A Midsummer Night's Dream

A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare is a five acts comedy written about 1595–96. The work was published in 1600 in a quarto edition from the author’s manuscript with some unsignificant inconsistencies. The version of the play published in the First Folio (1623) was taken from a second quarto edition, with some reference to a promptbook.

According to Dorothea Kehler, that tried to establish the period when A Midsummer Night’s Dream was written, the comedy appeared between 1594 and 1596. This fact indicates that Shakespeare had probably already completed Romeo and Juliet and was still reflecting on The Merchant of Venice. Thus, the play belongs to the early-middle period of creation, a time when the primary attention of William Shakespeare was focused on the lyricism of his works.

How many acts are in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and what is the play about?

The comedy about four Athenian lovers consists of five interconnecting plots and respectively five acts, each of them includes one to three scenes.

Where does Midsummer Night’s Dream take place?  Four Athenians run away to the forest, the location where all actions take place. Their only purpose is to ask Puck the fairy make both of the boys develop feelings to the same girl. The young people run through the forest pursuing each other whereas Puck helps his master play a trick on the fairy queen. Finally, Puck reverses the magic, and the two couples reunite and marry.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream is considered one of the “great” or “middle” comedies. Due to its multilayered examination of such feeling as love and its vagaries, it has been for ages one of the most popular Shakespearean plays. Moreover, this work is one of Shakespeare's most popular and is widely performed.

List of Characters

• Theseus—Duke of Athens
• Hippolyta—Queen of the Amazons
• Egeus—father of Hermia
• Hermia—daughter of Egeus, in love with Lysander
• Lysander—in love with Hermia
• Demetrius—suitor to Hermia
• Helena—in love with Demetrius
• Philostrate—Master of the Revels
• Peter Quince—a carpenter
• Nick Bottom—a weaver
• Francis Flute—a bellows-mender
• Tom Snout—a tinker
• Snug—a joiner
• Robin Starveling—a tailor
• Oberon—King of the Fairies
• Titania—Queen of the Fairies
• Robin "Puck" Goodfellow—a mischievous sprite with magical powers
• Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Moth and Mustardseed—fairy servants to Titania
• Indian changeling—a ward of Titania

Entire play in one page

Act 1, Scene 1: Athens. The palace of THESEUS.
Act 1, Scene 2: Athens. QUINCE'S house.

Act 2, Scene 1: A wood near Athens.
Act 2, Scene 2: Another part of the wood.

Act 3, Scene 1: The wood. TITANIA lying asleep.
Act 3, Scene 2: Another part of the wood.

Act 4, Scene 1: The same. LYSANDER, DEMETRIUS, HELENA, and HERMIA
Act 4, Scene 2: Athens. QUINCE'S house.

Act 5, Scene 1: Athens. The palace of THESEUS.