ACT I

SCENE I. Athens. The palace of THESEUS.

Enter THESEUS, HIPPOLYTA, PHILOSTRATE, and Attendants

THESEUS:

1

Now, fair Hippolyta, our nuptial hour

2

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.

3

Another moon: but, O, methinks, how slow

4

This old moon wanes! she lingers my desires

5

Like to a step-dame or a dowager

6

Long withering out a young man revenue.

HIPPOLYTA:

7

Four days will quickly steep themselves in night,

8

Four nights will quickly dream away the time,

You must read this pdf to learn more.

9

And then the moon, like to a silver bow

10

New-bent in heaven, shall behold the night

11

Of our solemnities.

THESEUS:

12

Go, Philostrate,

13

Stir up the Athenian youth to merriments,

14

Awake the pert and nimble spirit of mirth,

15

Turn melancholy forth to funerals,

16

The pale companion is not for our pomp.

Exit PHILOSTRATE

THESEUS:

17

Hippolyta, I woo'd thee with my sword,

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

18

And won thy love, doing thee injuries,

19

But I will wed thee in another key,

20

With pomp, with triumph and with revelling.

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

Enter EGEUS, HERMIA, LYSANDER, and DEMETRIUS

EGEUS:

21

Happy be Theseus, our renowned duke!

THESEUS:

22

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

EGEUS:

23

Full of vexation come I, with complaint

24

Against my child, my daughter Hermia.

25

Stand forth, Demetrius. My noble lord,

26

This man hath my consent to marry her.

27

Stand forth, Lysander: and my gracious duke,

28

This man hath bewitch'd the bosom of my child,

29

Thou, thou, Lysander, thou hast given her rhymes,

30

And interchanged love-tokens with my child:

31

Thou hast by moonlight at her window sung,

32

With feigning voice verses of feigning love,

33

And stolen the impression of her fantasy

34

With bracelets of thy hair, rings, gawds, conceits,

A gawd is an ornament or a trinket.

35

Knacks, trifles, nosegays, sweetmeats, messengers

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

36

Of strong prevailment in unharden'd youth:

37

With cunning hast thou filch'd my daughter's heart,

38

Turn'd her obedience, which is due to me,

39

To stubborn harshness: and, my gracious duke,

40

Be it so she, will not here before your grace

41

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.

42

I beg the ancient privilege of Athens,

43

As she is mine, I may dispose of her:

44

Which shall be either to this gentleman

45

Or to her death, according to our law

46

Immediately provided in that case.

THESEUS:

47

What say you, Hermia? be advised fair maid:

48

To you your father should be as a god,

49

One that composed your beauties, yea, and one

50

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.

51

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

52

To leave the figure or disfigure it.

53

Demetrius is a worthy gentleman.

HERMIA:

54

So is Lysander.

THESEUS:

55

In himself he is,

56

But in this kind, wanting your father's voice,

57

The other must be held the worthier.

HERMIA:

58

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

THESEUS:

59

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:

60

I do entreat your grace to pardon me.

61

I know not by what power I am made bold,

62

Nor how it may concern my modesty,

63

In such a presence here to plead my thoughts,

64

But I beseech your grace that I may know

65

The worst that may befall me in this case,

66

If I refuse to wed Demetrius.

THESEUS:

67

Either to die the death or to abjure

68

For ever the society of men.

69

Therefore, fair Hermia, question your desires,

70

Know of your youth, examine well your blood,

71

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?

72

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.

73

For aye to be in shady cloister mew'd,

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

74

To live a barren sister all your life,

75

Chanting faint hymns to the cold fruitless moon.

76

Thrice-blessed they that master so their blood,

77

To undergo such maiden pilgrimage,

78

But earthlier happy is the rose distill'd,

79

Than that which withering on the virgin thorn

80

Grows, lives and dies in single blessedness.

HERMIA:

81

So will I grow, so live, so die, my lord,

82

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.

83

Unto his lordship, whose unwished yoke

84

My soul consents not to give sovereignty.

THESEUS:

85

Take time to pause, and, by the nest new moon--

86

The sealing-day betwixt my love and me,

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

87

For everlasting bond of fellowship--

88

Upon that day either prepare to die

89

For disobedience to your father's will,

90

Or else to wed Demetrius, as he would,

91

Or on Diana's altar to protest

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

92

For aye austerity and single life.

DEMETRIUS:

93

Relent, sweet Hermia: and, Lysander, yield

94

Thy crazed title to my certain right.

LYSANDER:

95

You have her father's love, Demetrius,

96

Let me have Hermia's: do you marry him.

EGEUS:

97

Scornful Lysander! true, he hath my love,

98

And what is mine my love shall render him.

99

And she is mine, and all my right of her

100

I do estate unto Demetrius.

LYSANDER:

101

I am, my lord, as well derived as he,

102

As well possess'd, my love is more than his,

103

My fortunes every way as fairly rank'd,

104

If not with vantage, as Demetrius',

105

And, which is more than all these boasts can be,

106

I am beloved of beauteous Hermia:

107

Why should not I then prosecute my right?

108

Demetrius, I'll avouch it to his head,

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

109

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.

110

And won her soul, and she, sweet lady, dotes,

111

Devoutly dotes, dotes in idolatry,

112

Upon this spotted and inconstant man.

THESEUS:

113

I must confess that I have heard so much,

114

And with Demetrius thought to have spoke thereof,

115

But, being over-full of self-affairs,

116

My mind did lose it. But, Demetrius, come,

117

And come, Egeus, you shall go with me,

118

I have some private schooling for you both.

119

For you, fair Hermia, look you arm yourself

120

To fit your fancies to your father's will,

121

Or else the law of Athens yields you up--

122

Which by no means we may extenuate--

123

To death, or to a vow of single life.

124

Come, my Hippolyta: what cheer, my love?

125

Demetrius and Egeus, go along:

126

I must employ you in some business

127

Against our nuptial and confer with you

128

Of something nearly that concerns yourselves.

EGEUS:

129

With duty and desire we follow you.

Exeunt all but LYSANDER and HERMIA

LYSANDER:

130

How now, my love! why is your cheek so pale?

131

How chance the roses there do fade so fast?

HERMIA:

132

Belike for want of rain, which I could well

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

133

Beteem them from the tempest of my eyes.

To *beteem here means to allow or to permit.

LYSANDER:

134

Ay me! for aught that I could ever read,

135

Could ever hear by tale or history,

136

The course of true love never did run smooth,

137

But, either it was different in blood,--

HERMIA:

138

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

LYSANDER:

139

Or else misgraffed in respect of years,--

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

HERMIA:

140

O spite! too old to be engaged to young.

LYSANDER:

141

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

HERMIA:

142

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

LYSANDER:

143

Or, if there were a sympathy in choice,

144

War, death, or sickness did lay siege to it,

145

Making it momentany as a sound,

Momentany is an obsolete use of “momentary.”

146

Swift as a shadow, short as any dream,

147

Brief as the lightning in the collied night,

148

That, in a spleen, unfolds both heaven and earth,

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

149

And ere a man hath power to say 'Behold!'

150

The jaws of darkness do devour it up:

151

So quick bright things come to confusion.

HERMIA:

152

If then true lovers have been ever cross'd,

153

It stands as an edict in destiny:

154

Then let us teach our trial patience,

155

Because it is a customary cross,

156

As due to love as thoughts and dreams and sighs,

157

Wishes and tears, poor fancy's followers.

LYSANDER:

158

A good persuasion: therefore, hear me, Hermia.

159

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.

160

Of great revenue, and she hath no child:

161

From Athens is her house remote seven leagues,

162

And she respects me as her only son.

163

There, gentle Hermia, may I marry thee,

164

And to that place the sharp Athenian law

165

Cannot pursue us. If thou lovest me then,

166

Steal forth thy father's house to-morrow night,

167

And in the wood, a league without the town,

168

Where I did meet thee once with Helena,

169

To do observance to a morn of May,

170

There will I stay for thee.

HERMIA:

171

My good Lysander!

172

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

173

By his best arrow with the golden head,

174

By the simplicity of Venus' doves,

Venus is the goddess of love and the mother of Cupid

175

By that which knitteth souls and prospers loves,

176

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.

177

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.

178

By all the vows that ever men have broke,

179

In number more than ever women spoke,

180

In that same place thou hast appointed me,

181

To-morrow truly will I meet with thee.

LYSANDER:

182

Keep promise, love. Look, here comes Helena.

Enter HELENA

HERMIA:

183

God speed fair Helena! whither away?

HELENA:

184

Call you me fair? that fair again unsay.

185

Demetrius loves your fair: O happy fair!

186

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.

187

More tuneable than lark to shepherd's ear,

188

When wheat is green, when hawthorn buds appear.

189

Sickness is catching: O, were favour so,

190

Yours would I catch, fair Hermia, ere I go,

191

My ear should catch your voice, my eye your eye,

192

My tongue should catch your tongue's sweet melody.

193

Were the world mine, Demetrius being bated,

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

194

The rest I'd give to be to you translated.

195

O, teach me how you look, and with what art

196

You sway the motion of Demetrius' heart.

HERMIA:

197

I frown upon him, yet he loves me still.

HELENA:

198

O that your frowns would teach my smiles such skill!

HERMIA:

199

I give him curses, yet he gives me love.

HELENA:

200

O that my prayers could such affection move!

HERMIA:

201

The more I hate, the more he follows me.

HELENA:

202

The more I love, the more he hateth me.

HERMIA:

203

His folly, Helena, is no fault of mine.

HELENA:

204

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

HERMIA:

205

Take comfort: he no more shall see my face,

206

Lysander and myself will fly this place.

207

Before the time I did Lysander see,

208

Seem'd Athens as a paradise to me:

209

O, then, what graces in my love do dwell,

210

That he hath turn'd a heaven unto a hell!

LYSANDER:

211

Helen, to you our minds we will unfold:

212

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,

214

Decking with liquid pearl the bladed grass,

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

215

A time that lovers' flights doth still conceal,

216

Through Athens' gates have we devised to steal.

HERMIA:

217

And in the wood, where often you and I

218

Upon faint primrose-beds were wont to lie,

219

Emptying our bosoms of their counsel sweet,

220

There my Lysander and myself shall meet,

221

And thence from Athens turn away our eyes,

222

To seek new friends and stranger companies.

223

Farewell, sweet playfellow: pray thou for us,

224

And good luck grant thee thy Demetrius!

225

Keep word, Lysander: we must starve our sight

226

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:

227

I will, my Hermia.

Exit HERMIA

LYSANDER:

228

Helena, adieu:

229

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:

230

How happy some o'er other some can be!

231

Through Athens I am thought as fair as she.

232

But what of that? Demetrius thinks not so,

233

He will not know what all but he do know:

234

And as he errs, doting on Hermia's eyes,

235

So I, admiring of his qualities:

236

Things base and vile, folding no quantity,

237

Love can transpose to form and dignity:

238

Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind,

239

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

240

Nor hath Love's mind of any judgement taste,

241

Wings and no eyes figure unheedy haste:

242

And therefore is Love said to be a child,

243

Because in choice he is so oft beguiled.

244

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,

248

And when this hail some heat from Hermia felt,

249

So he dissolved, and showers of oaths did melt.

250

I will go tell him of fair Hermia's flight:

251

Then to the wood will he to-morrow night

252

Pursue her, and for this intelligence

253

If I have thanks, it is a dear expense:

254

But herein mean I to enrich my pain,

255

To have his sight thither and back again.

Thither here means being on the other and farther side.

Exit