Act 1, Scene 1

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ACT I

SCENE I. Athens. The palace of THESEUS.

Enter THESEUS, HIPPOLYTA, PHILOSTRATE, and Attendants

THESEUS:

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Now, fair Hippolyta, our nuptial hour
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Draws on apace, four happy days bring in

This reference to the moon is both a literal way in which the time is marked and a metaphorical way in which to establish the imagery of passage into the dream stage. The beginning of the play takes place prior to the new moon, but by the end of the events, after all of the confusion and intrigue is past, a new phase is in effect and sees the celebration of a blessed new marriage taking place under its celestial canopy.

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Another moon: but, O, methinks, how slow
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This old moon wanes! she lingers my desires
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Like to a step-dame or a dowager
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Long withering out a young man revenue.

HIPPOLYTA:

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Four days will quickly steep themselves in night,
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Four nights will quickly dream away the time,

You must read this pdf to learn more.

Felix Bartholody Mendelssohn
Felix Bartholody Mendelssohn
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And then the moon, like to a silver bow
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New-bent in heaven, shall behold the night
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Of our solemnities.

THESEUS:

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Go, Philostrate,
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Stir up the Athenian youth to merriments,
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Awake the pert and nimble spirit of mirth,
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Turn melancholy forth to funerals,
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The pale companion is not for our pomp.

Exit PHILOSTRATE

THESEUS:

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Hippolyta, I woo'd thee with my sword,

These lines are in reference to Theseus overwhelming the Amazons in battle and subsequently marrying Hippolyta

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And won thy love, doing thee injuries,
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But I will wed thee in another key,
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With pomp, with triumph and with revelling.

Ryan McKinny as Theseus, Tamara Mumford as Hippolyta Metropolitan Opera, 1996

Ryan McKinny as Theseus and Tamara Mumford as Hippolyta
Ryan McKinny as Theseus and Tamara Mumford as Hippolyta

Enter EGEUS, HERMIA, LYSANDER, and DEMETRIUS

EGEUS:

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Happy be Theseus, our renowned duke!

THESEUS:

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Thanks, good Egeus: what's the news with thee?

EGEUS:

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Full of vexation come I, with complaint
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Against my child, my daughter Hermia.
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Stand forth, Demetrius. My noble lord,
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This man hath my consent to marry her.
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Stand forth, Lysander: and my gracious duke,
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This man hath bewitch'd the bosom of my child,
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Thou, thou, Lysander, thou hast given her rhymes,
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And interchanged love-tokens with my child:
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Thou hast by moonlight at her window sung,
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With feigning voice verses of feigning love,
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And stolen the impression of her fantasy
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With bracelets of thy hair, rings, gawds, conceits,

A gawd is an ornament or a trinket.

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Knacks, trifles, nosegays, sweetmeats, messengers

Sweetmeats are foods rich in sugar such as candied or crystalized fruits.

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Of strong prevailment in unharden'd youth:
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With cunning hast thou filch'd my daughter's heart,
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Turn'd her obedience, which is due to me,
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To stubborn harshness: and, my gracious duke,
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Be it so she, will not here before your grace
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Consent to marry with Demetrius,

As Hermia’s father, the ancient privilege of Athens states that she may be put to death if she does not obey her father’s wishes for her marriage.

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I beg the ancient privilege of Athens,
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As she is mine, I may dispose of her:
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Which shall be either to this gentleman
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Or to her death, according to our law
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Immediately provided in that case.

THESEUS:

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What say you, Hermia? be advised fair maid:
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To you your father should be as a god,
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One that composed your beauties, yea, and one
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To whom you are but as a form in wax

A wax form may refer here to a pattern of wax that, when invested and burned out or otherwise eliminated, will produce a mold in which a casting may be made.

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By him imprinted and within his power

Thesus here tells Hermia that she must think of her father as a god who has the power to give and take away her beauty as a wax molding creates a form of an image and can easily be changed or disfigured

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To leave the figure or disfigure it.
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Demetrius is a worthy gentleman.

HERMIA:

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So is Lysander.

THESEUS:

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In himself he is,
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But in this kind, wanting your father's voice,
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The other must be held the worthier.

HERMIA:

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I would my father look'd but with my eyes.

THESEUS:

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Rather your eyes must with his judgment look.

Thesus argues to Hermia that she must look more objectively and see the men as her father does.

HERMIA:

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I do entreat your grace to pardon me.
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I know not by what power I am made bold,
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Nor how it may concern my modesty,
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In such a presence here to plead my thoughts,
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But I beseech your grace that I may know
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The worst that may befall me in this case,
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If I refuse to wed Demetrius.

THESEUS:

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Either to die the death or to abjure
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For ever the society of men.
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Therefore, fair Hermia, question your desires,
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Know of your youth, examine well your blood,
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Whether, if you yield not to your father's choice,

This script generates a number of usually pronounceable and frequently amusing fake words loosely based on a specific language. They can be used, for example, to name characters in games and whatnot. Maybe you need to name a town or an NPC in your next campaign?

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You can endure the livery of a nun,

A livery being literally defined as a distinctive dress as that of a nun or servant (Mirriam-Webster) in this context is in reference to the chaste life of abstinence that Theseus will subject Hermia to should she not marry Demetrius as he wishes.

Roman Catholic Religious Dress
Roman Catholic Religious Dress
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For aye to be in shady cloister mew'd,

Mew’d in this context means to be shut up or confined.

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To live a barren sister all your life,
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Chanting faint hymns to the cold fruitless moon.
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Thrice-blessed they that master so their blood,
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To undergo such maiden pilgrimage,
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But earthlier happy is the rose distill'd,
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Than that which withering on the virgin thorn
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Grows, lives and dies in single blessedness.

HERMIA:

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So will I grow, so live, so die, my lord,
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Ere I will my virgin patent up

Here, Hermia speaks of her virgin patent as a priviledge or license to be given up. She does not want to lose her virginity to someone she does not care for.

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Unto his lordship, whose unwished yoke
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My soul consents not to give sovereignty.

THESEUS:

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Take time to pause, and, by the nest new moon--
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The sealing-day betwixt my love and me,

The sealing-day spoken of here is in reference to marriage.

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For everlasting bond of fellowship--
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Upon that day either prepare to die
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For disobedience to your father's will,
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Or else to wed Demetrius, as he would,
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Or on Diana's altar to protest

Diana is the “goddess of the hunt” and presides over the woodland, nature, and the moon.

The Hunt of Diana
The Hunt of Diana
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For aye austerity and single life.

DEMETRIUS:

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Relent, sweet Hermia: and, Lysander, yield
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Thy crazed title to my certain right.

LYSANDER:

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You have her father's love, Demetrius,
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Let me have Hermia's: do you marry him.

EGEUS:

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Scornful Lysander! true, he hath my love,
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And what is mine my love shall render him.
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And she is mine, and all my right of her
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I do estate unto Demetrius.

LYSANDER:

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I am, my lord, as well derived as he,
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As well possess'd, my love is more than his,
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My fortunes every way as fairly rank'd,
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If not with vantage, as Demetrius',
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And, which is more than all these boasts can be,
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I am beloved of beauteous Hermia:
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Why should not I then prosecute my right?
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Demetrius, I'll avouch it to his head,

Avouch means here to vouch for, to confess, or to avow.

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Made love to Nedar's daughter, Helena,

There is much debate about the true identity of Nedar, the father of Helena. However, prominent Shakespeare scholar Terence Hawkes speculates that it could be an anagram for Arden, a noble family name linked to Shakespeare’s mother’s family. Others believe that the name originates from a Hebrew derivitive meaning “missing” or “absent” which would account for the character Nedar’s glaring absence in the play.

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And won her soul, and she, sweet lady, dotes,
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Devoutly dotes, dotes in idolatry,
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Upon this spotted and inconstant man.

THESEUS:

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I must confess that I have heard so much,
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And with Demetrius thought to have spoke thereof,
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But, being over-full of self-affairs,
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My mind did lose it. But, Demetrius, come,
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And come, Egeus, you shall go with me,
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I have some private schooling for you both.
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For you, fair Hermia, look you arm yourself
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To fit your fancies to your father's will,
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Or else the law of Athens yields you up--
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Which by no means we may extenuate--
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To death, or to a vow of single life.
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Come, my Hippolyta: what cheer, my love?
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Demetrius and Egeus, go along:
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I must employ you in some business
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Against our nuptial and confer with you
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Of something nearly that concerns yourselves.

EGEUS:

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With duty and desire we follow you.

Exeunt all but LYSANDER and HERMIA

LYSANDER:

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How now, my love! why is your cheek so pale?
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How chance the roses there do fade so fast?

HERMIA:

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Belike for want of rain, which I could well

The archaic term belike, circa 1500, was most-likely used to mean “probably.”

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Beteem them from the tempest of my eyes.

To *beteem here means to allow or to permit.

LYSANDER:

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Ay me! for aught that I could ever read,
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Could ever hear by tale or history,
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The course of true love never did run smooth,
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But, either it was different in blood,--

HERMIA:

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O cross! too high to be enthrall'd to low.

LYSANDER:

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Or else misgraffed in respect of years,--

Misgraffed here means that which is wrongly grafted or badly matched.

HERMIA:

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O spite! too old to be engaged to young.

LYSANDER:

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Or else it stood upon the choice of friends,--

HERMIA:

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O hell! to choose love by another's eyes.

LYSANDER:

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Or, if there were a sympathy in choice,
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War, death, or sickness did lay siege to it,
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Making it momentany as a sound,

Momentany is an obsolete use of “momentary.”

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Swift as a shadow, short as any dream,
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Brief as the lightning in the collied night,
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That, in a spleen, unfolds both heaven and earth,

Spleen here is in reference to a sudden impulse or whim.

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And ere a man hath power to say 'Behold!'
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The jaws of darkness do devour it up:
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So quick bright things come to confusion.

HERMIA:

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If then true lovers have been ever cross'd,
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It stands as an edict in destiny:
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Then let us teach our trial patience,
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Because it is a customary cross,
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As due to love as thoughts and dreams and sighs,
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Wishes and tears, poor fancy's followers.

LYSANDER:

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A good persuasion: therefore, hear me, Hermia.
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I have a widow aunt, a dowager

Lysander has a well thought out plan for his escape with Hermia. Not only will they receive a friendly greeting upon arrival, they will be provided for once they settle there.

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Of great revenue, and she hath no child:
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From Athens is her house remote seven leagues,
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And she respects me as her only son.
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There, gentle Hermia, may I marry thee,
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And to that place the sharp Athenian law
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Cannot pursue us. If thou lovest me then,
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Steal forth thy father's house to-morrow night,
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And in the wood, a league without the town,
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Where I did meet thee once with Helena,
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To do observance to a morn of May,
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There will I stay for thee.

HERMIA:

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My good Lysander!
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I swear to thee, by Cupid's strongest bow,

Cupid is the mythological son of Venus, the mischievous young nymph who manipulates situations of love and passion as described by Helena

Venus and Cupid
Venus and Cupid
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By his best arrow with the golden head,
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By the simplicity of Venus' doves,

Venus is the goddess of love and the mother of Cupid

The Birth of Venus
The Birth of Venus
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By that which knitteth souls and prospers loves,
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And by that fire which burn'd the Carthage queen,

This line is in reference to Dido, queen of Carthage, who committed suicide after being abandoned by Aneas.

Aeneas's Farewell to Dido in Carthago
Aeneas's Farewell to Dido in Carthago
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When the false Troyan under sail was seen,

This line is in reference to the Trojan horse, a lengthy account of which is given in Virgil’s Aneid.

The Procession of the Trojan Horse in Troy
The Procession of the Trojan Horse in Troy
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By all the vows that ever men have broke,
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In number more than ever women spoke,
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In that same place thou hast appointed me,
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To-morrow truly will I meet with thee.

LYSANDER:

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Keep promise, love. Look, here comes Helena.

Enter HELENA

HERMIA:

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God speed fair Helena! whither away?

HELENA:

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Call you me fair? that fair again unsay.
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Demetrius loves your fair: O happy fair!
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Your eyes are lode-stars, and your tongue's sweet air

A lode-star is an archaic term for a star that leads or guides, specifically the North Star.

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More tuneable than lark to shepherd's ear,
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When wheat is green, when hawthorn buds appear.
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Sickness is catching: O, were favour so,
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Yours would I catch, fair Hermia, ere I go,
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My ear should catch your voice, my eye your eye,
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My tongue should catch your tongue's sweet melody.
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Were the world mine, Demetrius being bated,

Bated is an obsolete verb meaning here to diminish or decrease.

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The rest I'd give to be to you translated.
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O, teach me how you look, and with what art
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You sway the motion of Demetrius' heart.

HERMIA:

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I frown upon him, yet he loves me still.

HELENA:

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O that your frowns would teach my smiles such skill!

HERMIA:

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I give him curses, yet he gives me love.

HELENA:

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O that my prayers could such affection move!

HERMIA:

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The more I hate, the more he follows me.

HELENA:

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The more I love, the more he hateth me.

HERMIA:

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His folly, Helena, is no fault of mine.

HELENA:

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None, but your beauty: would that fault were mine!

HERMIA:

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Take comfort: he no more shall see my face,
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Lysander and myself will fly this place.
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Before the time I did Lysander see,
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Seem'd Athens as a paradise to me:
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O, then, what graces in my love do dwell,
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That he hath turn'd a heaven unto a hell!

LYSANDER:

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Helen, to you our minds we will unfold:
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To-morrow night, when Phoebe doth behold

Phoebe, better known by her more formal title Diana, is the “goddess of the hunt” and presides over the woodland, nature, and the moon. (See Diana)

213
Her silver visage in the watery glass,
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Decking with liquid pearl the bladed grass,

“Liquid pearl” here references the dew on the grass.

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A time that lovers' flights doth still conceal,
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Through Athens' gates have we devised to steal.

HERMIA:

217
And in the wood, where often you and I
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Upon faint primrose-beds were wont to lie,
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Emptying our bosoms of their counsel sweet,
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There my Lysander and myself shall meet,
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And thence from Athens turn away our eyes,
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To seek new friends and stranger companies.
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Farewell, sweet playfellow: pray thou for us,
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And good luck grant thee thy Demetrius!
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Keep word, Lysander: we must starve our sight
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From lovers' food till morrow deep midnight.

“Lovers’ food” may here be in reference to feasting their eyes on one another until a later time when they are able to meet again.

LYSANDER:

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I will, my Hermia.

Exit HERMIA

LYSANDER:

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Helena, adieu:
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As you on him, Demetrius dote on you!

To dote means to be lavish or excessive in one’s attention, fondness, or affection.

Exit

HELENA:

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How happy some o'er other some can be!
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Through Athens I am thought as fair as she.
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But what of that? Demetrius thinks not so,
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He will not know what all but he do know:
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And as he errs, doting on Hermia's eyes,
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So I, admiring of his qualities:
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Things base and vile, folding no quantity,
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Love can transpose to form and dignity:
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Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind,
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And therefore is wing'd Cupid painted blind:

Cupid is the mythological son of Venus, the mischievous young nymph who manipulates situations of love and passion as described by Helena

Venus and Cupid
Venus and Cupid
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Nor hath Love's mind of any judgement taste,
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Wings and no eyes figure unheedy haste:
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And therefore is Love said to be a child,
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Because in choice he is so oft beguiled.
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As waggish boys in game themselves forswear,

A wag is a young man or a chap; To forswear means here to reject or renounce under oath.

245
So the boy Love is perjured every where:

To be purjured means to make a perjurer of (oneself), which is one guilty of false swearing.

246
For ere Demetrius look'd on Hermia's eyne,

Here, the term eyne refers to her eyes.

247
He hail'd down oaths that he was only mine,
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And when this hail some heat from Hermia felt,
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So he dissolved, and showers of oaths did melt.
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I will go tell him of fair Hermia's flight:
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Then to the wood will he to-morrow night
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Pursue her, and for this intelligence
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If I have thanks, it is a dear expense:
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But herein mean I to enrich my pain,
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To have his sight thither and back again.

Thither here means being on the other and farther side.

Exit