A note on using this summary:
It’s always better, if you can, to first experience the play through the text – by reading it, speaking it, performing it. It’s also wonderful, if you can, to see a live performance of “Dream,” which is one of Shakespeare’s most popular comedies.
This summary is designed as a roadmap for times when you get a bit lost in the story, or need a review. We’ve written the summary as a running description of the imagined stage action, rather than as a story version of the play.
There are some very good illustrated story versions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream; it has inspired many retellings over the years. But our emphasis here is on Shakespeare’s original art – live performance on a stage. So in our summary we keep the details fairly simple, and speak of characters entering and exiting, as upon the Globe stage.
The first characters we meet are Duke Theseus of Athens and Hippolyta, the Amazon queen.
As the play begins, Theseus and Hippolyta enter, talking of their upcoming wedding, which will occur on the evening of the next new moon – in four days. It’s a peaceful, lyrical beginning, and introduces the image of the moon, which will prove so important throughout the play.
The Duke is impatient for the fun of the wedding. Hippolyta reassures him that the time will go by quickly. Theseus instructs Philostrate, his Master of the Revels (or party planner!), to “stir up the Athenian youth to merriments” – that is, to organize some fun parties to pass the time before the big wedding day.
Then, a sudden interruption: In barges Egeus, an important citizen of Athens, dragging with him Hermia, his daughter, and two young men, Lysander and Demetrius.
Egeus greets the Duke, who asks what’s going on. Egeus, “full of vexation,” complains that his daughter is refusing to marry the man he has chosen for her. He accuses Lysander of stealing his daughter’s heart with love letters and gifts and songs sung under her window, and asks for “the ancient privilege of Athens” – the power to choose whom his daughter will marry.
According to the old law – if the Duke choose to enforce it – Hermia has two options: marry Demetrius, or… face death!
The Duke subtly slips in another alternative, which is to become a nun and never see a man again. Hermia doesn’t jump for that option.
Hermia boldly stands up for the love she and Lysander share, and tells the Duke she can never love Demetrius. The Duke responds that he cannot go against the old law. But realizing that he is dealing with a strong-willed young woman, Theseus asks her to “take time to pause” and gives her until his wedding day to make her decision.
Demetrius speaks up and asks Hermia to give in to his love; then he turns to Lysander and tells him to back off. Lysander fires back with the first real joke of the play, a sarcastic comment that says, in effect, “Hey Demetrius – Egeus likes you so much, why don’t you let me keep Hermia and you can marry the old man!” Egeus, needless to say, does not think that is funny.
Lysander then passionately speaks up for his rights before the Duke and argues that he is equal to Demetrius, with one vital difference: Hermia loves him. Then, to demonstrate how unworthy his rival is, Lysander reminds everyone that Demetrius once doted on Helena before he began his pursuit of Hermia. Demetrius is silent, and, we can assume, embarrassed to have this mentioned before Egeus and the Duke.
The Duke says he’d heard about Demetrius’s inconstancy, and had meant to talk to Demetrius about it, but had been too preoccupied with his upcoming wedding. Then he tells Egeus and Demetrius to come with him for a talk (perhaps as a way of giving the young lovers a chance to talk in private?). So Theseus and Hippolyta leave with those two, leaving Hermia and Lysander alone.
Hermia is devastated and on the verge of tears – what will she do? Lysander comforts her with stories of how “true love” is always difficult. Then he has a big, daring idea: “Let’s run away!” He proposes that they elope and get married. Hermia agrees, and they plan to meet in the woods the next night.
Just then Helena wanders in, still moping over Demetrius’s rejection. Hermia explains that she’s pushed Demetrius away, but he won’t leave her alone; then she breaks the news of their plan to her best friend. The girls hug and say goodbye, and Hermia and Lysander run off to get ready for their escape the next night.
Helena, left alone, complains about how some people can be happier than others, and comments on the blindness of love, as captured in the image of blindfolded Cupid, the god of love. She feels sorry for herself, and seems to hint that perhaps Hermia did give Demetrius enough of a response to encourage him.
Then she too has a big, daring idea: She will go tell Demetrius of Hermia’s plan. She knows he’ll want to follow her, and perhaps Helena will get a bit of attention as a reward for her information. She’s so desperate she’ll spill the secrets of her best friend!
So, the next night, Hermia and Lysander will be running off into the woods… followed in secret by Demetrius… who will be followed in secret, no doubt, by… Helena!
Scene Two (Act 1, scene 2) The scene shifts suddenly to from the Duke’s palace to the working-class section of Athens. We meet a group of craftsmen, who are now off work. They are meeting to rehearse their own little play for the Duke’s wedding. There is a contest in Athens for the honor (and prize money) of being selected as the top entertinment for the Duke’s wedding celebration.
The director is Peter Quince, a carpenter. He has the play – “The most lamentable comedy and most cruel death of Pyramus and Thisbe.”
“Pyramus and Thisbe” is a Romeo and Juliet story about two young lovers separated by their families, who build a wall between their houses. In the story, the lovers find a hole in the wall and whisper plans to meet at midnight. Thisbe, the girl, gets to the meeting place first, but is scared off by a lion, who chews on her scarf. Pyramus, the boy, comes late, and finds the bloody scarf, and thinks Thisbe has been killed by the lion, and, feeling overwhelmed with grief, stabs himself in the heart. Thisbe comes back, finds Pyramus dead, and takes his sword and does the same. It’s a sad story, but a beautiful play about young love.
Quince enters first, or at least speaks first (it’s also possible all the others are waiting for him), asking, “Is all our company here?” The crew is just meeting, probably just after finishing work for the day. He is immediately interrupted by Nick Bottom, a weaver, who suggests that it is better to call them “generally” – he means “individually,” but makes the first of his many malapropisms, or confusions or word choice – “man by man, according to the script.”
Also present are: Snug, the joiner; Tom Snout, the tinker; Starveling, a tailor; and Francis Flute, a bellows-mender, and the youngest member of the company.
Quince holds up a scroll of “every man’s name thought fit, through all Athens, to play in our interlude before the Duke and Duchess, on his wedding-day at night.” There is a competition in Athens to create the best entertainment for the Duke’s wedding reception, and these fellows hope to be chosen.
Quince introduces the name of the play, “The most lamentable comedy and most cruel death of Pyramus and Thisbe,” which Bottom comments on as if he knows it, though in a few moments he seems to not know anything about the characters. Then Quince begins assigning the roles. Bottom is eager to take on a great dramatic role, and does a bit of a melodramatic speech to show off his skill.
Then, as Quince hands out the other parts, Bottom interjects to volunteer to take on those also. The first is Thisbe, Pyramus’s lover, a role assigned to young Francis Flute, who complains, “Faith, let me not play a woman – I have a beard coming!” (There is this law in England at this time, you see, that women cannot perform on the stage – so everyone accepts that women are played by teenage boys, before they grow beards…) Bottom claims he can play both Pyramus and Thisbe, changing his voice between parts.
Next, he wants the Lion’s part, given to Snug, and demonstrates what a great job he could do with the roaring. When Quince wryly comments that overdoing it might frighten the ladies, Bottom quickly adjusts, saying he could “aggravate” his voice (another word confusion) to make it as gentle as a dove.
At this point, Quince loses patience and exclaims, “You can play no part but Pyramus!” Bottom has no response, but we can guess that he is a bit miffed, because the rest of Quince’s lines are more complimentary, as if he realized he might lose Bottom and thus sink the play.
In the end, everyone is given “parts” – their lines only, written out – and asked to learn them quickly, by tomorrow night, and to meet in the woods at midnight. Quince doesn’t want any of the other groups stealing their “devices,” or ideas. They part, with Bottom’s demand ringing in their ears: “Take pains, be perfect!”
Titania’s fairies appear for the first time. They enter to do their nightly work for Titania, sprinkling dewdrops and hanging them in the “ears” of flowers.
Suddenly, Puck, also appearing for the first time, encounters them and asks what they are up to – “How now, spirit, whither wander you?”
Titania’s fairies tell him how they’ve been “over hill, over dale” doing their nightly ritual for the Fairy Queen. Then they tell Puck that Titania is on the way and that they must return to her.
Puck quickly responds that they should beware – Oberon is nearby, and is angry, because Titania won’t hand over the lovely human “changeling boy.” (In English folklore, a changeling boy was a child raised by fairies – sort of like the old stories of kids being raised by wolves). Oberon wants the boy to be “knight of his train,” but Titania “withholds the loved boy, crowns him with flowers and makes him all her joy.” So the royal couple fights every time they meet, and they make such a racket that the fairies all jump into acorn cups and hide.
The fairies respond by saying, in effect, “Say, you look like that Robin Goodfellow we’ve heard so much about – are you the prankster himself?” Puck says he is, and tells a bit about what he loves to do to amuse Oberon. Puck is in the middle of cataloguing his favorite pranks when Oberon and Titania appear, each with their train (more fairies, if you have extra performers – or they can come in alone). The fairies zoom to huddle behind their respective masters.
Oberon icily demands the boy from Titania again, and Titania refuses, telling the story of the boy’s mother, who was a “votress” of her order – devoted to Titania – and a friend. The boy’s mother died, perhaps in childbirth, it’s not clear, and Titania is raising the boy “for her sake,” and will not give him up. The argument ends in a stalemate, and Titania sweeps off with her fairies.
Oberon vows to get her back for “this injury,” and comes up with a plan to squeeze love juice from a magic flower on Titania’s eyes, so that when she awakes, she will fall in love with “the next live creature” she sees. While she is distracted, he will take the boy.
He sends Puck to find the flower. Oberon then overhears humans approaching. Invisible, he witnesses Helena chasing Demetrius, who spurns her. Demetrius is looking for Hermia, because Helena told him about her running away. Helena hopes Demetrius will change his mind and fall back in love with her, but he doesn’t, and runs away to avoid her.
Feeling sorry for the human girl, Oberon decides to help her turn the tables on Demetrius. When Puck returns with the flower, Oberon takes it, but gives Puck “some of it” back, and instructs his servant to find an Athenian couple in the woods and put some of the juice on the “disdainful youth,” who was so rude to the lady, so that the man will wake up, see the lady, and fall madly in love with her!
Oberon and Puck then split up to do their “love juice” missions!
Of course, Puck doesn’t know that there is another Athenian couple in the woods at that very moment – Hermia and Lysander….!
Just then, who should come crashing through the woods but….
Lysander and Hermia!
They are lost, and exhausted. They lay down to go to sleep.
THEN, here comes Puck, zooming through the woods. He’s looking for those young Athenians. He sees two young Athenians – Lysander and Hermia – and thinks… “This must be them! This must be the guy I’m supposed to hit with love juice!”
The only problem is… it’s the wrong guy! It’s Lysander, not Demetrius!
So, Puck puts the juice on Lysander’s eyes, and zooms off.
THEN….
Demetrius and Helena are back! She’s still chasing him, he’s still being mean. Finally he runs off again. Then Helena suddenly sees Lysander on the ground. She runs to him and… wakes him up! (Uh-oh….)
And he falls madly in love with… Helena!
Helena is shocked, of course. “What about Hermia?” she asks. Lysander suddenly HATES Hermia. Helena can’t believe it. Then she thinks: “This must all be a mean practical joke. He’s doing this as a cruel joke.” She tells him off and runs away.
Lysander is relieved that Helena never saw Hermia. He runs off after Helena, leaving her asleep and alone in the woods.
Hermia suddenly wakes up – she’s having a nightmare that a snake is attacking her while Lysander just sits by and laughs. Then she realizes… Lysander is gone! She’s terrified and runs off calling his name in the darkness.
While they are working on the play, who should zoom along but…. Puck! He notices Bottom being really loud and dramatic in his performance as Pyramus, and decides to have some fun with these silly “mortals.” When Nick Bottom goes behind a tree for his next entrance, Puck goes… POOF and changes Nick’s head into a donkey’s head!
When Bottom makes his re-appearance, his friends are… terrified! They run through the woods screaming as Puck pursues them, scaring them just for fun.
Now… Bottom has a donkey’s head… and he feels just the same inside! He can’t figure out why everyone ran away. So, he figures… “This must be a joke they’re pulling on me!” He decides to sing loudly to show he is not afraid. Well, his singing is loud enough to wake up…Titania!
Remember – she has the love juice on her eyes, from Oberon. So she wakes up, sees this singing man with a donkey’s head and… falls madly in love!
Titania orders her fairies to bring Bottom to her little nest, so they can rest and have some snacks together. He has no idea what is happening, but it all seems fine to him, so he goes along with Titania to her fairy world.
It begins with Puck finding Oberon, and telling him what he’s been up to – he tells about putting the love juice on the Athenian, and about Titania falling in love with the “ass-head” craftsman.
Suddenly, through the woods come…
Demetrius… chasing Hermia this time! He’s found her, but she is looking for Lysander. She accuses Demetrius of doing something bad to him. He pleads with Hermia, asking for love, saying he has not even seen Lysander that night. Hermia runs off disgusted, looking for her boyfriend.
Demetrius, exhausted by now, collapses for rest.
Oberon turns to Puck and says, in effect… “This is the guy you were supposed to put the juice on! You messed up!” Puck says, in so many words, “Sorry, sorry! Hey, you said to put the juice on a guy wearing Athenian clothes, and this guy is wearing Athenian clothes…!”
Oberon tells him to fix things by finding Helena and leading her magically to this spot in the woods. Oberon will put the juice on Demetrius’s eyes while he sleeps, and then they’ll get those two back together. So Puck zooms off while Oberon juices Demetrius’s eyes.
Puck returns, saying Helena is on the way. And here Helena comes… with Lysander chasing her, in love! Ooops! Wrong guy. Then…
Demetrius wakes up… and boom, he is madly in love with his old girlfriend! Now both guys are now in love with Helena.
Helena is so confused, even though it’s kind of fun to finally be the one that both guys want. She is sure this is all a mean joke, and that now Demetrius is joining in on it. Wasn’t he mean to her just a few hours before? Meanwhile, the boys are about to fight over her.
Then, suddenly, in runs….Hermia! She has found Lysander, and she’s so happy. She runs up to him. He is as cold as ice. What’s going on? Hermia is confused. Then Lysander says he loves Helena now.
Hermia is shocked – then she thinks that maybe Helena stole her boyfriend! So then Helena thinks that Hermia must be in on the joke! So now, the girls are fighting instead of the boys! Hermia ends up charging at Helena, with the boys playing “blockers” and protecting Helena from her best friend.
Finally, the boys run off to fight each other for Helena’s love. Helena runs away from an angry and confused Hermia, who stumbles off by herself.
Oberon and Puck have been watching all this, and Oberon decides it’s time to let the lovers go back to normal – dawn is coming soon. So he tells Puck to wear them all out without letting them hurt each other, and then to “un-juice” Lysander so he’s back in love with Hermia. They decide to leave the juice on Demetrius so each girl will have a boy, and everything will be even.
So Puck does this, in his own inimitable fashion, and everyone sleeps in the woods until sunrise….
Oberon arrives with Puck and takes the juice off of Titania’s eyes. She wakes up, back to normal. She’s horrified that she was in love with the ass-head man! Oberon tells Puck to take the donkey’s head off of the “Athenian swain.” So Bottom is left asleep, while the fairies zoom off before sunrise….
Now, it’s morning, as the scene continues….
It’s the wedding morning of Duke Theseus and Hippolyta. They are out hunting with Egeus… remember him, Hermia’s dad? Suddenly they come across four young people sleeping on the ground! It’s Hermia, Helena, Lysander and Demetrius.
The Duke wakes them up, and confronts them about Hermia’s choice. Suddenly Demetrius tells everyone that he is back in love with Helena, and happy now – my that his love to Hermia is melted like snow.
The Duke is pleased, though Egeus is not! The Duke invites the two couples to join him that evening and make it a triple wedding! So the young people follow him – but first, they talk about the strange dreams they had the night before…
Then… there is one sleeping person left. Nick Bottom!
Bottom wakes up, still thinking he’s at the midnight rehearsal. He looks around. Where is everyone? He’s confused.
Then he remembers… Wow, I had a strange dream last night!
He calls it a “most rare vision” and speaks about how impossible it is to “explain” this dream. “It shall be called ‘Bottom’s Dream,’ because it hath no bottom,” he concludes. He decides to ask Peter Quince to make a ballad of the dream. He runs off to find his friends back in Athens.
Scene Nine (Act 5, scene 1) This is the final scene of the play.
It begins with Theseus and Hippolyta discussing the strange dreams the four young people keep talking about. Hippolyta thinks there is something mysterious about how all the dreams tell similar stories, but Theseus thinks they are just from the imagination of young lovers.
Then, in come the “young lovers,” and Theseus decides it’s time for some entertainment. He asks for Philostrate, his “master of revels (entertainment),” and asks for the list of possible plays to see that night. Philostrate tells him NOT to pick the craftsmen, because he thinks they’re terrible! But Theseus thinks they sound like guys trying their best, and chooses “Pyramus and Thisbe” for their entertainment.
Then, the performance begins! Quince comes out, nervous, and scrambles up his prepared introduction speech. Then the performers do a little “preview” of the whole story. Then they act it out. Everyone has fun.
Then… it’s time to go to sleep.
Everyone says goodnight. And at the end… the fairies emerge to bless the newly married couples.
And finally, at the end… we have Puck, sweeping the place, and saying goodbye to the audience.
The end!
