A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S
DREAM – lines chosen from the original version – first draft – 5th May,
2017
Narrator: this play tells us the stories of many couples
from the city of Athens. Theseus and Hippolyta, Oberon and Titania, Hermia and Demetrius
and Helena and Lysander. The play is like a Hollywood musical full of songs and
dances celebrating love.
THESEUS
Now,
fair Hippolyta, our nuptial hour
Draws
on apace. Four happy days bring in
Another
moon
HIPPOLYTA
Four
days will quickly steep themselves in night. [enter Egeus, Hermia, Demetrius]
THESEUS
Good
Egeus. What’s the news with thee?
Narrator: Egeus brings his daughter Hermia and complains
to Theseus that she refuses to marry the man he has chosen for her.
EGEUS
Full
of vexation come I with complaint
Against
my child, my daughter Hermia.
This
man hath bewitched the bosom of my child. {Lysander is brought forward by
Egeus]
As
she is mine, I may dispose of her—
Which
shall be either to this gentleman [he shows Demetrius to the audience]
Or
to her death—according to our law
THESEUS
What
say you, Hermia? Be advised, fair maid
HERMIA
I
do entreat your grace to pardon me.
I
refuse to wed Demetrius
THESEUS
If
you yield not to your father’s choice,
You
can endure the livery of a nun
HERMIA
So
will I grow, so live, so die, my lord
THESEUS
Either
prepare to die
Or
else to wed Demetrius [All except Lysander and Hermia leave the stage]
LYSANDER
If
thou lovest me then,
Steal
forth thy father’s house tomorrow night
To
the wood, a league without the town
HERMIA
Tomorrow
truly will I meet with thee. [enter Helena]
HELENA
O,
teach me how you look and with what art
You
sway the motion of Demetrius' heart.
HERMIA
I
give him curses, yet he gives me love.
The
more I hate, the more he follows me.
HELENA
The
more I love, the more he hateth me.
HERMIA
Take
comfort. He no more shall see my face.
Lysander
and myself will fly this place. {exit Hermia and Lysander]
HELENA
But
what of that? Demetrius thinks not so.
He
will not know what all but he do know.
Things
base and vile, holding no quantity,
Love
can transpose to form and dignity.
Love
looks not with the eyes but with the mind.
And
therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.
Narrator: A
group of friends – Bottom, Quince and others are planning to put up a drama
based on the love story of Pyramus and
Thisbe for the wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta. Bottom is very excited about
acting. He plays the role of the hero, Pyramus. He also acts as a lion.
Meanwhile, the king of fairies, Oberon and his queen
Titania are here to celebrate the wedding. They are fighting over a small boy
called Puck.
OBERON
Why
should Titania cross her Oberon?
I
do but beg a little changeling boy
TITANIA
The
Fairyland buys not the child of me. [exit Titania. Enter Puck]
PUCK
I’ll
put a girdle round about the Earth
In
forty minutes.
OBERON
Fetch
me that flower. Love in idleness.
The
juice of it on sleeping eyelids
Will
make man or woman madly dote
Upon
the next live creature that it sees
I’ll
drop it on Titania’s eyes when she is
asleep.
When
she wakes up—
Be
it on lion, bear, or wolf, or bull,
She
shall pursue it with the soul of love.
PUCK
Fear
not, my lord. Your servant shall do so.
Narrator:
Lysander and Hermia run away to a forest. Helena tells this to Demetrius. He
follows the lovers. Helena also goes to the forest. Now all the 4 lovers are in
the forest. Helena fights with Demetrius for not loving him.
DEMETRIUS
Tempt
not too much the hatred of my spirit.
For
I am sick when I do look on thee
HELENA
And
I am sick when I look not on you.[ exit Helena and Demetrius]
Narrator:
The fairy king Oberon watches this. He calls Puck and asks him to pour the love
juice on the eyes of Demetrius so that he will love Helena.
OBERON
Fare
thee well, nymph. Ere he do leave this grove,
Thou
shalt fly him and he shall seek thy love. [enter Puck]
Hast
thou the flower there?
PUCK
Ay,
there it is.
OBERON
There
sleeps Titania sometime of the night,
And
with the juice of this I’ll streak her eyes.[ he gives puck some of the
flowers]
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.
PUCK
Fear not, my lord. Your servant shall do so.[exit
Puck, enter Titania]
TITANIA
Come
now, a roundel and a fairy song.
Sing
me now asleep.
Then
to your offices and let me rest. [ Titania
falls asleep]
OBERON
Wake
when some vile thing is near.[ exit Oberon, enter Lysander and hermia]
LYSANDER
We’ll
rest us, Hermia, if you think it good.
And
tarry for the comfort of the day.
HERMIA
With
half that wish the wisher’s eyes be pressed! [
Hermia and Lysander sleep. Enter Puck]
PUCK
Who
is here?
Weeds
of Athens he doth wear.
This
is he, my master said,
Despisèd
the Athenian maid.[ Squeezes flower juice on Lysander’s eyelids]
[Exit
Puck, enter Helena and Demetrius running]
HELENA
Stay,
though thou kill me, sweet Demetrius.
DEMETRIUS
I
charge thee, hence, and do not haunt me thus.
HELENA
O,
wilt thou darkling leave me? Do not so.
DEMETRIUS
Stay,
on thy peril. I alone will go.[ exit Demetrius]
HELENA
Happy
is Hermia, wheresoe'er she lies,
I
am as ugly as a bear,[ Sees Lysander]
But
who is here? Lysander, on the ground?
Lysander,
if you live, good sir, awake.
LYSANDER
(waking)
And run through fire I will for thy sweet sake.
Where
is Demetrius? Oh, how fit a word
Is
that vile name to perish on my sword!
HELENA
Do
not say so, Lysander. Say not so.
Yet
Hermia still loves you. Then be content.
LYSANDER
Content
with Hermia? No.
Not
Hermia but Helena I love.
HELENA
Is
’t not enough, is ’t not enough, young man,
That
I did never, no, nor never can,
Deserve
a sweet look from Demetrius' eye,
But
you must flout my insufficiency?
But
fare you well.[exit Helena]
LYSANDER
She
sees not Hermia.—Hermia, sleep thou there.
And
never mayst thou come Lysander near![exit Lysander]
HERMIA
[waking
up] Lysander!—What, removed?—Lysander, lord!—
What,
out of hearing, gone? No sound, no word?—
Alack,
where are you?[ Hermia exits]
Narrator:[ Titania sleeps. Enter the clowns Bottom,
Quince, Flute, Snug Snout and Starveling]
BOTTOM
Are
we all met?
QUINCE
Pat,
pat. And here’s a marvelous convenient place for our rehearsal.
BOTTOM
There
are things in this comedy of Pyramus and Thisbe that will never please.
STARVELING
I
believe we must leave the killing out, when all is done.[ enter puck unseen]
PUCK
What
hempen homespuns have we swaggering here,
So
near the cradle of the fairy queen?
BOTTOM
And
by and by I will to thee appear.
But
hark, a voice!
Stay
thou but here awhile,[ exit Bottom, exit Puck]
QUINCE
Ay,
marry, must you. For you must understand he goes but to see a noise that he
heard, and is to come again.
FLUTE
Oh.
(as Thisbe) As true as truest horse that yet would never tire.
Narrator:
Enter
BOTTOM, with an ass’s head, and PUCK
BOTTOM
(as
PYRAMUS) If I were fair, Thisbe, I were only thine.
QUINCE
Oh,
monstrous! Oh, strange! We are haunted. Pray, masters! Fly, masters! Help![
exit Quince. Flute, Snug, Snout and Starveling]
PUCK
I’ll
follow you. I’ll lead you about a round [exit Puck]
BOTTOM
Why
do they run away?
TITANIA
(waking)
What angel wakes me from my flowery bed?
BOTTOM
[singing]
TITANIA
On
the first view to say, to swear, I love thee
BOTTOM
Methinks,
mistress, you should have little reason for that.
Nay,
I can gleek upon occasion.
TITANIA
Thou
art as wise as thou art beautiful.[ exit Titania and Bottom, enter Oberon]
OBERON
I
wonder if Titania be awaked.
Then,
what it was that next came in her eye,{ enter puck]
PUCK
My
mistress with a monster is in love.
When
in that moment so it came to pass,
Titania
waked and straightway loved an ass
OBERON
This
falls out better than I could devise.
But
hast thou yet latched the Athenian’s eyes
With
the love juice, as I did bid thee do?
PUCK
I
took him sleeping—that is finished too—
And
the Athenian woman by his side,
That,
when he waked, of force she must be eyed.[ ENTER DEMITRIUS AND HERMIA]
OBERON
(aside
to PUCK) Stand close. This is the same Athenian.
PUCK
(aside
to OBERON) This is the woman, but not this the man.
HERMIA
What’s
this to my Lysander? Where is he?
Ah,
good Demetrius, wilt thou give him me?
DEMETRIUS
An
if I could, what should I get therefore?
HERMIA
A
privilege never to see me more.{ exit Hermia]
Narrator:
Demetrius decides to stay there for a while and falls asleep. Oberon squeezes
the flower juice into Demetrius eyes
[
enter Lysander and Helena]
LYSANDER
Demetrius
loves her, and he loves not you.
DEMETRIUS
[walking]
Lysander, keep thy Hermia. I will none.
If
e'er I loved her, all that love is gone.
LYSANDER
Helen,
it is not so[ enter Hermia]
HERMIA
why
unkindly didst thou leave me so?[ to Lysander}
LYSANDER
Why
seek’st thou me? Could not this make thee know
The
hate I bear thee made me leave thee so?
HERMIA
You
speak not as you think. It cannot be.
LYSANDER
Stay,
gentle Helena. Hear my excuse.
My
love, my life, my soul, fair Helena!
HELENA
Oh,
excellent!
HERMIA
(to
LYSANDER)
Sweet,
do not scorn her so.
DEMETRIUS
I
say I love thee more than he can do.[ Helena, Hermia, Lysander, Demetrius exit]
Narrator:
Helena and Hermia are confused whether this is for real or not meanwhile Oberon
blames Puck for this confusion.
OBERON
(to
Puck) This is thy negligence. Still thou mistakest,
[
gives Puck another flower] crush this herb into Lysander’s eye,
Whose
liquor hath this virtuous property
To
take from thence all error with his might
I’ll
to my queen and beg her Indian boy.
And
then I will her charmèd eye release
From
monster’s view, and all things shall be peace.[ exit Oberon]
Narrator: Puck as Lysander brings Demetrius and as Demetrius
Lysander and puts them to sleep. Helena and
Hermia who are also tired falls down asleep. Bottom and Titania also fall asleep.
[
enter Oberon and Puck]
OBERON
May
all to Athens back again repair
And
think no more of this night’s accidents
But
first I will release the fairy queen.[ squeezing the flowers juice into her eyes]
Now,
my Titania, wake you, my sweet queen.
TITANIA
(waking)
My Oberon, what visions have I seen!
OBERON
There
lies your love.
PUCK
(taking
the ass’s head off BOTTOM)
Now when thou wakest, with thine own fool’s eyes
peep.
[enter EGEUS and THESEUS ]
EGEUS
My
lord, this is my daughter here asleep.
And
this, Lysander. This Demetrius is.
This
Helena, old Nedar’s Helena.
I
wonder of their being here together.
THESEUS
Is
not this the day
That
Hermia should give answer of her choice?
EGEUS
It
is, my lord.
DEMETRIUS
The
object and the pleasure of mine eye,
Is
only Helena. To her, my lord,
Was
I betrothed ere I saw Hermia.
HELENA
And I have found Demetrius like a jewel,
Mine
own, and not mine own.
THESEUS
Joy,
gentle friends! Joy and fresh days of love
Accompany
your hearts!
Come
now, what masques, what dances shall we have
Come
on Egeus, accept these lovers and be merry.
Narrator:
Bottom’s group is acting a play for the wedding of Thesues and Hippolyta. BOTTOM as PYRAMUS, and FLUTE as THISBE, and
SNOUT as WALL, and STARVELING as MOONSHINE, and SNUG as LION.
This
is also a love story. It is very comic. Every one laughs.
HIPPOLYTA
This
is the silliest stuff that ever I heard.
THESEUS
No
epilogue, I pray you, for your play needs no excuse.
The
iron tongue of midnight hath told twelve.
Lovers,
to bed. 'Tis almost fairy time.
Narrator:
Bottom’s play is over and Theseus gets married
to Hippolyta. Demetrius marries Helena. Lysander marries Hermia.
Oberon
and Titania sing. Puck sings too.
