A Midsummer Night’s Dream, written by William Shakespeare, is a comedic play which opens with the planning of Theseus, the Duke of Athens, and Hippolyta, the Queen of Amazon’s wedding, which is to take place in four days. Egeus brings his daughter Hermia to the preparations, and desires for her to marry one of her suitors, Demetrius. However, Hermia is in love with her other suitor, Lysander. Yet if she does not obey her father’s orders to marry Demetrius then she will face a consequence. So Hermia and Lysander decide to elope that same night and run away. They share these rebellious plans with their friend, Helena, who is secretly in love with Demetrius. In an attempt to win over Demetrius, Helena betrays Hermia’s trust and tells Demetrius of Hermia’s plans. On that same night, all four of them went into the forest. While this is happening a group of Athenian tradesmen/actors, led by Quince, are rehearsing a play that they hope to perform at Theseus’ wedding. Bottom, one of the lead actors, is very arrogant and frustrates Quince as he wants to play all the roles in the play that they will be performing for the duke.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the forest, Oberon, and Titania, the fairy king and queen are fighting over the page-boy that Titania refuses to give up. Oberon sends his servant Puck to retrieve a love plant from the forest, that when squeezed into someone’s eyes causes them to be madly in love with the first person they see. Obeying Oberon’s orders, Puck (the trickster) turns Bottom into a Donkey uses the love plant to make Titania fall madly in love with the donkey. Puck then mistakes Lysander for Demetrius and causes confusions which results in both men falling in love with the wrong woman.
Eventually, Oberon lifts the love enchantments and puts all the humans to sleep. Titania soon reconciles with Oberon, as she discovers that the love plant made her fall in love with a donkey. When the humans awaken, they assume that it was all a dream and everyone reconciles with the people they actually love. Demetrius admits his love to Helena and the wedding originally meant for only Theseus and Hippolyta turns into a triple wedding as the human couples marry their loves. Then Quince, Bottom, and his men perform their amateur play titled, The Tragedy of Pyramus and Thisbe. When everything is said and done, Oberon, Titania, and the fairies perform a blessing and Puck asks the audience to applaud if they enjoyed the play. THE END. |
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