expensive: the pit (standing room
only, used primarily by the lower classes), the public gallery (bench seats for
the middle classes), and the box seats (appropriate for the Puritan aristocracy).
The private theaters of Shakespeare's day offered a definite alternative to the
more common public playhouse. These venues were open to the public, but
special considerations made it unusual for commoners to attend. First, the
private playhouses accommodated only about 300 spectators. In addition, they
provided actual seats for patrons, helping to justify a considerably higher
admission than the public theaters. Unlike the open-air theaters, private theaters
were roofed and lit by candles, allowing for evening performances (a time when
most commoners needed to be doing chores around their own homes). During
performances, too, the private theaters would often separate the acts with
musical interludes rather than performing the entire play without any
intermissions, as they did in the public theaters.
Plot Overview
Theseus, duke of Athens, is preparing for his marriage to Hippolyta, queen of
the Amazons, with a four-day festival of pomp and entertainment. He
commissions his Master of the Revels, Philostrate, to find suitable amusements
for the occasion. Egeus, an Athenian nobleman, marches into Theseus’s court
with his daughter, Hermia, and two young men, Demetrius and Lysander. Egeus
wishes Hermia to marry Demetrius (who loves Hermia), but Hermia is in love
with Lysander and refuses to comply. Egeus asks for the full penalty of law to
fall on Hermia’s head if she flouts her father’s will. Theseus gives Hermia until
his wedding to consider her options, warning her that disobeying her father’s
wishes could result in her being sent to a convent or even executed.
Nonetheless, Hermia and Lysander plan to escape Athens the following night
and marry in the house of Lysander’s aunt, some seven leagues distant from the
city. They make their intentions known to Hermia’s friend Helena, who was
once engaged to Demetrius and still loves him even though he jilted her after
meeting Hermia. Hoping to regain his love, Helena tells Demetrius of the
elopement that Hermia and Lysander have planned. At the appointed time,
Demetrius stalks into the woods after his intended bride and her lover; Helena
follows behind him.

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