| The Characters Now, as ridiculous as this may sound, the characters in this play are each really important. Each characer connects with another, and if even one of them were taken away from the play, then the whole play would fall apart. The characters are split into three groups.
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Setting The play is set first in the city of Athens, where most of the characters are introduced to the audience. As the play progresses, and new ideas and circumstances arise, the characters move into the forest, where the Fairies (Puck, Titania and Oberon) are introduced. |
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Summary
Act 1
In short, the first Act introduces all the Athenians and sets up the plot of the four lovers and the Mechanicals. The Duke is preparing the city of Athens for a celebration of his marriage to Hippolyta. After dealing with Egeus, a nobleman, he give Hermia (Egeus’ daughter) a choice to either marry Demetrius, the man Egeus wants her to marry, or join a nunnery. When everyone leaves, Lysander and Hermia plan to run away together and get married outside of Athens. They tell Helena about their plan, and Helena tells Demetrius, in hopes that he’ll love her again. Instead, he is determined to follow them into the woods, with Helena following him. In another part of Athens, a group of actors meet to rehears a play they plan to perform for the Duke’s wedding. They decide to meet later in the woods for more practice.
Act 2
The fairies are introduced. Oberon and Titania fight over an Indian boy, and, fed up with Titania, Oberon orders Puck to bring him a magical flower that will, if the juice is rubbed into one's eyes while one's sleeping, make anyone fall in love with the first thing they see after waking up, and plans to use it for revenge on Titania for not handing him the Indian boy. Puck leaves, and Oberon hides himself as Demetrius and Helena wonder into the woods nearby. Oberon listens to the way Demetrius talks to Helena and watches Helena continue to follow Demetrius into the woods. When Puck returns, Oberon orders him to pour the juice into the eyes of "the Athenian man in the woods," although, he was unaware that there were two Athenian men in the woods at the time. While Puck goes to complete his errand, Oberon pours the juice into Titania's eyes.
Meanwhile, Puck stumbles across Lysander and Hermia. Assuming this is the man Oberon was talking about, he annoints Lysander's eyes. As Puck leaves, Helena and Demetrius walk past. Helena notices him and wakes him up; Lysander falls in love with Helena and follows her out, leaving Hermia alone. When Hermia wakes, she finds Lysander is gone and goes to look for him in the woods.
