A Midsummer Night's Dream Quiz

The Wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta

• Theseus, duke of Athens, is preparing for his marriage to Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons, with a four-day festival of pomp and entertainment.
• Philostrate, Master of the Revels, is commissioned to find suitable amusements for the occasion.

The Conflict between Hermia and Egeus

• Egeus, an Athenian nobleman, brings his daughter Hermia to Theseus' court with Demetrius and Lysander.
• Egeus wants Hermia to marry Demetrius, who loves her, but Hermia is in love with Lysander and refuses to comply.
• Egeus asks for the full penalty of law to fall on Hermia's head if she disobeys her father's will.
• Theseus gives Hermia until his wedding to consider her options, warning her of the consequences of disobeying her father.

The Elopement Plan

• Hermia and Lysander plan to escape Athens the following night and marry in the house of Lysander's aunt, seven leagues distant from the city.
• They confide in Hermia's friend Helena, who loves Demetrius and hopes to regain his love by telling him about the elopement.

The Woodland Encounter

• Demetrius follows Hermia and Lysander into the woods, with Helena behind him.
• Oberon, the fairy king, and Titania, his queen, are in the woods, arguing over a young Indian prince.
• Oberon sends Puck to acquire a magical flower to make Titania fall in love with the first creature she sees upon waking.

The Love Potion Chaos

• Puck mistakenly afflicts Lysander with the love potion, causing him to fall in love with Helena.
• Demetrius and Lysander both end up in love with Helena, who thinks they are mocking her.
• Hermia becomes jealous and tries to challenge Helena to a fight.
• Puck confuses Demetrius and Lysander, leading them apart until they are lost in the forest.

The Resolution

• Puck spreads the love potion on Lysander's eyelids, restoring him to his original love for Hermia.
• Theseus and Hippolyta discover the sleeping lovers and take them back to Athens to be married.
• Demetrius now loves Helena, and Lysander now loves Hermia.

The Play's Conclusion

• The lovers watch Bottom and his fellow craftsmen perform a play, a fumbling, hilarious version of the story of Pyramus and Thisbe.
• The fairies bless the sleeping couples with a protective charm and disappear.
• Puck remains, asking the audience for forgiveness and approval, urging them to remember the play as though it had all been a dream.

Love's Difficulty

• The play explores the theme of love's difficulty, which is often associated with love out of balance, leading to conflicts and tensions.
• The prime example of this imbalance is the asymmetrical love among the four young Athenians: Hermia loves Lysander, Lysander loves Hermia, Helena loves Demetrius, and Demetrius loves Hermia instead of Helena.

Magic

• The fairies' magic is central to the play's atmosphere and themes.
• Magic is used to embody the supernatural power of love and to create a surreal world.
• However, magic can cause chaos when misused, as seen when Puck mistakenly applies the love potion to Lysander's eyelids.

Dreams

• Dreams are an important theme in the play, linked to the bizarre and magical mishaps in the forest.
• Characters often mention dreams throughout the play, with Hippolyta's first words highlighting the prevalence of dreams.
• The theme of dreaming recurs when characters attempt to explain bizarre events as mere dreams.

Jealousy

• Jealousy operates in both the human and fairy realms in the play.
• Among the Athenian lovers, jealousy leads to misaligned desire and tangled relationships.
• In the fairy realm, jealousy causes a rift between King Oberon and Queen Titania, leading to the misuse of magic.

Mischief

• Mischief is primarily associated with the forest and the fairies who reside there.
• Puck is the play's chief creator of mischief, known for his tricks and pranks on unsuspecting humans.
• Puck's mistakes in implementing Oberon's plan lead to chaotic effects, further highlighting the theme of mischief.

Transformation

• Many examples of emotional and physical transformation occur in the play, contributing to the play's humorous chaos and happy ending.
• Most transformations derive from fairy magic, specifically Puck's meddling with the love potion and physical transformations, such as Bottom's transformation into a donkey.

Unreason

• The many transformations in the play give rise to a temporary suspension of reason.
• As night progresses in the forest, things cease to make sense, leading to examples of unreason, such as Hermia's confusion when Lysander suddenly rejects her and Bottom's self-awareness of his absurd situation with Titania.

Test your knowledge of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, exploring the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta, and the conflict between Hermia and Egeus.