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Introduction to the play
In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare stages the workings of love. Theseus and Hippolyta, about to marry, are figures from mythology. In the woods outside Theseus’s Athens, two young men and two young women sort themselves out into couples—but not before they form first one love triangle, and then another.
Also in the woods, the king and queen of fairyland, Oberon and Titania, battle over custody of an orphan boy; Oberon uses magic to make Titania fall in love with a weaver named Bottom, whose head is temporarily transformed into that of a donkey by a hobgoblin or “puck,” Robin Goodfellow. Finally, Bottom and his companions ineptly stage the tragedy of “Pyramus and Thisbe.”
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The Folger Shakespeare
Our bestselling editions of Shakespeare's plays and poems
Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania.
—Oberon
Act 2, scene 1, line 62
I’ll put a girdle round about the Earth
In forty minutes.
—Robin
Act 2, scene 1, lines 181–182
From the audio edition of A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Full recording available fromSimon & Schuster Audioon CD and for download.
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Essays and resources from The Folger Shakespeare
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Learn more about the play, its language, and its history from the experts behind our edition.
About Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream
An introduction to the plot, themes, and characters in the play
Quotes from A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Reading Shakespeare’s Language
A guide for understanding Shakespeare’s words, sentences, and wordplay
Shakespeare and his world
Learn more about Shakespeare, his theater, and his plays from the experts behind our editions.
Shakespeare’s Life
An essay about Shakespeare and the time in which he lived
Shakespeare’s Theater
An essay about what theaters were like during Shakespeare’s career
The Publication of Shakespeare’s Plays
An essay about how Shakespeare’s plays were published
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Teaching A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Use the Folger Method to teach A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Become a Teacher Member to get exclusive access to lesson plans and professional development.
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The Key to Getting ALL Students Understanding and Interpreting Complex Texts
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Early printed texts
A Midsummer Night’s Dream was first printed in 1600 as a quarto (Q1). In 1619, a new quarto of the play was published (Q2) based on Q1 but with some additional stage directions and some small corretions to the text. That text, in turn, was the basis for the 1623 First Folio (F1) with, again, some minor changes, including the substitution of Egeus for Philostrate in the final scene of the play. Most modern editions, like the Folger editions, are based on the Q1 text. See more primary sources related to A Midsummer Night’s Dream on Shakespeare Documented
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