description: A comedy in five acts, produced in 1595-96 and published in 1600 in a quarto edition from the author's fair copy. It has long been the most popular of Shakespeare's comedies and belongs to the period of transition from Shakespeare's experimental, imitative comedy to his mature, romantic, philosophical, festive vein. We begin in Athens with a marriage about to take place. The groom's daughter, is also preparing for marriage but is reluctant because she loves another man. Yet another wedding is about to take place. The four plan to run off and marry secretly in a forest. The forest is a fairy kingdom complete with magic ointment which makes you fall in love with whatever you see first when you open your eyes. Also in the forest are actors rehearsing a play. This play develops the motif of love as an imaginative journey, from reality into a fantasy world created by the artist, ending in return to a reality that has itself been partly transformed by the experience of the journey. The interaction of all these people ends up in the resolution of the original four lovers' problems and an invitation of everyone to their wedding, after which they watch the play. The fairies bless the house and the married couples as the play concludes. A Midsummer Night's Dream is a skillful interweaving of four plots involving four groups of characters: the court party of Duke Theseus, the four young lovers, the fairies, and the rude mechanicals or would-be actors.
language: English
title: A Midsummer Night's Dream
titlecomplete: A Midsummer Night's Dream
characters: Hermia, Nick Bottom, Robin Starveling, Helena (Shakespeare), Cobweb, Peter Quince, Francis Flute (Shakespeare), Egeus, Philostrate, Theseus (mythology), Tom Snout, Hermia (Shakespeare), Demetrius, Lysander (Shakespeare), Mustardseed, Moth, Oberon, Snug, Titania, Peaseblossom, Puck, Hippolyta
genres: Fiction, Plays, Theatre, Classics, Drama, Romance, Fantasy, Literature, Poetry, School
ratings_count: 525450
places: Atenas
publisher: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC Audio)