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1. “Now, fair Hippolyta, our nuptial hour Draws on apace”-Theseus.
Theseus and Hippolyta’s wedding is approaching. -
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Timeline for quotes of Midsummer Night's Dream
A collection of quotes to tell the story of A Midsummer Night's Dream -
2. “Full of vexation come I, with complaint Against my child, my daughter Hermia. Stand forth, Demetrius. My noble lord, This man hath my consent to marry her. Stand forth, Lysander: and my gracious duke, This man hath bewitch'd the bosom of my child” –Eg
Egeus’s daughter -Hermia- wants to marry Lysander, but her father doesn’t approve of him. Instead, Egeus wants her to marry Demetrius. -
3. “Upon that day either prepare to die For disobedience to your father's will, Or else to wed Demetrius, as he would; Or on Diana's altar to protest For aye austerity and single life”-Theseus.
Hermia either has to marry Demetrius, die, or become a nun for the rest of her life. -
4. “I have a widow aunt, a dowager of great revenue, and she hath no child: From Athens is her house remote seven leagues; And she respects me as her only son. There, gentle Hermia, may I marry thee; And to that place the sharp Athenian law Cannot pursue
Lysander proposes that Hermia and he meet the next night in the woods to run off to his rich Aunt’s house. There, they can get married. -
5. “Were the world mine, Demetrius being bated, The rest I'd give to be to you translated. O, teach me how you look, and with what art You sway the motion of Demetrius' heart.”- Helena.
Helena is deeply in love with Demetrius, and wants to be like Hermia. -
6. “I will go tell him of fair Hermia's flight: Then to the wood will he to-morrow night Pursue her; and for this intelligence If I have thanks, it is a dear expense”-Helena.
Helena is going to tell Demetrius of Lysander and Hermia’s plan to run off, in hopes that Demetrius pays her back. -
7. “But, masters, here are your parts: and I am to entreat you, request you and desire you, to con them by to-morrow night; and meet me in the palace wood, a mile without the town, by moonlight; there will we rehearse, for if we meet in the city, we shall
Quince wants the actors to meet in the woods (the same woods that Lysander and Hermia are going to meet in) the next night to rehearse for their play. -
8. “The king doth keep his revels here to-night: Take heed the queen come not within his sight;For Oberon is passing fell and wrath, Because that she as her attendant hath A lovely boy, stolen from an Indian king; She never had so sweet a changeling; And
The jester, Puck, explains how Oberon, king of the fairies that live in the woods, is upset with the queen,Titania, for not revealing where the Indian boy she took is. -
9. “Fetch me that flower; the herb I shew'd thee once: The juice of it on sleeping eye-lids laidWill make or man or woman madly dote Upon the next live creature that it sees… Having once this juice, I'll watch Titania when she is asleep, And drop the liq
This quote is revealing Oberon’s plan to make a fool out of the fairy queen; by making her fall in love with the first animal she sees in the forest. He believes that doing this will force her to give up the Indian boy. -
10. “I love thee not, therefore pursue me not. Where is Lysander and fair Hermia?The one I'll slay, the other slayeth me. Thou told'st me they were stolen unto this wood;”-Demetrius.
Demetrius is in the woods looking for Hermia and Helena is following him lovingly. -
11. “Take thou some of it, and seek through this grove: A sweet Athenian lady is in love With a disdainful youth: anoint his eyes; But do it when the next thing he espies May be the lady: thou shalt know the man By the Athenian garments he hath on. Effect
Oberon sees Demetrius reject Helena and tells Puck to make Demetrius fall in love with Helena. -
12. “Lie further off; in human modesty, Such separation as may well be said Becomes a virtuous bachelor and a maid, So far be distant; and, good night, sweet friend: Thy love ne'er alter till thy sweet life end!”-Hermia.
Hermia and Lysander meet in the woods, Hermia tells him not to sleep right next to her, and then they fall asleep. -
13. “This is he, my master said, Despised the Athenian maid; And here the maiden, sleeping sound,On the dank and dirty ground. Pretty soul! she durst not lie Near this lack-love, this kill-courtesy.Churl, upon thy eyes I throw All the power this charm dot
Puck finds Lysander and confuses him for Demetrius, so he puts the magic love charm on Lysander’s eyes. -
14. “Therefore no marvel though Demetrius Do, as a monster fly my presence thus. What wicked and dissembling glass of mine Made me compare with Hermia's sphery eyne? But who is here? Lysander! on the ground! Dead? or asleep? I see no blood, no wound. Lysa
Demetrius ran away from Helena to find Lysander. Helena, left alone, finds Lysander, and wakes him up to see if he’s dead or just sleeping. -
15. “And run through fire I will for thy sweet sake. Transparent Helena! Nature shows art, That through thy bosom makes me see thy heart. Where is Demetrius? O, how fit a word Is that vile name to perish on my sword!”-Lysander.
Lysander wakes up and is in love with Helena. -
16. “Ay me, for pity! what a dream was here! Lysander, look how I do quake with fear: Methought a serpent eat my heart away, And you sat smiling at his cruel pray. Lysander! what, removed? Lysander! lord! What, out of hearing? gone? no sound, no word? Ala
Hermia awakes in fear to find that Lysander is not there. -
17. Bless thee, Bottom! bless thee! thou art translated.-Quince.
The actors met in the woods, but Bottom -one of the actors- had his face changed into a donkey by Puck, so that the queen fairy -Titania-would fall in love with him when she awoke. Quince, noticing his change, runs off along with the other actors. -
18. “Why do they run away? this is a knavery of them to make me afeard… I see their knavery: this is to make an ass of me; to fright me, if they could. But I will not stir from this place, do what they can: I will walk up and down here, and I will sing, t
Bottom has no idea that he has changed, and thinks that all the other actors are mocking him. So he paces around and sings. -
19. “I pray thee, gentle mortal, sing again: Mine ear is much enamour'd of thy note; So is mine eye enthralled to thy shape; And thy fair virtue's force perforce doth move me On the first view to say, to swear, I love thee.”-Titania.
Titania awakes to Bottom singing, and instantly falls in love with him -
20. “I took him sleeping,--that is finish'd too,-- And the Athenian woman by his side: That, when he waked, of force she must be eyed… This is the woman, but not this the man.”-Puck.
Puck explains how he accomplished his duties, but then Demetrius and Hermia enter, and he realizes that he got Lysander instead of Demetrius. -
21. “A privilege never to see me more. And from thy hated presence part I so: See me no more, whether he be dead or no.”-Hermia.
Hermia accuses Demetrius of killing Lysander, and refuses to see him anymore. -
22. “Flower of this purple dye, Hit with Cupid's archery, Sink in apple of his eye. When his love he doth espy, Let her shine as gloriously As the Venus of the sky. When thou wakest, if she be by, Beg of her for remedy.”-Oberon.
After Hermia leaves Demetrius, he goes asleep. Seeing this opportunity, Oberon puts the charm in Demetrius’s eye so he will fall in love with Helena. -
23. “Never did mockers waste more idle breath.”-Helena.
With both Demetrius and Lysander suddenly in love with Helena, Helena believes that they are both mocking her. This obviously will cause a conflict with Helena and Hermia -
24. “Thou see'st these lovers seek a place to fight: Hie therefore, Robin, overcast the night; The starry welkin cover thou anon With drooping fog as black as Acheron, And lead these testy rivals so astray As one come not within another's way. Like to Lys
Seeing all the fighting between Lysander, Demetrius, Hermia, and Helena, Oberon makes a plan to fix everything. He’s going to spread them apart so that Lysander and Demetrius don’t kill each other, and once they’re asleep, release the charm from Lysander, and make the whole gang think that the incident was just a dream. -
25. “And, gentle Puck, take this transformed scalp From off the head of this Athenian swain; That, he awaking when the other do, May all to Athens back again repair And think no more of this night's accidents But as the fierce vexation of a dream. But fir
Oberon catches Titania in love with Bottom, and after shaming her, changes Bottom back and releases the spell from Titania. -
26. “Go, one of you, find out the forester; For now our observation is perform'd; And since we have the vaward of the day, My love shall hear the music of my hounds.”-Theseus.
Hearing all the commotion in the woods, Theseus sends out his hounds to find whoever is out there. -
27. “My lord, I shall reply amazedly, Half sleep, half waking: but as yet, I swear, I cannot truly say how I came here; But, as I think,--for truly would I speak, And now do I bethink me, so it is,--I came with Hermia hither: our intent Was to be gone fro
Once found, Lysander explains why they were in the forest. -
28. “But, my good lord, I wot not by what power,-- But by some power it is,--my love to Hermia, Melted as the snow, seems to me now As the remembrance of an idle gaud Which in my childhood I did dote upon; And all the faith, the virtue of my heart, The ob
Still affected by the charm, Demetrius tells Egeus about his love for Helena, and no longer wants to marry Hermia. -
29. “Egeus, I will overbear your will; For in the temple by and by with us These couples shall eternally be knit”-Theseus.
Theseus proposes a group marriage for all the couples on the same day. -
30. “All that I will tell you is, that the duke hath dined. Get your apparel together, good strings to your beards, new ribbons to your pumps; meet presently at the palace; every man look o'er his part; for the short and the long is, our play is preferred
The duke has called in the actors to perform their play for the wedding, but not having much time to rehearse the night before, they have to make the play shorter. -
31. “No epilogue, I pray you; for your play needs noexcuse. Never excuse; for when the players are alldead, there needs none to be blamed. Marry, if hethat writ it had played Pyramus and hanged himselfin Thisbe's garter, it would have been a finetragedy:
Theseus, after seeing the play, and how hilariously awful it was, tries to cut it short. -
32. “If we shadows have offended, Think but this, and all is mended, That you have but slumber'd here While these visions did appear. And this weak and idle theme, No more yielding but a dream…”-Puck.
The play ends with Puck implying that the whole play might have just really been a dream.