1 h 58 minAudiobook8 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · 48 pagesHardcover · 6 × 9 in · 48 pagesAbout this book
What if the person you love wakes up loving someone else—and a mischievous fairy holds the blame?
In William Shakespeare’s comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hermia loves Lysander, but her father demands she marry Demetrius. Helena, meanwhile, longs for Demetrius to love her again. When the four young lovers enter the wood outside Athens, they leave behind harsh laws and family commands, only to face a magic that makes desire even harder to trust.
The fairy rulers Oberon and Titania are quarreling, and Oberon’s servant Puck carries a love potion into the confusion. Nearby, Peter Quince and his fellow workmen rehearse a play, while the cheerful weaver Nick Bottom wants every part. These worlds collide in moonlight, bringing mistaken love, botched rehearsals and musical verse to a night where reason loses its grip.
What you’ll discover
- Love without good sense Follow four lovers whose desires turn friendship and loyalty into a tangle of misunderstandings.
- Puck’s dangerous little pranks Watch a mischievous servant turn a magical errand into confusion among the sleeping lovers.
- A quarrel among fairies Enter Oberon and Titania’s wood, where proud rulers bring their own troubles to the night.
- Workmen take the stage Enjoy Bottom’s boundless confidence as ordinary craftsmen struggle to rehearse an epic love story.
- Dreams in musical verse Discover poetry that blurs illusion and truth while finding laughter in love’s foolishness.
Is it for you?
This is for anyone who wants a first way into Shakespeare, for readers who like romantic comedy and magic, and for students meeting the play in class. It may suit you less if you want realistic, serious drama.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A harsh law sends lovers to the woods
- Six workmen plan a play
- The fairy king and queen are at war
- Wrong flower, wrong love, wild night
- Love is blind and reason has limits
- Three worlds, two kinds of speech
Who’s who
- HermiaA young Athenian woman who loves Lysander and refuses to obey her father's command to marry Demetrius.
- LysanderHermia's sweetheart, who plans to run away with her rather than lose her to Athenian law.
- HelenaHermia's friend, who loves Demetrius and will do almost anything to win back his attention.
- DemetriusA young man favored by Hermia's father, who once courted Helena and now pursues Hermia.
- OberonKing of the fairies, proud and clever, who wants the boy in Titania's care and uses magic to get him.
- TitaniaQueen of the fairies, strong willed, who refuses to give up the child she is raising.
- PuckOberon's quick and mischievous servant, who loves pranks and carries out the king's orders, though not always as planned.
- Nick BottomA weaver and amateur actor, confident and cheerful, who wants to play every part in the workmen's play.
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- Audiobook
- 1 h 58 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 8 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in, 48 pages: USD 5.95 when you start free, USD 12.95 on its own.
- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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A Midsummer Night's Dream
by William Shakespeare· 1600
Lovers and amateur actors stumble into a quarrel between fairies.
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From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 6
A harsh law sends lovers to the woods
The play opens in Athens, where Duke Theseus is preparing his wedding to Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons. The wedding is four days away, and Theseus wants the city to be happy. Into this mood comes Egeus, an angry father. He has promised his daughter Hermia to a young man named Demetrius, but she loves another man, Lysander.
Egeus asks the Duke to enforce Athenian law. Under that law a daughter must obey her father. If she refuses, she may be put to death or sent to live as a nun. Theseus says the law must be kept and urges Hermia to obey her father. He gives Hermia until his own wedding day to change her mind.
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The author
William Shakespeare
1564–1616 · English playwright and poet
William Shakespeare was an English playwright and poet, born in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1564. He worked in London as an actor and playwright. He wrote plays, including Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, and Macbeth, and published sonnets in 1609. He died in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1616.
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What is A Midsummer Night's Dream about?
It is a comedy about two pairs of young lovers, a group of amateur actors and the fairies of an enchanted wood. Magic and mistakes make love change direction in one night, while the humans in the wood get more and more confused.
Who is Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream?
Puck, also called Robin Goodfellow, is Oberon's quick, mischievous fairy servant. He carries out the king's orders, plays tricks on mortals and makes a serious mistake with the love flower that sets off most of the plot's confusion.
Is A Midsummer Night's Dream a true story?
No. It is an invented comedy, written around 1595 or 1596. Shakespeare drew on classical myth, English folklore and old stories such as Pyramus and Thisbe, and he set it in a loose, legendary Athens.
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