midsummer

Mr. Miller's English 10 Branford High School __A Midsummer Night's Dream__ summary


 * The story begins** in the ancient city of Athens, where the royal Duke Theseus plans to marry Hippolyta, whom he captured from the Amazons. But as they plan their wedding, one of his servants comes to him with a problem. The servant’s daughter, Hermia, loves a man named Lysander, even though the servant has arranged for her to marry a man named Demetrius. To complicate things even more, Hermia’s friend, Helena, loves Demetrius. Demetrius, instead, loves only Hermia.

Theseus decides that either Hermia marries Demetrius or she must die or become a nuns. As a result, Lysander and Hermia make plans to elope into the woods, as Helena listens in on their plans. She informs Demetrius of their plans. At nightfall, Hermia and Lysander flee into the woods just outside Athens, followed by Demetrius who is followed by Helena.

Meanwhile, in these same woods there exists a mysterious fairyland. It is there that Oberon, King of the Fairies, argues with his wife, Titania, over the fate of a young Indian Boy that she adopted from a deceased friend. Titania wants to raise the boy as she sees fit, but Oberon believes the boy should grow up and become a warrior. After Titania leaves, Oberon plots to cast a spell on her to make her fall in love with the first thing she sees.

Oberon summons Puck, also known as Robin Goodfellow, to use a magical flower to cast the spell on Titania. Oberon also decides to cast the love spell on Demetrius so that he would fall in love with Helena. As Oberon casts the spell on Titania, Puck accidentally casts the spell on Lysander. He also finds a group of workers in the woods as they rehearse for a play they want to perform at Theseus’ wedding. As a gag, Puck gives one of the rehearsing actors the head of an ass.

After Oberon realizes Puck’s mistake with Lysander, they cast the spell on Demetrius, who also falls in love with Helena, creating one big love mess. Now, Demetrius and Lysander both love Helena, instead of Hermia. To top that off, the fairy princess Titania wakes up and falls in love with the man with the head of an ass…