log out

A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Act II, Scene 1

118 annotations

A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Act II, Scene 1

Scene 1

In the woods near Athens.

Robin Goodfellow, a mischievous imp, meets another fairy on the woods. Robin brags about his antics. Oberon, king of the fairies, and Titania, queen of the fairies, also meet. Titania has a changeling boy from India, who Oberon wants for his own. The two accuse each other of various bad behaviors. Titania describes terrible weather events that have been caused by their fighting. After Titania exits, Oberon instructs Robin to get a magic flower that can cause someone to fall in love with whoever they see when they awake. Helena and Demetrius arrive. Demetrius wants Helena to leave him alone, but she insists on staying with him. Oberon witnesses this exchange, and instructs Robin to use the flower to make Demetrius fall in love with Helena. However, Oberon does not use the lovers' names, only identifying them as Athenian youths.
  1. Enter a Fairy at one door and Robin Goodfellow
    Apr 19, 2020 Miko
    The First Folio uses the spellings “fairie” and “fairy”, but never “faery”. The Quarto uses “faery” once.
  2. (Puck) at another.

Robin

1
  1. How now, spirit, whither wander you?

A Fairy

2 - 17
  1. Over hill, over dale,
    Jul 31, 2020 Miko
    valley
  2. Thorough bush, thorough brier,
    Mar 4, 2019 Miko
    Means “through” but is pronounced with two syllables to match the meter.
    Mar 4, 2019 Miko
    These lines have been compared to a line from “The Faerie Queene” by Edmund Spenser, published around 1590: “Through hills and dales, through bushes and through breres”. It may be that one writer copied the other.
  3. Over park, over pale,
    Sep 23, 2020 Miko
    a fence or a field
  4. Thorough flood, thorough fire,
  5. I do wander every where,
  6. Swifter than the moon’s sphere;
    Mar 4, 2019 Miko
    Pronounced with two syllables to preserve the meter.
  7. And I serve the Fairy Queen,
  8. To dew her orbs upon the green.
    Mar 4, 2019 Miko
    This phrase refers to “fairy rings” - circles of mushrooms, or circles of grass that are colored differently than the surrounding. These rings are caused by a fungus that grows outwards in a circle. They were believed to have been caused by fairies dancing in circles. Notice that at the beginning of Act II, scene 2, Titania calls for a roundel - a dance done in a circle.
  9. The cowslips tall her pensioners be,
    Mar 4, 2019 Miko
    guards or attendants for a person of royalty
  10. In their gold coats spots you see:
  11. Those be rubies, fairy favors,
    Mar 4, 2019 Miko
    gifts of affection or loyalty
  12. In those freckles live their savors.
  13. I must go seek some dewdrops here,
  14. And hang a pearl in every cowslip’s ear.
  15. Farewell, thou lob of spirits; I’ll be gone.
    Mar 4, 2019 Miko
    a derogatory term meaning a lout or an oaf
  16. Our Queen and all her elves come here anon.
    Sep 23, 2020 Miko
    soon

Robin

18 - 31
  1. The King doth keep his revels here tonight;
  2. Take heed the Queen come not within his sight;
  3. For Oberon is passing fell and wrath,
    Jul 16, 2020 Miko
    surpassingly
    Mar 4, 2019 Miko
    Fierce or angry. Our modern word “felon” descends from this word.
  4. Because that she as her attendant hath
  5. A lovely boy stolen from an Indian king;
  6. She never had so sweet a changeling.
    Mar 4, 2019 Miko
    “Changeling” usually refers to a fairy baby that has been left in place of a stolen human baby. In this case, however, it refers to the human baby with no implication that another baby was left in its place.
  7. And jealous Oberon would have the child
  8. Knight of his train, to trace the forests wild;
  9. But she, perforce, withholds the loved boy,
  10. Crowns him with flowers, and makes him all her joy.
  11. And now they never meet in grove or green,
  12. By fountain clear, or spangled starlight sheen,
  13. But they do square, that all their elves for fear
    Feb 28, 2019 Miko
    quarrel
  14. Creep into acorn-cups, and hide them there.

A Fairy

32 - 42
  1. Either I mistake your shape and making quite,
    Mar 4, 2019 Miko
    Pronounced as one syllable to maintain iambic pentameter.
  2. Or else you are that shrewd and knavish sprite
    Apr 24, 2019 Miko
    mischievous
    Apr 11, 2019 Miko
    mischievous
    Aug 3, 2021 Miko
    This word had several meanings in Shakespeare's time. In this context it refers to a supernatural being. Until Shakespeare wrote this play, such beings were scary and to be feared.
  3. Call’d Robin Goodfellow. Are not you he
  4. That frights the maidens of the villagery,
    Apr 25, 2019 Miko
    villages
  5. Skim milk, and sometimes labor in the quern,
    Mar 4, 2019 Miko
    a small hand operated mill for grinding grain
  6. And bootless make the breathless huswife churn,
    Mar 4, 2019 Miko
    Without success. So the huswife churns but produces no butter.
    Mar 4, 2019 Miko
    Housewife. Pronounced “hussif”, which works with iambic pentameter.
  7. And sometime make the drink to bear no barm,
    Mar 4, 2019 Miko
    The yeasty froth on beer. Barm was used to leaven bread.
  8. Mislead night-wanderers, laughing at their harm?
    Mar 4, 2019 Miko
    The grammatical accuracy of this sentence has been called into question, and has been supposedly fixed by some editors. However, the consensus is that “frights” matches with “he”, but “skim”, “labor”, “make”, and “mislead” match with “you”.
  9. Those that Hobgoblin call you, and sweet Puck,
    Mar 4, 2019 Miko
    “Hobgoblin” is another name for Robin Goodfellow. “Hob” is a shortened form of “Robin”. A goblin is any of a variety of scary or mischievous creatures from fairy tales.
    Jul 5, 2021 Miko
    Robin Goodfellow is a puck, a type of mischievous spirit. It's unclear if Shakespeare also intended that Robin's name is “Puck”. It may be that Shakespeare and his audience were not concerned with the distinction. Some modern editions refer to him as “Puck” in the prompts, and others as “Robin”. The First Quarto and First Folio use both “Puck” and “Robin”.
  10. You do their work, and they shall have good luck.
  11. Are not you he?

Robin

43 - 59
  1.                 Thou speakest aright;
    Mar 4, 2019 Miko
    Some editors feel that there is a syllable missing in these two lines. Taken together, they don't quite form a correct line of iambic pentameter. Some editors add “Fairy” to make the meter work: Are not you he? / Fairy, thou speakest aright;
  2. I am that merry wanderer of the night.
  3. I jest to Oberon and make him smile
  4. When I a fat and bean-fed horse beguile,
  5. Neighing in likeness of a filly foal;
    Jul 23, 2020 Miko
    a young female horse
  6. And sometime lurk I in a gossip’s bowl,
    Mar 4, 2019 Miko
    A gossip’s bowl was originally a cup used as part of a christening ceremony. The term evolved to mean a cup containing a spiced drink that was passed around among friends.
  7. In very likeness of a roasted crab,
    Mar 4, 2019 Miko
    Crabapple. Robin is probably referring to a popular winter time drink called “lamb's wool” which consisted of apples, spices, and warm ale.
  8. And when she drinks, against her lips I bob,
  9. And on her withered dewlop pour the ale.
    Mar 4, 2019 Miko
    the fleshy part of the throat below the mouth
  10. The wisest aunt, telling the saddest tale,
    Mar 2, 2019 Miko
    an old woman, especially one who talks a lot
  11. Sometime for three-foot stool mistaketh me;
  12. Then slip I from her bum, down topples she,
  13. And tailor cries, and falls into a cough;
    Mar 4, 2019 Miko
    Different ideas have been advanced to explain why the the old lady cries “tailor”. 1) She cries “tailor” because she finds herself squatting on the floor in the way a tailor squats to do work. 2) The word somehow descends from the word “thief” (although we have been unable to find any source that clarifies that descent) 3) The word sounds like “tail” meaning her buttocks, and so she is crying “Oh, my butt!”

    It might be worth noting that although modern texts put “tailor” in quotes, both the First Quarto and the First Folio do not have it in quotes, and, furthermore, it is spelled “tailour”. Whether or not those details have any significance could be the subject of further speculation.

  14. And then the whole quire hold their hips and loffe,
    Mar 4, 2019 Miko
    a choir, in this sense meaning a company of people
    Jul 23, 2020 Miko
    laugh
  15. And waxen in their mirth, and neeze, and swear
    Mar 4, 2019 Miko
    waxes, increases
    Mar 4, 2019 Miko
    sneeze
  16. A merrier hour was never wasted there.
  17. But room, fairy: here comes Oberon.
    Feb 28, 2019 Miko
    Numerous scholars have suspected that this line was intended to have another syllable in order to complete the meter. The First Folio reads “But roome Fairy, heere comes Oberon.” Henry Irving changed it to “But room, room, fairy! Here comes Oberon.” The 1905 Arden Shakespeare changed it to “But room, good, fairy! Here comes Oberon.” Still other scholars, such as Samuel Johnson, have suggested that “fairy” is pronounced with three syllables.

A Fairy

60
  1. And here my mistress. Would that he were gone!
  1. Enter the King of Fairies Oberon at one door
  2. with his train, and the Queen Titania at another
  3. with hers.
    Mar 19, 2021 Miko
    In many Elizabethan theatres, actors entered and exited through doors instead of the sides of stages like today.

Oberon

61
  1. Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania.
    Jul 18, 2020 Miko
    “Well met” was a common phrase meaning “it's good to see you”. Oberon uses “ill” instead of “well” to mean that he's not happy to see Titania.

Titania

62 - 63
  1. What, jealous Oberon? Fairies, skip hence
  2. I have forsworn his bed and company.

Oberon

64
  1. Tarry, rash wanton! Am not I thy lord?
    Jul 18, 2020 Miko
    wait
    Jul 18, 2020 Miko
    someone who is rebellious

Titania

65 - 74
  1. Then I must be thy lady; but I know
    Mar 4, 2019 Miko
    Titania says that if Oberon is her lord, then she must be his wife. She then goes on to accuse him of infidelity.
  2. When thou hast stolen away from fairy land,
  3. And in the shape of Corin sat all day,
  4. Playing on pipes of corn, and versing love,
    Mar 4, 2019 Miko
    In Shakespeare's day, “corn” referred to cereals (i.e. grassy grains). So this phrase refers to playing a pipe made from some grassy grain, probably oats.
  5. To amorous Phillida. Why art thou here
    Mar 4, 2019 Miko
    Corin and Phillida were a shepherd and shepherdess in traditional love poetry. Titania is accusing Oberon of disguising himself as a shepherd in order to woo a country girl.
  6. Come from the farthest steep of India?
  7. But that, forsooth, the bouncing Amazon,
    Dec 22, 2020 Miko
    big or loud
  8. Your buskin’d mistress, and your warrior love,
    Mar 4, 2019 Miko
    A buskin was a boot that went up to at least the calf.
    Dec 22, 2020 Miko
    These lines seem to indicate that Oberon and Hippolyta had a romantic relationship.
  9. To Theseus must be wedded, and you come
  10. To give their bed joy and prosperity.

Oberon

75 - 81
  1. How canst thou thus for shame, Titania,
  2. Glance at my credit with Hippolyta,
    Mar 4, 2019 Miko
    Cast suspicion on my reputation
  3. Knowing I know thy love to Theseus?
  4. Didst not thou lead him through the glimmering night
  5. From Perigenia, whom he ravished?
  6. And make him with fair Aegles break his faith,
  7. With Ariadne, and Antiopa?
    Mar 4, 2019 Miko
    Oberon lists women that Theseus loved, then deserted. Oberon blames Titania for Theseus' actions.

Titania

82 - 118
  1. These are the forgeries of jealousy;
    Mar 4, 2019 Miko
    lies
  2. And never, since the middle summer’s spring,
    Mar 4, 2019 Miko
    the beginning of midsummer
  3. Met we on hill, in dale, forest, or mead,
  4. By paved fountain or by rushy brook,
    Mar 4, 2019 Miko
    a fountain with a pebbly bottom
    Apr 24, 2019 Miko
    covered with or surrounded by rushes
  5. Or in the beached margent of the sea,
    Mar 4, 2019 Miko
    A variant of “margin” — in this case, the edge of a sea.
  6. To dance our ringlets to the whistling wind,
  7. But with thy brawls thou hast disturb’d our sport.
  8. Therefore the winds, piping to us in vain,
    Mar 4, 2019 Miko
    Titania is saying that the winds made music for them (“piping”) but did so in vain because they could not dance to the music.
  9. As in revenge, have suck’d up from the sea
  10. Contagious fogs; which, falling in the land,
  11. Hath every pelting river made so proud
    Mar 4, 2019 Miko
    Paltry. Titania is saying that the storms were so severe that even small rivers overflowed their banks.
    Apr 23, 2019 Miko
    flooded
  12. That they have overborne their continents.
    Mar 22, 2021 Miko
    overflowed
    Mar 4, 2019 Miko
    shores
  13. The ox hath therefore stretch’d his yoke in vain,
  14. The ploughman lost his sweat, and the green corn
    Apr 24, 2019 Miko
    worked in vain
  15. Hath rotted ere his youth attain’d a beard.
    Jul 14, 2020 Miko
    The word “corn” at that time referred to any grain, but especially barley. Grains grow a “beard” at maturation. The song “John Barleycorn”, which is about harvesting barley and making alcohol with it, includes the line “Then Barleycorn he got a beard, And so became a man.”
  16. The fold stands empty in the drowned field,
    Mar 5, 2019 Miko
    a pen for animals
  17. And crows are fatted with the murrion flock;
    Mar 5, 2019 Miko
    flesh of an animal that has died from disease
  18. The nine men’s morris is fill’d up with mud,
    Mar 5, 2019 Miko
    In nine men's morris, a game board can be easily drawn on various surfaces, including cutting it into turf. Two players compete using playing pieces called “men”. Each player has nine men.
  19. And the quaint mazes in the wanton green,
    Jul 28, 2020 Miko
    cunning or clever
  20. For lack of tread, are undistinguishable.
    Mar 5, 2019 Miko
    These lines refer to mazes that were cut into lawns. The mazes were kept visible because players continually ran along the paths. Because of the bad weather, nobody ran along the paths and so the paths disappeared.
  21. The human mortals want their winter here;
  22. No night is now with hymn or carol blest.
    Mar 5, 2019 Miko
    These confusing lines have been variously explained. Some editors change “here” to “cheer”, meaning that because of the disastrous summer, winter is bleak because there is no food, and so there are no winter celebrations. J. S. Armour breaks the lines into two sentences, the first meaning that people wish it were winter, and the second meaning that hymns have not been sung to the moon (as referenced in the next line).
  23. Therefore the moon (the governess of floods),
  24. Pale in her anger, washes all the air,
    Apr 25, 2019 Miko
    wettens
  25. That rheumatic diseases do abound.
    Aug 14, 2021 Miko
    arthritis caused by harsh weather
  26. And thorough this distemperature, we see
    Mar 5, 2019 Miko
    This word can have one or both of two meanings. 1) Extreme and harmful weather conditions. 2) The disagreement between Titania and Oberon.
  27. The seasons alter: hoary-headed frosts
    Jul 9, 2021 Miko
    The First Quarto has “hoary”; the First Folio has “hoared”. Either way, it's a simile comparing frost to hair that is gray with age.
  28. Fall in the fresh lap of the crimson rose,
  29. And on old Hiems’ thin and icy crown
    Mar 5, 2019 Miko
    Winter. Used poetically to present winter as a person.
  30. An odorous chaplet of sweet summer buds
    Mar 5, 2019 Miko
    A wreath of flowers worn on the head.
  31. Is, as in mockery, set; the spring, the summer,
    Mar 5, 2019 Miko
    The image here is of a wreath of summery flowers set on the head of old man winter.
  32. The childing autumn, angry winter, change
    Mar 4, 2019 Miko
    fertile
    May 24, 2019 Miko
    exchange
  33. Their wonted liveries; and the mazed world,
    Mar 5, 2019 Miko
    The seasons change their usual appearances.
    Mar 5, 2019 Miko
    confused
  34. By their increase, now knows not which is which.
  35. And this same progeny of evils comes
  36. From our debate, from our dissension;
  37. We are their parents and original.
    Jul 15, 2020 Miko
    their origin
    Apr 29, 2019 Miko
    In this speech, Titania might be referring to the extremely wet weather in 1594 which caused massive loss of crops.

Oberon

119 - 122
  1. Do you amend it then; it lies in you.
    Jul 18, 2020 Miko
    You can fix it.
  2. Why should Titania cross her Oberon?
  3. I do but beg a little changeling boy,
  4. To be my henchman.
    Apr 11, 2019 Miko
    a boy attendant

Titania

123 - 139
  1.                    Set your heart at rest;
  2. The fairy land buys not the child of me.
  3. His mother was a vot’ress of my order,
    Mar 5, 2019 Miko
    a woman who has taken a vow, in this case to serve Titania
  4. And in the spiced Indian air, by night,
  5. Full often hath she gossip’d by my side,
  6. And sat with me on Neptune’s yellow sands,
    Mar 5, 2019 Miko
    Neptune was the Roman god of the ocean.
  7. Marking th’ embarked traders on the flood;
    Mar 5, 2019 Miko
    watching the trading ships
  8. When we have laugh’d to see the sails conceive
  9. And grow big-bellied with the wanton wind;
    Mar 5, 2019 Miko
    The sails look like pregnant bellies, the winds having made them pregnant. “Wanton” means sexually promiscuous or playful.
  10. Which she, with pretty and with swimming gait,
  11. Following (her womb then rich with my young squire)
  12. Would imitate, and sail upon the land
  13. To fetch me trifles, and return again,
  14. As from a voyage, rich with merchandise.
  15. But she, being mortal, of that boy did die,
    Jul 11, 2020 Miko
    She died in childbirth.
  16. And for her sake do I rear up her boy;
  17. And for her sake I will not part with him.

Oberon

140
  1. How long within this wood intend you stay?

Titania

141 - 144
  1. Perchance till after Theseus’ wedding-day.
  2. If you will patiently dance in our round,
  3. And see our moonlight revels, go with us;
  4. If not, shun me, and I will spare your haunts.
    Mar 5, 2019 Miko
    stay away from the places you frequent

Oberon

145
  1. Give me that boy, and I will go with thee.

Titania

146 - 147
  1. Not for thy fairy kingdom. Fairies, away!
  2. We shall chide downright, if I longer stay.
  1. Exeunt Titania and her train.

Oberon

148 - 156
  1. Well; go thy way. Thou shalt not from this grove
  2. Till I torment thee for this injury.
  3. My gentle Puck, come hither. Thou rememb’rest
  4. Since once I sat upon a promontory,
  5. And heard a mermaid on a dolphin’s back
    Jul 19, 2020 Miko
    In Greek mythology, water beings such as mermaids and nymphs were often portrayed as riding dolphins. Mermaids could sing so beautifully that the sea would become calm. For example, Bullifinch's Mythology has the sorceress Alcina saying that a mermaid “sings so sweetly that the very waves flow smoother at the sound”.
  6. Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath
    Mar 5, 2019 Miko
    beautiful sounds
  7. That the rude sea grew civil at her song,
  8. And certain stars shot madly from their spheres,
  9. To hear the sea-maid’s music?

Robin

157
  1.                               I remember.

Oberon

158 - 177
  1. That very time I saw (but thou couldst not),
  2. Flying between the cold moon and the earth,
  3. Cupid all arm’d. A certain aim he took
  4. At a fair vestal throned by the west,
    Mar 5, 2019 Miko
    In general, a virgin. In this case, possibly one of the virgin priestesses at the temple of Vesta in Rome. Note a few lines later Oberon references her as a “vot’ress”, a woman who has taken a vow to serve a deity. Many scholars believe this is a reference to Queen Elizabeth, “The Virgin Queen”.
  5. And loos’d his love-shaft smartly from his bow,
  6. As it should pierce a hundred thousand hearts;
  7. But I might see young Cupid’s fiery shaft
  8. Quench’d in the chaste beams of the wat’ry moon,
  9. And the imperial vot’ress passed on,
    Apr 11, 2019 Miko
    Possibly a reference to Queen Elizabeth
  10. In maiden meditation, fancy-free.
    Mar 8, 2019 Miko
    free from thoughts of love
  11. Yet mark’d I where the bolt of Cupid fell.
  12. It fell upon a little western flower,
  13. Before milk-white, now purple with love’s wound,
  14. And maidens call it love-in-idleness.
    Mar 5, 2019 Miko
    A viola tricolor, also called a heartsease or a field pansy. Oberon says that the flower had been white but became purple. The viola tricolor has three colors: white, purple, and yellow. Any of those colors might be dominant or missing depending on growing conditions.
  15. Fetch me that flow’r; the herb I showed thee once.
  16. The juice of it on sleeping eyelids laid
  17. Will make or man or woman madly dote
    Dec 23, 2020 Miko
    As late as the 1700s, “or” was often used before the first alternative in a list as well as a conjunction between alternatives.
  18. Upon the next live creature that it sees.
  19. Fetch me this herb, and be thou here again
  20. Ere the leviathan can swim a league.
    Mar 6, 2019 Miko
    A large sea monster or a whale. The leviathan is mentioned in the Bible and in Hebrew poetry.

Robin

178 - 179
  1. I’ll put a girdle round about the earth
  2. In forty minutes.
    Mar 9, 2019 Miko
    Forty was often used as an indefinite number, so Robin was not necessarily saying that he would literally take forty minutes in his task.
  1. Exit.

Oberon

180 - 191
  1.                   Having once this juice,
  2. I’ll watch Titania when she is asleep,
  3. And drop the liquor of it in her eyes;
  4. The next thing then she waking looks upon
  5. (Be it on lion, bear, or wolf, or bull,
  6. On meddling monkey, or on busy ape),
  7. She shall pursue it with the soul of love.
  8. And ere I take this charm from off her sight
  9. (As I can take it with another herb),
    Mar 31, 2019 Miko
    Oberon will later use this unnamed herb to remove the spell from Lysander's and Titania's eyes.
  10. I’ll make her render up her page to me.
    Apr 24, 2019 Miko
    relinquish
  11. But who comes here? I am invisible,
  12. And I will overhear their conference.
  1. Enter Demetrius, Helena following him.

Demetrius

192 - 198
  1. I love thee not; therefore pursue me not.
  2. Where is Lysander and fair Hermia?
  3. The one I’ll slay; the other slayeth me.
  4. Thou toldst me they were stol’n unto this wood;
  5. And here am I, and wode within this wood,
    Mar 6, 2019 Miko
    Extremely angry. Pronounced “wood”.
  6. Because I cannot meet my Hermia.
  7. Hence, get thee gone, and follow me no more.

Helena

199 - 202
  1. You draw me, you hard-hearted adamant;
    Mar 6, 2019 Miko
    In Shakespeare's time, the word “adamant” as a noun had different meanings. In this sense, Helena is probably referring to lodestone, a form of iron oxide that is magnetic. So “You draw me” calls him magnetic and “you hard-hearted” compares his heart to a rock. The word also came to mean someone who is very charismatic.
  2. But yet you draw not iron, for my heart
  3. Is true as steel. Leave you your power to draw,
  4. And I shall have no power to follow you.

Demetrius

203 - 205
  1. Do I entice you? Do I speak you fair?
  2. Or rather do I not in plainest truth
  3. Tell you I do not nor I cannot love you?

Helena

206 - 214
  1. And even for that do I love you the more;
  2. I am your spaniel; and, Demetrius,
    Mar 9, 2019 Miko
    In addition to meaning the type of dog, spaniel referred to someone who was excessively submissive.
  3. The more you beat me, I will fawn on you.
  4. Use me but as your spaniel; spurn me, strike me,
  5. Neglect me, lose me; only give me leave,
  6. Unworthy as I am, to follow you.
  7. What worser place can I beg in your love
  8. (And yet a place of high respect with me)
  9. Than to be used as you use your dog?

Demetrius

215 - 216
  1. Tempt not too much the hatred of my spirit,
  2. For I am sick when I do look on thee.

Helena

217
  1. And I am sick when I look not on you.

Demetrius

218 - 223
  1. You do impeach your modesty too much,
    Apr 11, 2019 Miko
    speak poorly of
  2. To leave the city and commit yourself
  3. Into the hands of one that loves you not;
  4. To trust the opportunity of night,
  5. And the ill counsel of a desert place,
  6. With the rich worth of your virginity.

Helena

224 - 230
  1. Your virtue is my privilege. For that
    Mar 9, 2019 Miko
    because
  2. It is not night when I do see your face,
  3. Therefore I think I am not in the night,
  4. Nor doth this wood lack worlds of company,
  5. For you in my respect are all the world.
  6. Then how can it be said I am alone,
  7. When all the world is here to look on me?

Demetrius

231 - 232
  1. I’ll run from thee, and hide me in the brakes,
    Mar 8, 2019 Miko
    “Brake” is an alternate word for “bracken”, i.e., a thicket.
  2. And leave thee to the mercy of wild beasts.

Helena

233 - 238
  1. The wildest hath not such a heart as you.
  2. Run when you will; the story shall be chang’d:
  3. Apollo flies, and Daphne holds the chase;
    Mar 8, 2019 Miko
    The Greek god Apollo pursued Daphne. To escape him, she prayed to be transformed into a laurel tree.
  4. The dove pursues the griffin; the mild hind
    Mar 8, 2019 Miko
    A mythical, fierce creature with the body of a lion and the head, wings and claws of an eagle.
    Mar 9, 2019 Miko
    a female deer of at least three years of age
  5. Makes speed to catch the tigerbootless speed,
  6. When cowardice pursues and valor flies.

Demetrius

239 - 241
  1. I will not stay thy questions. Let me go;
    Apr 24, 2019 Miko
    wait for
  2. Or if thou follow me, do not believe
  3. But I shall do thee mischief in the wood.
    Apr 20, 2019 Miko
    harm

Helena

242 - 248
  1. Ay, in the temple, in the town, the field,
  2. You do me mischief. Fie, Demetrius!
  3. Your wrongs do set a scandal on my sex.
  4. We cannot fight for love, as men may do.
  5. We should be woo’d, and were not made to woo.
  6. Exit Demetrius.
  7. I’ll follow thee and make a heaven of hell,
  8. To die upon the hand I love so well.
  1. Exit.

Oberon

249 - 251
  1. Fare thee well, nymph. Ere he do leave this grove,
  2. Thou shalt fly him, and he shall seek thy love.
  3. Enter Puck.
  4. Hast thou the flower there? Welcome, wanderer.

Robin

252
  1. Ay, there it is.

Oberon

253 - 272
  1.                  I pray thee give it me.
  2. I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,
    Mar 4, 2019 Miko
    blossoms
  3. Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,
  4. Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,
    Mar 8, 2019 Miko
    the name for various climbing plants such as honeysuckle
  5. With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine;
    Mar 5, 2019 Miko
    a type of rose, also called sweet-briar
  6. There sleeps Titania sometime of the night,
  7. Lull’d in these flowers with dances and delight;
  8. And there the snake throws her enamell’d skin,
    Mar 15, 2019 Miko
    sheds
  9. Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in;
    Mar 8, 2019 Miko
    clothing
  10. And with the juice of this I’ll streak her eyes,
  11. And make her full of hateful fantasies.
  12. Take thou some of it, and seek through this grove:
  13. A sweet Athenian lady is in love
  14. With a disdainful youth; anoint his eyes,
  15. But do it when the next thing he espies
  16. May be the lady. Thou shalt know the man
  17. By the Athenian garments he hath on.
    Mar 9, 2019 Miko
    These two lines (and others with rhymes based on short 'a' and short 'o') have prompted speculation about how Shakespeare pronounced words like “man” and “on”. These lines don't rhyme as we pronounce them today. Did Shakespeare pronounce “man” like “mon”, or did he pronounce “on” like “ann”? Or perhaps there is some other explanation for this rhyme.
  18. Effect it with some care, that he may prove
  19. More fond on her than she upon her love;
  20. And look thou meet me ere the first cock crow.

Robin

273
  1. Fear not, my lord! Your servant shall do so.
  1. Exeunt.
© 2021 Unotate.comcontactprivacy policyCreative Commons text from PlayShakespeare.comAll illustrations are public domain or Creative CommonsHeader illustration by Byam Shaw