A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare

PRIMARY SOURCE: Midsummer Night's Dream (perf. 1595-6)
Context

• Publication: Q1 published by Thomas Fisher in 1600. Signatures: A-H4. Q2 published in 1619 and introduces new errors carried through the First Folio. EEBO link.
• Scholarship: Fairies are read for representations of the erotic--as arbitrary and fixative, the imagination, and the theater--as a space of dreams. The same-sex pairings can be read as a forceful heterosexual coupling that overcomes same-sex bonds.
• Why I'm reading it: The Canon, meta-theater.

Content

• Form: Five acts and an epilogue. Iambic pentameter with irregular rhyme. Meta-play: Pyramus and Thisbe.
• Genre: Comedy; performed by the Chamberlain's Men.
• Plot: Theseus is to marry Hippolyta: Hermia is to marry Demetrius or be placed in a nunnery, or die. Lysander and Hermia escape Athens into the forest, to be wed at the home of his aunt. Helena tells Demetrius, to win his approval. Demetrius pursues Hermia, Helena pursues Demetrius. The actors rehearse a play for the wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta. Titania refuses to give Oberon a changeling boy for a page, so Oberon orders Puck to charm her with a charming juice. Oberon also pities Helena, so he orders the same for Demetrius. Puck charms Lysander, instead, who falls for Helena. Thanks to Puck, Titania falls for Bottom, dressed in the head of an ass. Oberon enjoys this, but notices Puck wrongly charmed Lysander. Puck corrects this by also dosing Demetrius. Helena disbelieves both men, and both men abuse Hermia. Oberon orders Puck to lead the men in circles, to the point of exhaustion, when Puck removes the charm from Lysander and Titania. Oberon wins the page from Titania. All on the same day, Hermia will marry Lysander; Helena, Demetrius; Theseus, Hippolyta. Bottom returns from the forest to the wedding just in time to star in Pyramus and Thisbe, which is comically bad.
• Other notes:
• Notable characters: Hermia, who loves Lysander; Lysander, who loves Hermia but is charmed into pursuing Helena; Helena, who loves Demetrius; Demetrius, who loves Hermia but is charmed into pursuing Helena; Oberon, the Fairy King; Titania, the Fairy Queen charmed into loving Bottom; Bottom, a weaver and actor; Puck, Oberon's page; Theseus, duke of Athens.

(NB: Written with anthology notes.)Shakespeare, William, Stephen J. Greenblatt, and Andrew Gurr. The Norton Shakespeare. New York: W. W. Norton, 1997. Print.

DEEP: Database of Early English Playbooks. Ed. Alan B. Farmer and Zachary Lesser. Created 2007. Accessed18 January 2013. <http://deep.sas.upenn.edu>.