A Midsummer Night's Dream
DATE: Mentioned in Francis Meres' 1598 list of Shakespeare's plays. Reference in Act 1 Scene 2 to courtiers being afraid of a stage lion may allude to an incident in Scotland in August 1594. Strong stylistic resemblances to other "lyrical" plays of Shakespeare's high Elizabethan period, such as Richard II and especially Romeo and Juliet: this group of plays is traditionally dated to 1595-96. It has often been speculated that the first performance was a private one at an aristocratic wedding celebration, but there is absolutely no evidence for this:
in the Elizabethan period, masque-like entertainments rather than full-length plays were commissioned for festive occasions such as weddings.
SOURCES: The main plot is apparently without a direct source, which is unusual for Shakespeare. The tale of Pyramus and Thisbe is derived principally from Ovid's Metamorphoses, book four. It also has strong structural resemblances to the Romeo and Juliet story, which Shakespeare dramatized around the same time. The play as a whole absorbs much of Shakespeare's eclectic reading: numerous borrowings of Ovidian mythology, some use of Sir Thomas North's translation of Plutarch, influence from John Lyly's comedies (especially Endimion for dreaming and Gallathea for the interplay of aristocrats and artisans), an element of Chaucer (The Knight's Tale for lovers at the court of Theseus, perhaps The Tale of Sir Thopas for the dream of sleeping with an "elf-queen"), perhaps The Golden Ass of Apuleius (trans. William Adlington, 1566) for Bottom's transformation.
TEXT: Quarto 1600, "as it hath been sundry times publicly acted by the Right Honourable the Lord Chamberlain his Servants." apparently typeset from Shakespeare's manuscript or a close transcription of it. Reprinted 1619 (Second Quarto). Folio text was set from a copy of the Second Quarto (thus repeating many of its corrections and errors), but with some consultation of an independent theater-derived manuscript, which provided additional stage directions, some corrections, and signs of a few revisions, most notably an economizing on roles whereby the Philostrate of Quarto becomes a silent character who only appears in the first scene and the role of Master of the Revels introducing the entertainment in the final scene is taken over by Egeus (which makes for nice tension between him and Lysander, the new son-in-law he did not want). Our edition retains this innovation as well as many local Folio corrections and modernizations, but restores Quarto in many cases where words are misset, omitted, or transposed as a result of what was almost certainly compositor's error as opposed to editorial alterations on the basis of the theater manuscript.
LIST OF PARTS
THESEUS, Duke of Athens
HIPPOLYTA, Queen of the Amazons, betrothed to Theseus
EGEUS, an Athenian courtier, father to Hermia
LYSANDER, in love with Hermia
HERMIA, in love with Lysander, but ordered by her father to marry Demetrius
DEMETRIUS, in love with Hermia, though once a suitor to Helena
HELENA, in love with Demetrius
Peter QUINCE, a carpenter and leader of an amateur dramatic group, who speaks the PROLOGUE to their play
Nick BOTTOM, a weaver, who plays PYRAMUS in the amateur play
Francis FLUTE, a bellows-mender, who plays THISBE in the amateur play
SNUG, a joiner, who plays a LION in the amateur play
Tom SNOUT, a tinker, who plays a WALL in the amateur play
Robin STARVELING, a tailor, who plays MOONSHINE in the amateur play
OBERON, King of Fairies
TITANIA, Queen of Fairies
ROBIN Goodfellow, also known as Puck, a sprite in the service of Oberon
Fairies attendant upon Titania
PEASEBLOSSOM
COBWEB
MOTH
MUSTARDSEED
PHILOSTRATE, an official in Theseus' court
Other Attendants at the court of Theseus; other Fairies attendant upon Oberon
Act 1 [Scene 1]
running scene 1