A Midsummer Night's Dream

Characters

Theseus

Hippolyta

Egeus

Hermia

Lysander

Demetrius

Helena

Oberon

Titania

Robin Goodfellow

Nick Bottom

🧐 Peter Quince

Peter quince is A carpenter who has the idea to put on the play for Theseua and Hippolyta's marriage. He is the director of the messy play and reads out the prologue during the play.

🦁 Snug

Snug is a joiner to the play, who is hired by Peter Quince to play the lion. He is worried that his roaring will frighten the ladies so he roars softly and makes sure to show his actual face.

🧱 Tom Snout

Tom snout is a tinker. Originally he is set to play Pyramus's father in the craftsmen's play but he end's up playing the wall that devides the two lovers.

Robin Starveling

👧🏻 Francis Flute

Francis Flute is a bellows-mender chosen to play Thisbe. At first, he disagrees as he is a man and the role is a woman saying he has a beard coming in. Eventually he agrees but when he says lines, he says them in a high squeaky voice

📜 Philostrate

Philostrate is the party planner and organizer for Theseus and Hippolyta's wedding. He warns against watching the craftsmen play, as it sucks.

🌼 Peasblossom

A willing, nice servant to Titania. They aid Bottom in many ways, including scratching his head.

🌻 Mustardseed

A willing, nice servant to Titania. They aid Bottom in many ways, including helping Peasblossom in scratching his head.

🕸️ Cobweb

A willing, nice servant to Titania. They aid Bottom in many ways, including getting him fresh honey by killing a bumblebee.

🦋Moth

A willing, nice servant to Titania. They aid Bottom in many ways, but none are specified in the play.

⚒️ The craftsmen 🧰

Setting

Athens

Four scenes take place in the ancient city of Athens. The first is the very first scene. The second is when the craftsmen starts planning their play. The third is the very last scene. This is the setting where the characters start and end because it is their home. The city of Athens represents law and order as the Athens were civilized.

Theseus's palace
Act 1. Scene 1, Act 5. Scene 5

The first scene takes place in the palace of Theseus who is discussing his marriage with Hippolyta. It is also where Egeus comes in to ask a judgement on her daughter, Hermia, Lysander, and Demetrius. Finally, it is where Lysander and Hermia decide to run away together. On their way out they run into Helena and tell her about their plan. The final scene also takes place in the palace of Theseus, except this time it's after the wedding. They have time to spare before bed and therefore decide to watch the play that the craftsmen put on. This is where they perform the play.

Town square
Act 1. Scene 2

The scene where the craftsmen meet to begin discussing their play takes place in an open town square somewhere in Athens. This is where Peter Quince hands out the roles of the play. This is also where Bottom makes a fool of himself insisting that he could play every single character.

Quince's House
Act 4. Scene 2

This minor scene takes very little time. The scene takes place in Quince's house in Athens. The craftsmen are sulking after the disapearence of Bottom, Their leading man. They believe they can't do the play without him but just before they give up he shows up, ready to take center stage.

Forest outside of Athens

The majority of the play takes place in this forest outside of Athens. The play isn't specific of where in the forest and therefore can be confusing. From Act 2 to the end of Act 4 the play takes place in these forests. There are many things that make up this forest and many works at play. The forest outside of Athens represents chaos and anarchy as the fairies reign and they were mischievious.

Forest
Act 2

In act 2 we are introduced to the fairies that inhabit this forest and their king and queen, Titania and Oberon. The two royalties are arguing over who should keep a little Indian boy. To manipulate Titania, Oberon sends his servant, Puck, to find a love flower. He does so and while on task Oberon observes Helena chasing Demetrius through the forest, who wants nothing to do with her, and decides to send Puck to interfere with them. In another part of the forest, Titania lays down for a rest and Oberon puts the potion on her eyes. Close by in the forest Lysander and Hermia lay down for a nap. Puck sees them and confuses them with Demetrius and Helena, so he puts the love potion on Lysanders' eyes. Coincidently Demetrius and Helena show up at this time and Lysander wakes up to see Helena, falling in love with her. Hermia wakes up alone and goes off to find Lysander.

Forest
Act 3

In act 3 the craftsmen start rehearsing their play in the forest. Puck comes across them and decides to give Bottom an Ass's head. All the craftsmen run away when they see Bottom so he starts to sing. His singing awakes Titania who sees him, falls in love and gives him anything he wants with help from her servants. In another part of the forest, Puck tells Oberon that Titania has fallen in love with an Ass and the Athens is solved too. Oberon tells that he gave the potion to the wrong Athens and when he tries to fix it He makes Demetrius fall in love with Helena too. Helena believes that Demetrius and Lysander are pulling a trick on her. Hermia enters and believes that all three of them are tricking her. The four of them start to argue then the boys set off to settle everything in a duel. Puck takes this opportunity to straighten things out by leading everyone astray to the point where they fall asleep. He then gives the antidote to Lysander.

Forest
Act 4. Scene 1

In the beginning of act 4 Titania and Bottom hangout together before they both take a nap. Oberon comes in to undo the spell but not before he gets the changeling boy back. Puck also turns Bottom's head back to normal. The next morning Theseus and his entourage find the four teens all sleeping close together. He awakens them to find that Demetrius now loves Helena and Lysander still loves Hermia. He invites them back to his palace to be wedded with him and Hippolyta.

Ancient Athens

The time period that A Midsummer Night's Dream takes place is Athens in Antiquity. The exact date is June 23rd to 24th as that is the date Midsummer is celebrated in England.

Conflicts

Puck with the potion

Puck is the most mischievous of fairies and the right-hand man of Oberon. He is first ordered to find the love flower by Oberon and that leads to many of the problems in the play. Puck messes up by giving the wrong Athen the potion, giving it to Lysander and not Demetrius. That leads to the many confusion between the teens. Especially when he tries to fix it by giving Demetrius the love potion but that just results in the two of them loving Helena. He also changes the head of Nick Bottom to a donkey's head. Because of this Nick misses the practice of the play with the craftsmen which leads to the ridiculous play at the end. Puck is untrollable and it leads to many problems.

Helena

Helena is Hermia's best friend who is in love with Demetrius. She is being driven crazy from love and heartache. This leads to her conflicting in many ways. First off she reveals the plan of Lysander and Hermia to Demetrius almost immediately after hearing it. She then also follows Demetrius into the forest which leads to Puck mixing up all the Athens. She also interferes with Hermia several times which makes you question whether or not they are indeed friends adding to a conflict in the reader.

Titania and Oberon

Titania and Oberon are the King and Queen of fairies who don't have the best of relationships. They are constantly arguing, bickering, or at each other's throats. When we are introduced to them they are arguing about who gets the changeling, a little innocent Indian boy. Oberon wants the changeling as a slave but Titania wants to raise it properly as she was friends with the boy's deceased mother. In order to blackmail Titania and get the changeling, Oberon assigns Puck to get the love flower. This then results in the confusion that follows in the remainder of the play.

Egeus

Egeus is Hermia's father who won't allow Lysander and Hermia together. He believes that Hermia should marry Demetrius and is angry when she wants to marry Lysander. He believes that Lysander bewitched Hermia. He is the main conflict that kicks off the plot. Since he is in a fix he takes it up with the duke of Athens, Theseus, who says that Hermia has three options; Listen to her dad, be killed, or become a nun. And so Hermia runs away with Lysander.

Lysander and Demetrius

Lysander and Demetrius are the two "men". Lysander loves Hermia and so does Demetrius, but Helena loves Demetrius. Demetrius liked Helena at some point but now says against it. In the confusion of the love potions, the two teens both fall in love with Helena. Since this is unusual, Helena suspects they are tricking her even believing that Hermia's in on it, causing absolute chaos. Eventually, Lysander and Demetrius decide to settle it in a duel that never happens because Puck finally fixes things. The two teens cause a lot of teen drama that can be easily overlooked.

Themes

The role of dreams

The role of dreams is very important in this play. Many of these characters have dreams. Helena wants Demetrius, Demetrius wants Hermia, Hermia and Lysander want each other, Oberon wants the changeling, Bottom wants to do all the roles in the play, the list goes on. Dream is even in the title "A Midsummer Nights Dream". This could indicate that the whole play is, in fact, a mere dream, as there's no such thing as fairies. Puck eevn comes in at the end to acknowledge that. Dreams can even relate to the real-life as most people have dreams that may seem like a fantasy. Dreams are evrywhere.

Love leading to madness

Love leading to madness is the most prevalent of themes in this play. The character you see this in the most is Helena. She is a regular human Athen girl who is driven to insanity afer her hearts been broken. She is deeply in love with Demetrius but Demetrius wants nothing to do with her. At a point, Demetrius felt the same way and it must have given her joy only for him to deny it and rip away all that joy. She is insane to the point that she tells the secret of her best friend to the one person who shouldn't know it. She even chases after Demetrius spouting that shes a dog being abused. Love has indeed lead her and many others to madness.

The use of humour

The use of humour is more to categorize the play. This play is a comedy of errors. This means that one mistake leads to another which leads to another, very butterfly effect-esque. In this case, the events that happen are comedic. Humour also uses this to move along the plot. Many things happen to get the final result at the end of the play. Many storylines get intertwined but it all works out. Another way the play uses humour is to cleanse the mood. There are many scenes placed throughout that are comedic. These scenes usually involve the craftsmen and are after a more serious scene that is more important to the plot. A big example is the ending play that has practically no relation to the plot the preceeded it. It helps with cleaning out all the confusing plot and leaving us with a laugh.

The use of magic

The use of magic tips this play to the more fantasy aspect and makes it stand out. Any play could tell a story of a love triangle but add some magic elements it becomes more then any play. The fantasy isn't just there, it's also deeply involved in the plot. It is because of the magic potion that confusion arise's. The use of magic also makes you question whether or not it's actually a dream and relates to the role of dreams.