Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream is the ultimate goal of the play. A Midsummer Night's Dream (1594)

The play "Dream in summer night"Shakespeare" was written between 1594 and 1596. It is considered the most romantic of all the comedies of the writer, who used all his rich imagination when writing it. Shakespeare filled the play with amazing creatures and presented events in an unreal, fantastic light.

For reader's diary and preparing for a literature lesson, we recommend reading online a summary of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” by acts and scenes. You can test your knowledge using a test on our website.

Main characters

Theseus- Duke of Athens, a kind and fair ruler.

Lysander, Demetrius- young men, rivals in love.

Hermia- Demetrius's bride, in love with Lysander.

Elena- a girl unrequitedly in love with Demetrius.

Oberon- good king of fairies and elves.

Other characters

Aegean- Hermia's father, a powerful and cruel man.

Hippolyta- Queen of the Amazons, bride of Theseus.

Pigwa– carpenter, play organizer.

Warp- a weaver, one of the central characters in the play.

Titania- wife of Oberon, mistress of elves and fairies.

Pack- a little elf, a prankster.

Philostratus- entertainment manager.

Act I

Scene 1

Theseus is looking forward to his wedding with the Amazon queen Hippolyta, which is to take place in four days. He orders Philostratus to stir up “all the youth in Athens” and arrange happy holiday in honor of the upcoming wedding.

Aegeus comes to the ruler with “grief, with a complaint.” He wants to give his daughter in marriage to Demetrius, but the rebellious Hermia refuses this union because she loves Lysander.

Theseus reminds the girl that she must unquestioningly obey her father, reading him “as if he were a god.” Otherwise, she will face death or imprisonment in a monastery.

Lysander invites his beloved to get married in secret, and she agrees. They share their secret with Elena. However, she decides to tell Demetrius, with whom she is unrequitedly in love, about her upcoming escape.

Scene 2

On the eve of the wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta, the carpenter Pigva gathers the townspeople to play in a festive production called “The Pitiful Comedy and the Very Cruel Death of Pyramus and Thisbe.”

Pigva distributes the roles, gives texts to the homegrown actors and schedules a rehearsal for the next night.

Act II

Scene 1

In a magical forest near Athens, a quarrel occurs between the ruler of fairies and elves, Oberon, and his wife Titania. The subject of the dispute is a baby who was “kidnapped from the Indian Sultan” and to whom Titania became strongly attached. The jealous king wants to take the baby away from his wife to make him his page, but she refuses him and leaves with the elves.

Subordinate to Oberon is the little elf Peck - “a cheerful spirit, a naughty night tramp.” The king orders him to find a flower that was accidentally hit by Cupid’s arrow - “His name is “Love in Idleness.” If you smear the juice of this flower on the eyelids of a sleeping person, he will fall in love with the first person he sees immediately after waking up. In this way, Oberon wants to distract his wife’s attention from the boy and take him away.

Seeing Demetrius and Helena, the king of the elves turns invisible in order to “eavesdrop on mortal conversation.” Elena confesses her love to the young man, but he rejects her. Oberon decides to help the unfortunate girl, and orders Peck to smear Demetrius’s eyelids with the magic juice of a flower, and he will fall in love with Elena.

Scene 2

The Elf Lord applies the remaining magic juice to Titania's eyelids. Meanwhile, Hermia and Lysander lose their way and, tired, fall asleep in the forest.

Little Peck, having confused Demetrius with Lysander, wets the latter’s eyelids while he sleeps. Elena walks through the forest, upset by Demetrius’s behavior, and stumbles upon the sleeping Lysander. As soon as he sees Elena in front of him, the young man unleashes a flurry of declarations of love on her. Elena is sure that Lysander is mocking her and runs away into the forest.

Hermia sees bad dream. She asks Lysander to come to the rescue, but, not finding her lover nearby, she goes in search of him.

Act III

Scene 1

The citizens of Athens, who have been chosen to take part in the play, gather in the forest. The plot involves suicide, “and ladies can’t stand that at all.” Therefore, the Foundation decides to write two prologues to the play and emphasize the fiction of everything that happens.

Elf Peck watches the actors' rehearsal. He decides to play a prank on them and enchants the Base, turning his head into that of a donkey. Basic's friends run away in fear, and the prankster Peck rushes after them to "grunt and neigh, burn, roar and growl" and scare them even more.

Titania wakes up and falls wholeheartedly in love with the Bottom, who was wandering alone not far from her. She summons the “light swarm of elves” to serve the new master.

Scene 2

Peck reports to his master that “Titania fell in love with a monster” - a man with a donkey’s head. Oberon is pleased with this state of affairs. But, having learned that Pek mixed up the young men, the king is angry and goes in search of Demetrius to correct the mistake of his servant. Pek flies “faster than all the Tatar arrows” to Elena in order to lure her into the wilderness.

Hermia finds Demetrius and accuses him of murdering his beloved Lysander. Tired of proving his innocence to the girl, Demetri falls asleep. Waking up, he sees Elena in front of him and, bewitched by the juice of the flower, falls in love with her. However, the girl is not at all happy: she is sure that Lysander and Demetrius, who suddenly became inflamed with feelings for her, are only mocking her, and are ready to “joke at the defenseless - for the sake of a game.”

The young people, who have now become rivals, are ready to fight a duel to find out “who has more rights to Elena.” Puck is “glad it turned out so funny,” but Oberon orders him to lead the young people into the thicket of the forest, then separate them and lead them in circles for a long time. When the exhausted rivals fall asleep, the elf smears Lysander's eyelids with an antidote to the magical love juice.

Act IV

Scene 1

Having received the baby and having had a lot of fun with his wife, who is in love with a donkey, Oberon decides to free her from the spell and “drive away her empty delusion from her eyes.” The lord of the elves also orders the faithful Peck to remove the donkey's head "from the head of the Athenian tramp" and send all the actors back to the city.

Theseus enters the clearing, accompanied by Hippolyta and his subjects. He wants to show off his beautiful hounds to his beloved, but suddenly notices the sleeping young people. Theseus is surprised to see them together - after all, these are long-time “rivals in love.”

Lysander honestly tells the ruler that he planned to run away with his beloved Hermia and secretly get married. Demetrius, in turn, admits that from now on “passion, purpose and joy of the eyes” are Helena, not Hermia.

Theseus graciously agrees to these unions and reports that today “two couples of lovers will unite in the temple.”

Scene 2

The actors gather at Pigva's house. After a night rehearsal, no one can find the Basis - “no other way than he was carried away evil spirits ».

The Base enters and informs his friends that he has been ordered “to all converge at the palace.” He asks everyone to repeat their roles once again, put on clean underwear, but most importantly, not to eat “neither onions nor garlic” in order to “emit a sweet fragrance” during the game.

Act V

Scene 1

Theseus is wary of the lovers' story - he does not believe "fables and fairy tales" Hippolyta shares the opinion of her future husband, and believes that “in the events of this night there is more than one play of the imagination.”

Theseus asks the lovers how they would like to brighten up their leisure time “from dinner to bed.” He summons the entertainment manager Philostratus, and he offers the Duke “a list of all ready-made entertainments.” Theseus chooses a play by Athenian artisans, but Philostratus considers this production unsuccessful, since “there is not a good word in it, nor a good actor.”

Having learned that the actors in the play are “ ordinary people, artisans from Athens,” the Duke wants to support his subjects and insists on his choice.

During the performance, the actors say outright nonsense, distorting the text and making their own amendments to the plot. Such absurdity amuses the Duke and his guests, and they are satisfied with the play. At midnight everyone goes home.

Scene 2

At the site of the theatrical performance, Obreon appears with Titania and his retinue. The lord of the elves allows his subjects to have a lot of fun. Finally, he decides to bring prosperity, happiness and good luck “as a gift to the beautiful newlyweds.”

Conclusion

This play is strikingly different from other dramatic works of Shakespeare, in which realism has always dominated. This is a real magical extravaganza, light and ironic, which naturally ends with a happy ending.

For more qualitative analysis Shakespeare's works after reading brief retelling"A Midsummer Night's Dream" we recommend reading the play in its entirety.

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Retelling rating

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The comedy in five acts was written in the mid-1590s. It is believed that Shakespeare wrote his work in honor of the Day of St. John the Baptist or for the wedding celebration of a famous aristocrat.

The play consists of several storylines, one way or another intertwined with each other. Theseus, Duke of Athens, prepares for his wedding to the Amazon queen Hippolyta. The celebrations should take place on a full moon night. A young girl named Hermia is in love with the young man Lysander, who also loves her. However, Demetrius is also courting Hermia. Aegeus, the girl's father, gives preference to the second suitor.

Since Hermia refuses to marry Demetrius, her father turns to the Duke of Athens, claiming that Lysander has bewitched her daughter. The Duke demands obedience to his father's will. Lysander and Hermia decided to flee the city. The girl shared her secret with her friend Elena. Since Elena was once Demetrius's lover and still continues to love him, the insidious woman is driven by the desire to regain the favor of her ex-fiancé. Elena reveals her friend's secret to Demetrius.

Meanwhile, preparations for the Duke's wedding continue. Several city masters decided to stage a comedy about Pyramus and Thisbe in honor of the newlyweds. The production is directed by carpenter Peter Pigva. The role of Thisbe will be played by bellows repairman Francis Dudka. The mother of the main character will be tailor Robin Zamorysh. The carpenter Gentle will be a Leo. Weaver Nick Basis will be Pyramus, and his father will be played by coppersmith Tom Snout. The masters agree to meet in the forest the next day to rehearse the performance. In Shakespeare's time, women were not allowed on stage. That is why it might not seem strange to the audience that all the roles in the play are played by men alone.

Not far from Athens, a couple lives in the forest - Oberon, the elven leader, and his wife Queen Titania. The wife took the boy into custody. Oberon wants to take him away to make him a servant. Titania disagrees. As a result, the husband and wife quarreled. The husband wants to cast a love spell on the queen, so that love will make her forget about her adopted son.

For this, the king needs a special flower. Oberon accidentally witnesses a conversation between Demetrius and Helena. Hermia and Lysander agreed to meet in the forest, as the girl’s friend knew about. Helena led Demetrius to the same forest. Oberon sends the elf Puck to cast a spell on Demetrius. By mistake, Puck bewitched Lysander. The young man, who was sleeping peacefully, wakes up and falls in love with the first person he managed to see - Elena. He leaves Hermia and runs after his new lover.

The city's craftsmen gathered in the forest to rehearse a play. Puck appeared nearby and bewitched the weaver. The Base grew a donkey's head. At the sight of such a metamorphosis, the other masters fled. Titania, who had already been bewitched by Puck, was sleeping not far from the rehearsal site. Waking up, the queen sees a weaver monster in front of her and falls in love with him.

Oberon is pleased with Puck's actions, but the elf's mistake had to be corrected. The king bewitched the sleeping Demetrius, who, after waking up, fell in love with Elena who was next to him. Having met, the friends begin to quarrel. Hermia accuses Helen of betrayal. Demetrius and Lysander now both love the same woman and challenge each other to a duel. Puck likes the confusion that he himself caused, but Oberon disenchantes Lysander. In addition, he freed his wife from the spell and returned the weaver to the Basis to his former appearance. Oberon has already managed to get his wife’s adopted son as a page and no longer wants to torment her.

Hippolyta, Theseus and Aegeus hunt in the forest and find 2 sleeping couples: Lysander and Hermia, Demetrius and Helen. The awakened Lysander explains that he was forced to flee the city with his beloved so that she would not become the wife of a rival. Demetrius declares that Hermia is no longer interesting to him. He only loves Elena. The weaver also comes to his senses and goes to the city. The play ends with a cheerful wedding, at which Theseus and Hippolyta, Lysander and Hermia, and Demetrius and Helena were married.

Mere mortals

There are neither completely positive nor completely negative characters in the play. Mere mortals behave as people have behaved at all times: they love, they hate, they fight for their right to happiness, selfishly without thinking about this right for another person. During the course of the play, almost every character manifests himself both positively and negatively. negative side.

It is likely that the author did not want to divide his characters into 2 camps because he wanted to show their helplessness. All heroes, including Duke Theseus, were to appear as puppets. Shakespeare absolves his characters of responsibility for their actions. A person's destiny does not belong to him. It’s all because of evil fate, a predetermined path. Perhaps the author did not believe in the existence of Greek gods, but he fully admitted that there is a force that determines our lives.

Forest gods

According to Greek tradition, the forest gods in Shakespeare's play have anthropomorphic qualities. They are distinguished from people only by their power and supernatural abilities. Otherwise, the king, queen and elves are similar to ordinary Athenians. Oberon quarreled with his wife, like an ordinary mortal. Elf Puck loves pranks, like any boy on the streets of Athens. The gods are also capable of love, envy and intrigue each other.

Gods with a human face
The author has no reverence for the supernatural creatures of the forest. He strives to portray them as comically as possible, to show their grumpiness, vanity and some stupidity. Gods, like people, are not divided into good and bad. Oberon, who started a real intrigue to take away his adopted son from his wife, nevertheless does not show cruelty and helps the lovers unite.

Fatum is often present in Shakespeare's works. Evil fate did not allow Romeo and Juliet to unite. Despite all the tricks, cruel fate doomed the young Veronese to inevitable death.

Main idea

The idea of the play "A Midsummer Night's Dream", a summary of which will interest the future viewer or reader, may be controversial, since the main purpose of this work is to entertain the audience. One can only assume that Shakespeare chose as his idea the idea that human life- just a game. How exactly the game ends depends solely on the mood of the players.

Analysis of the work

When creating his play, the author set himself one single goal - to please the public. The work contains neither moral teachings nor deep philosophy. Viewers who are captivated by the plot do not always notice the lack of authenticity. The ruler of Athens could hardly be called a duke. Urban Greek artisans cannot wear typical english names.

However, Shakespeare's plans did not include authenticity, an excessive desire for which can make the work too boring. At the end of the play, Park, addressing the audience, asks them to imagine that everything they saw was just a dream. Presenting the play as a not entirely logical dream justifies unreliability and inaccuracy, because in dreams everything that was impossible in reality becomes possible.

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CHARACTERS

Theseus, Duke of Athens.
Aegeus, father of Hermia.
Lysander |
) lovers of Hermia.
Demetrius |
Philostratus, master of festivities at the court of Theseus.
Klin, carpenter.
Saw, carpenter.
Hank, weaver.
Duda, bellows repairman.
Snout, coppersmith.
Hungry tailor.
Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons, bride of Theseus.
Hermia, daughter of Aegeus, in love with Lysander.
Helena, in love with Demetrius.
Oberon, king of the elves.
Titania, queen of the elves.
Puck, or Rogue Robin.
Bob |
Cobweb) elves.
Moth |
Mustard |
Elves and fairies from the retinue of Oberon and Titania.
Retinue of Theseus and Hippolyta.

Setting: Athens and nearby forest.

ACT ONE

PHENOMENON 1

Athens. Palace of Theseus.
Enter Theseus, Hippolyta, Philostratus and retinue.

Theseus
The hour of our wedding is near, Hippolyta:
Only four days until the new moon.
But the old moon takes so long to melt
And does not allow my wishes to come true,
Like a stepmother with a lifetime income,
Healing is to the detriment of his stepson.

Hippolyta
Four days will easily drown in the night,
Four nights of sleep will disappear easily,
And the new month, bending in the sky
He glances at his silvery bow
The night of our wedding.

Theseus
Philostratus, go,
Call the youth of Athens to fun,
Ignite a lively and ardent spirit of fun.
A despondent place is at a funeral;
We don't need this pale-faced guest.
Philostratus leaves.
I wooed you with my sword, Hippolyta,
I earned your love through cruelty;
But I will play the wedding in a different way,
Among the celebrations, and spectacles, and feasts.
Enter Aegeus, Hermia, Lysander and Demetrius.
Aegean
May our Duke Theseus be happy!
Theseus
Thank you, Egey. What did you come with?
Aegean
Full of indignation, I came with a complaint
To Hermia, to my own daughter.
Here, Demetri! This man
I, sir, have promised her as my husband.
Here, Lysander! And this man
He bewitched her soul, oh my Duke.
You, you, Lysander! You brought her poems,
Love pledges changed;
You are under her window, in the moonlight,
He languidly sang to her about languid love;
You captured her imagination
Giving now a lock of your hair, now a ring,
Flowers, gifts, memos, trinkets, -
Youth readily believes such ambassadors;
You stole my daughter's heart,
You turned your daughter's obedience
In obstinate stubbornness. Sovereign,
When she is here, before your eyes,
Demetrius will reject, I will come running
TO old custom Athens:
She is mine, and I have all power over her.
That's why I'll give my daughter
I will condemn Demetrius to death,
As provided by law.
Theseus
What do you say, Hermia? Child, think:
Your Father is like God to you;
He is the one who created your beauty;
For him you are just a wax form,
Which he sculpted and is domineering
Either leave it like that or destroy it.
Demetrius is a very worthy person.
Hermia
The same goes for Lysander.
Theseus
On my own;
But here, since your father doesn't want him,
We recognize another as more worthy.
Hermia
Oh, if my father looked like me!
Theseus
No, you have to look through his eyes.
Hermia
May your lordship excuse me.
I don't know what gives me courage
And how my modesty allows me
In such presence, raise your voice;
But I ask: let me know
The worst thing that can happen to me
When I refuse my hand to Demetrius.
Theseus
Will you accept death or be forever
Excommunicated from the company of men.

The comedy "A Midsummer Night's Dream" was written by William Shakespeare in 1590. The play consists of five acts. He wrote this work in honor of the wedding of a famous aristocrat.

The events of the play take place in Athens. Duke Theseus prepares for own wedding. His bride is the Amazon queen Hippolyta.

The beautiful Hermia is madly in love with Lysander, who reciprocates her feelings. However, he is not the only one who shows interest in the girl, there is another admirer of hers, Demetrius. Aegeus, Hermia's father, supports Demetrius.

Since Hermia refuses to marry Demetrius, Aegeus turns to Theseus. If Hermia refuses, then she will be waiting death penalty, since according to the laws of those times, the father has the right to control the body and fate. The Duke of Athens gives Hermia the right to choose: marriage, execution or vow of celibacy.

Lysander tries to persuade Theseus to reverse this decision. He is trying to prove to the Duke that he is no worse than Demetrius. Lysander has the same wealth as Demetrius, the feelings of Lysander and Hermia are mutual, unlike his rival.

Lysander invites the girl to secretly get married with his aunt, not far from Athens. They tell Elena about their plan, who is not indifferent to Demetrius. Elena, taking advantage of the moment, told her lover everything in order to receive at least a drop of gratitude.

Preparations for Theseus's wedding continue. The masters decided to make a gift for the newlyweds, to stage a comedy about Thisbe and Pyramus. The play is directed by Peter Pigva.

Not far from Athens, the elf Peck meets a fairy. Oberon and Titania prevented them. She proves to Oberon that the disruption of the seasons is due to their quarrel, and this adversely affects people. To avoid further quarreling, the spouses go in different directions.

Peck, by order of Oberon, must bring the magic flower “Love in Idleness,” which Cupid accidentally hit with an arrow. The fact is that the juice of the plant is unusual, it is endowed with magical qualities: if the substance touches the eyelids of a sleeping person, he will fall in love with the first person he sees when he wakes up. Oberon wanted to use this miraculous plant for his wife in order to take away from her the child she had stolen from the Sultan. Seeing Demetrius and Helena, he turns invisible.

Titania is quietly dozing on the lawn. The rehearsal takes place in the same place. Peck is present during the actors' rehearsal. The base plays the role of Pyramus, he goes into the bushes and returns to the site with a donkey's head. All the actors are shocked by what is happening and run away. Because of the noise, Titania wakes up and sees the Base first. She confesses her love to him.

Lysander compliments Elena, but she thinks that he is mocking her. Hermia demands an explanation from her beloved, but he humiliates her; she understands that he simply hated her. Hermia and Helena quarrel and start a fight.

Now two heroes are fighting for Elena's heart. Peck is happy about what is happening. On Oberon's orders, Peck smears Lizard's eyelids with an ointment that removes the magic.

Two rivals and two ladies of their hearts fell asleep side by side in the forest.

Having received what he wanted from his wife, Oberon removes the magic from her. He makes peace with his wife and they fly away.

Early in the morning, Theseus, together with Hippolyta and Aegeus, go into the forest. There they find Lizard, Demetrius, Helena and Hermia sleeping. They explain everything to the Duke. Demetrius says that he has always loved Elena and only wants to be with her, and Hermia was just a passing hobby.

The Duke invites everyone to the temple to marry three loving couples.

Theseus watches the artisans' performance with the guests. After watching the play, everyone gets ready for bed.

Peck appears at this place, he cleans up and prepares a place for the elves. Titania and Oberon and their retinue sing and have fun.