Act I
Thesues, the hero and duke of Athena, is preparing to marry Hippolyta, the
queen of Amazons. Egeus asks for Thesues' judgment for the marriage of his
daughter, Hermia. Hermia wishes to marry her lover, Lysander while Egeus
prefers another suitor, Demetrius, who once loved Helena but becomes infatuated
with Hermia. Theseus declares that Hermia must obey her father's will or
marry none. Hermia and Lysander plan to escape through the woods and they
tell Helena. Helena loves Demetrius and reveals their plan to Demetrius
in order to impress him. At the same time, a group of craftsmen proposes
to rehearse their play in the forest before performing in front of Theseus.
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Act II
In the forest, the fairy king, Oberon, is at odds with the fairy queen,
Titania, because she refuses to hand over an Indian boy to him. Oberon commands
his jester, Robin Goodfellow (Puck), to use magical love juice to frame
up Titania. Meanwhile, Oberon sympathizes with Helena and tells Puck to
use love juice to make Demetrius love Helena. Puck, however, mistakes Lysander
for Demetrius and makes Lysander to fall in love with Helena. Lysander abandons
Hermia while she is sleeping to purchase Helena.
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Act III
Puck transfigures Bottom the weaver to be ass-head when watching the craftsmen's
rehearsal and Titania under the influence of love juice loves ass-head
Bottom. Oberon finds out Puck's mistake and urges him to anoint Demetrius.
Both of Lysander and Demetrius are after Helento to woo her and despise
Hermia. Nevertheless, Helena cannot believe it and thinks they are teasing
her. Oberon then commands Puck to resort their love in order.
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Act IV
After Titania gives up the boy, Oberon releases her from the magic and tells
Puck to release Bottom from transfiguration, sending him back to Athena.
In the morning, Theseus and Hippolyta go together to the forest and find
the four lovers sleeping. Under Puck's magic, Lysander resorts his love
to Hermia and Demetrius falls in love with Helena. The four lovers and Bottom
declare that they experience of strange ventures in the forest as if they
dream of it in the night.
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Act V
In Theseus' court, the couples watch the play performed awfully by the
craftsmen. After the performance, the lovers retreat to bed and then Oberon
and Titania come up to bless their marriage. Puck appears to end the play
by stating the whole play is but "No more yielding but a dream."
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Theseus
He is the hero in the Greek mythology and the ruler of Athena. In Midsummer
Night, he represents the order and low of Athena. He is engaged to Hippolyta.
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Hippolyta
She is the queen of Amazons. In the play, she is engaged to Theseus.
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Egeus
He is Hermia's father, who asks for Theseus's judgment to Hermia's marriage.
He insists that Hermia should choose either to marry Demetrius or a die
according to the law of Athena.
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Hermia
She is Egeus' daughter, who loves Lysander and is a childhood friend of
Helena. She plans to escape with Lysander from Athena through the forest.
She becomes a victim in the forest when Lysander is enchanted by love
juice but Lysander's love for her is resorted in the morning.
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Lysander
He is Hermia's lover and plans to escape with her through the forest.
He falls a victim to love juice and abandons Hermia to woo Helena. With
Puck's help, he resorts his love for Hermia.
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Helena
She loves Demetrius and was once engaged to him but Demetrius turns to
love Hermia instead. She is despised by Demetrius and therefore lacks
in confidence about her looking. When Lysander and Demetrius woo her,
she thinks they are teasing them. With Puck's help, Demetrius falls in
love with Helena and marries her.
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Demetrius
He once loved Helena but then turns to love Hermia. He is enchanted by
love juice and resorts his love again for Helena.
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Oberon
He is the fairy king of the forest. He quarrels with the fairy queen,
Titania, because she refuses to give an Indian boy. He demands Puck to
trick Titania by love juice to win the boy and helps to solve the conflict
among the lovers in the forest.
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Titania
She is the fairy queen of the forest and a victim of love juice. She is
enchanted by magic juice to love Bottom, who is transfigured by Puck to
be ass-head. She hands over the boy to Oberon and then is released by
Oberon from love magic. She reconciles with Oberon and they together bless
the lovers' marriage in the end of the play.
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Puck (Robin Goodfellow)
He is a mischievous fairy and the jester of Oberon. In the play, he uses
love juice to enchant Lysander, Demetrius and Titania and transfigures
Bottom into an ass-head. Under Oberon's command, he helps to solve the
conflict of the lovers and set their love in order. He also releases Bottom
from transfiguration and uses magic to make the mortals in the forest
feel as if they have a dream.
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Nick Bottom
He is a weaver and plays Pyramus in the craftsmen's play for Theseus'
marriage. When he rehearses the play with other craftsmen in the forest,
he is transfigured into an ass-head and is loved by Titania because of
love juice. Puck later releases his transfiguration and sends him back
to Athena.
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Peter Quince
He is a carpenter and the leader of the craftsmen's play. He plays Prologue
in "Pyramus and Thisbe."
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Francis Flute
He is a bellow-mender and he plays a young girl Thisbe in "Pyramus
and Thisbe."
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Robin Starveling
He is a tailor and he plays Moonshine in "Pyramus and Thisbe."
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Tom Snout
He is a tinker and he plays Wall in "Pyramus and Thisbe."
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Sung
He is joiner and he plays the lion in "Pyramus and Thisbe."
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Philostrate
He is Master of the Reveals to Theseus and he is responsible for the entertainment
for Theseus' marriage celebration.
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Peaseblossom, Cobweb,
Moth and Mustardseed
They are fairy train of Titania.
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