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Theseus (the Duke of Athens)
announces he will marry Hippolyta, the queen of the Amazons in four
days. He hears Egeus' complaint that his daughter Hermia refuses to
marry his chosen suitor, Demetrius, since she's in love with
Lysander, who Egeus dislikes. Theseus declares Hermia must marry
Demetrius, or choose between death or joining a nunnery. Lysander
instructs Hermia to flee to the forest with him, so that they can
travel to his aunt's house to marry. Hermia's friend, Helena, learns
of this and decides to inform Demetrius, whom she likes (and has
slept with). Demetrius, though, loves Hermia. Helena hopes they will
all meet in the forest. Meanwhile, Quince, Bottom, Flute,
Starveling, Snug, and Snout organize a play to be performed at
Theseus' wedding.
In the forest, Oberon (the King of the Fairies) argues with Titania
(the Fairy Queen) that he should have her orphan child as his page.
Titania objects, asserting she is queen. The bicker that Oberon
loves Hippolyta and Titania loves Theseus. To obtain the boy, Oberon
orders the fairy Puck (aka Robin Goodfellow) to obtain a flower from
Cupid that causes on to love the first person a person sees. Oberon
plans to give it to Titania, so she'll love a vile thing and give
him the child. Demetrius and Helena appear, Helena pursuing him, and
he fleeing her. Puck arrives with the flower, and Oberon orders Puck
to anoint Demetrius with it so he'll love Helena rather than Hermia.
Oberon then anoints Titania with the flower. In the forest, Lysander
and Hermia lie down to rest. Puck, thinking Lysander is Demetrius,
anoints him with the flower. Helena appears and awakes Lysander, who
immediately falls in love with her.
In the forest, the troupe of players discuss the logistics of their
play. Puck appears and transforms Bottom to have an ass' (donkey's)
head. The actors flee, but Titania awakes and falls in love with
Bottom and orders her fairy servants to attend to him. Puck observes
that Demetrius chases Hermia, yet she accuses him of murdering
Lysander, and realizes he gave the flower to the wrong man. Oberon
tries to remedy this by anointing Lysander with the flower so he'll
fall in love with Helena, and he does. However, now both men love
Helena, while she believes both are false. Hermia arrives and Helena
accuses her of conspiring with the men to tease her. Oberon,
realizing Puck has caused these problems, orders him to make a thick
fog to separate the four people and force them into a deep sleep, so
the spell can wear off.
Oberon awakes Titania and transforms Bottom back to a human. Oberon
and Titania then make up and love each other again. In the woods,
Theseus, Hippolyta, and Egeus appear and awake the four. Demetrius
and Lysander inform the men of their love for Helena and Hermia
(respectively). The lords agree to let them marry. Separately,
Bottom awakes and remember's the night's occurrences.
At dinner, they all hear Quince's ten word, tedious, brief, tragical
play. In it, Thisby (played by Flute) and Pyramus (played by Bottom)
whisper their love through a chink in a wall (played by Snout). They
vow to meet at Ninny's tomb, but a lion (played by Snug) attacks
Thisby. Pyramus arrives and finds her scarf, assumes she's dead, and
kills himself Thisby arrives to find him dead, and kills herself.
After the play, at midnight, all go to bed, then the fairies appear
and frolic.
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