The famous playwright William Shakespeare has skillfully presented that how human nature is the fusion of various qualities and how different characters reflect or exhibit variety of emotions like jealousy, hatred, sympathy, love, in the world of humans as well as faeries in this play 'A Midsummer-Night's Dream'.
Theme of the play:
The dominant theme of 'A Midsummer-Night's Dream' is love. In this play, Shakespeare shows how personality is more important than appearance. Generally people fall in love with those who appear beautiful to them. But real love is much more than mere physical attraction.
Summary of the play:
The love story described in 'A Midsummer-Night's Dream' is about two couples Demetrius and Helena, Lysander and Hermia.
Egeus, the father of Hermia, comes to Duke of Athens, Theseus with Hermia, Lysander and Demetrius to complain that his daughter Hermia disobeys him as she refuses to marry Demetrius because she loves Lysander. The Duke Theseus tells Hermia to obey her father otherwise she will have to choose one of the three alternatives to marry Demetrius or become a nun or to suffer a death sentence. The Duke Theseus gives Hermia time to think.
Meanwhile Lysander and Hermia decide to run away to the house of Lysander's aunt in the wood and get married.
Demetrius who was in love of Helena, has rejected Helena's love, and now interested in Hermia. Helena and Hermia are childhood friends.
Hermia, to comfort her friend Helena tells Helena her secret plan of elopement with Lysander. Helena reveals this secret plan of elopement between Lysander and Hermia to Demetrius, her lover. Consequently, Demetrius decides to follow Hermia and Helena decides to follow Demetrius.
Helena following Demetrius in the wood to express her love for him. After seeing cold behavior of Demetrius towards Helena, Oberon, the king of fairies wants to develop the feelings of love in the heart of Demetrius for Helena. Oberon makes a plan with Puck and orders him to bring love potion to apply on the eyelids of Demetrius so that he will fall in love with Helena as soon as he sees her when he wakes up.
At the same time the eloping couple of Lysander and Hermia arrives there in the wood. Being tired, Lysander and Hermia decide to rest and fall asleep in the same wood. Puck, mistakenly, applies the love potion on the eyelids of Lysander in the wood. As soon as Lysander opens his eyes and sees Helena, who has come there following Demetrius in the wood, Lysander falls in love with Helena. Helena is confused by Lysander's loving words since she knows Lysander wants to marry Hermia. Helena thinks he is making fun of her. So she avoids his false expressions of love for her. Helena runs away from him but Lysander tries to follow her leaving his beloved Hermia sleeping on the ground in the wood. When Hermia wakes up and wonders Lysander is not there. Hermia goes out in search of her love.
When Oberon and Puck talk with each other, just then Hermia and Demetrius come by, and Oberon tells Puck that this is the man he meant. Puck agrees it is the woman he previously saw, but that is not the man that he put the potion on to. Hermia excuses Demetrius of killing her love, Lysander. Demetrius tells her that he has no idea where Lysander is nor does he care, so Hermia leaves. Demetrius decides he has grown tired, so he goes to sleep. Oberon then scolds Puck for putting the potion on the eyes of the wrong man. Oberon wants to fix the situation, so asks Puck to go find the woman, Helena, whom this man is supposed to love. Oberon then puts the potion on Demetrius eyes and Puck bring Helena to him. Lysander follows to soon after trying to pursue Helena. Demetrius then wakes up and falls in love with Helena, so that both men are telling her how much they love her. After having no one love her earlier in the play, Helena is outraged by his unexplainable change in their feelings. Then the men try yo convince each other to go back to Hermia, whom they both wanted to marry in act 1. Hermia comes to find Lysander saying that he wants nothing to do with her because he loves Helena. Incredibly hurt, Hermia does not understand why her love no longer wants to marry her even more confused by his insults as to small stature. The men decide they should fight to see who deserves Helena and they leave. When Hermia is along with Helena, she tries to seek answers from her friend, but Helena trusts no one any longer and leaves her.
Oberon and puck witness this debacle, and Oberon knows they need to set things right. He decides to cause a fog to come so that the four Athenians will lose track of each other. Then he will, once again, make them fall asleep and put the potion on Lysander's eyes, so that he falls back in love with Hermia. When they wake up, it will all seem like a crazy dream. In the meantime, he will steal the young boy away from Titania and then remove the charm from her eyes so that she no longer loves Bottom with the donkey head. Puck imitates the Athenians voices to lead them in various directions then has them all fall asleep closed by one another. Finally, he puts the potion on Lysander's eyes and leaves.
This act takes in the palace of Theseus. The three couples are married and are celebrating by feasting and being entertained. Philostrate brings in a piece of paper with a list of possible performances that they could watch. Theseus reads the list to the couples to choose which one sounds the most interesting. action.
Theseus
The Duke of Athens, engaged to Hippolyta. Theseus symbolizes power and order throughout the play. He appears only at the beginning and end of the story,
Hippolyta
The legendary queen of the Amazons, engaged to Theseus. Like Theseus, she symbolizes order.
Oberon
The king of the fairies, having conflict with his wife, Titania, because she is not ready to give up the control of a young Indian prince whom he wants for a knight. Oberon’s wants to take revenge on Titania leads him to send Puck to obtain the love-potion flower that creates so much of the play’s confusion and comp
Titania
The beautiful queen of the fairies, Titania opposes the attempts of her husband, Oberon, to make a knight of the young Indian prince that she has been given. Titania’s brief, potion-induced love for Nick Bottom, whose head Puck has transformed into that of an ass, yields the play’s foremost example of the contrast motif.
Puck
Also known as Robin Goodfellow, Puck is Oberon’s jester, a mischievous fairy who delights in playing pranks on mortals. His enchanting, mischievous spirit pervades the atmosphere, and his antics are responsible for many of the complications that propel the other main plots: he mistakes the young Athenians, applying the love potion to Lysander instead of Demetrius, thereby causing chaos within the group of young lovers; he also transforms Bottom’s head into that of an ass.
Lysander
A young man of Athens, in love with Hermia. Lysander’s relationship with Hermia invokes the theme of love’s difficulty: he cannot marry her openly because Egeus, her father, wishes her to wed Demetrius; when Lysander and Hermia run away into the forest, Lysander becomes the victim of misapplied magic and wakes up in love with Helena.
Demetrius
A young man of Athens, initially in love with Hermia and ultimately in love with Helena. Demetrius’s obstinate pursuit of Hermia throws love out of balance among four Athenian youths.
Egeus
Hermia’s father, who complains against his daughter to Theseus: Egeus has given Demetrius permission to marry Hermia, but Hermia, in love with Lysander, refuses to marry Demetrius. Egeus’s severe insistence that Hermia either respect his wishes or be held accountable to Athenian law.
Hermia
Egeus’s daughter, a young woman of Athens. Hermia is in love with Lysander and is a childhood friend of Helena. As a result of the fairies’ mischief with Oberon’s love potion, both Lysander and Demetrius suddenly fall in love with Helena. Self-conscious about her short stature, Hermia suspects that Helena has wooed the men with her height. By morning, however, Puck has sorted matters out with the love potion, and Lysander’s love for Hermia is restored.
Helena
A young woman of Athens, in love with Demetrius. Demetrius and Helena were once betrothed, but when Demetrius met Helena’s friend Hermia, he fell in love with her and abandoned Helena. Lacking confidence in her looks, Helena thinks that Demetrius and Lysander are mocking her when the fairies’ mischief causes them to fall in love with her.
Nick Bottom
The overconfident weaver chosen to play Pyramus in the craftsmen’s play for Theseus’s marriage celebration. Bottom is full of advice and self-confidence but frequently makes silly mistakes and misuses language. His simultaneous nonchalance about the beautiful Titania’s sudden love for him and unawareness of the fact that Puck has transformed his head into that of an ass mark the pinnacle of his foolish arrogance.
Activites:
1. State whether the following statements are true or false.
1. Lysander and Demetrius fall in love with Helena as a result of the love potion.
Ans-True
2. Oberon transforms Bottom's head into that of an ass.
Ans-False
3. Titania falls in love with an ass.
Ans-False
4. Both Demetrius and Lysander fight for Hermia.
Ans-False
Characters-
1. Choose the odd none out:
Bottom, Moth, Mustardseed, Cobweb
Ans-Bottom is a weaver, remaining are fairies.
Flute, Snug, Quince, Cobweb
Ans-Cobweb is a fairy, others are workers.
2. Match the columns:
A B
1. Theseus 1. Robin Good fellow
2. Titania 2. Queen of the Amazons
3. Puck 3. Duke of Athens
4. Hippolyta 4. Faeries
5. Cobweb, Moth 5. Queen of the Faeries
Ans-
A B
1. Theseus 3. Duke of Athens
2. Titania 5. Queen of the Faeries
3. Puck 1. Robin Goodfellow
4. Hippolyta 2. Queen of Amazon
5. Cobweb, Moth 4. Faeries
3. Draw a character sketch of Oberon as an enemy of his wife but a friend of the lovers.
Ans-In the beginning, Oberon is angry with his wife Titania because he wants a young Indian boy a part of his court. But Titania is not ready to accept Oberon's proposal. Therefore Oberon makes a plan and sends Puck to bring love-potion so that she will fall in love with a person and will give up her ownership of the Indian boy.
On the contrary, he observes Demetrius is not ready to accept the love of Helena, he sends Puck to help them. Though Puck makes mistake, Oberon realizes and sends Puck to rectify matters.
Compiled By-
Dr. Salunkhe T. B.
