Act I - Scene I
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[The Palace of Theseus in Athens] |
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Enter Theseus, Hippolyta, [with Philostrate, and Attendants] |
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Enter Egeus, and his daughter Hermia, Lysander, and Demetrius
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Exeunt [all but] Lysander and Hermia |
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Enter Helena |
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Exit Hermia |
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Exit Lysander |
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Exit |
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— Wesley, Owl Eyes Editor
The expression “made love” here could refer to sexual intercourse, but this meaning came into play in the mid-to-late 16th century. Another meaning of this phrase at that time meant to express a declaration of love, or to make one’s love known to their object of desire. Regardless of the meaning, Lysander’s point is that Demetrius had previously been in love with Helena, and now he is changing his mind.
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— Wesley, Owl Eyes Editor
The two lovers worry about their situation after the others leave, and Lysander points out that their situation, while not ideal, is not unusual, and many lovers have faced similar troubles. Lysander’s language suggests his familiarity with such situations, with “Ay me” expressing a strong sense of despair while “for aught” emphatically refers to everyone as in “for all” or “in all.” Such expressions allow him to make a grand claim about their situation, but he appears to temper their situation rather than inflate it. It is known that Shakespeare was writing this play at the same time as Romeo and Juliet, and Lysander’s claim situates A Midsummer Night’s Dream within the context of all romantic stories and “fated lovers.”
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— Wesley, Owl Eyes Editor
In order to make his point about love, Lysander employs several key word choices here. The word “dote” is repeated with increasing intensity to show the depth of Helena’s love for Demetrius, which Lysander depicts as too devout. Meanwhile Lysander calls Demetrius “spotted,” or impure, and “inconstant” because he has changed his mind about whom he loves. Therefore, Lysander not only depicts Demetrius negatively, but he also appears to mock Helena’s affection because it is too devout. For him, it seems, love and romance must exist somewhere between these two extremes.
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— Wesley, Owl Eyes Editor
Having heard Theseus and Egeus tell Hermia that she must obey her father, Lysander finally speaks up for himself, defending his right to marry Hermia and his own qualities. In order to do that, he makes several observations about Demetrius, pointing out that Demetrius is not faithful nor constant in his affections. To do this, Lysander contrasts Helena’s love with Demetrius’s fickle nature. His claims here provide insight into the morality of these characters in that while they may value romantic love, consistent affection is seen as more desirable.
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— Wesley, Owl Eyes Editor
The eye imagery here and the focus on blindness is important. Since Cupid is “painted blind,” this love god represents action based on emotion rather than vision. However, note how later in the play many characters will experience love through seeing, even though that seeing will be affected by outside forces. Regardless, Helena’s claim here that vision is not important in the affairs of love is simultaneously accurate and ironic. As we’ll see, Shakespeare uses literal sight as the foundation for the metaphorical blindness that love can create.
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— Wesley, Owl Eyes Editor
This is an archaic, obscure form of the plural of “eye” and is only used today in some forms of poetry, rather than in everyday speech.
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— Wesley, Owl Eyes Editor
Helena uses several expressive metaphors here to emphasize the qualities that Hermia has that have made Demetrius fall in love with here. In this case, Hermia’s eyes are called “lode-stars” and her tongue is “sweet air.” Both cases refer to Hermia’s ability to inspire, enchant, or guide, in the sense that her eyes and words have led Demetrius to her. A “lode-star” refers to a guiding star, like the North Star, and the noun “air” here refers to the musical quality of her voice and words.
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— Kayla, Owl Eyes Staff
The term “distill’d,” or “distilled,” means to be purified. In Shakespeare’s time, for a woman to be “pure” she was expected to either remain celibate and virginal or to choose to love one person whom she would marry. When Hermia asks Theseus what will happen if she refuses to marry Demetrius, he replies that she can either become a nun or be executed. Since there was incredible value placed on romantic love and marriage during this time, Theseus suggests that Hermia marry Demetrius. He says that her life as a nun would resemble that of “the rose” that simply “grows, lives, and dies”—or in other words, it would involve no “meaningful” life changes.
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— Wesley, Owl Eyes Editor
Theseus states that Hermia will face death or a life in solitude and prayer as a nun should she refuse to comply with her father’s wishes. The word “livery” means the particular clothing or accessories of a particular profession or station. In this sense, Theseus uses clothing as a symbol of status, or one’s position in life.
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— Kayla, Owl Eyes Staff
A Midsummer Night’s Dream takes place in a time in which Athenian law forced women to marry whomever their fathers chose, and they could be executed for disobeying. When Theseus compares Egeus’s authority to that of a “god,” Shakespeare introduces the theme of male dominance in disputes between men and women. Here, men are given the legal right to make decisions for women in all aspects of their lives. Throughout the play, pay attention to the various ways in which women are forced into subservient positions and denied agency and how such actions by these women play into the expected gender roles during Shakespeare’s time.
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— Kayla, Owl Eyes Staff
The “pale companion” that Theseus refers to here is “melancholy,” or sadness. Theseus means that his and Hippolyta’s wedding shall be a joyful celebration even though the wait feels long and wears on his patience.
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— Wesley, Owl Eyes Editor
This is an allusion to Vergil's Aeneid, in which he describes Dido's love for Aeneas, a Trojan hero. The fire and burning here refers to what happens when Aeneas sails away for Italy: Dido, the Carthage Queen, throws herself onto a burning funeral pyre. Hermia uses this string of allusions, vows, and devotion to strengthen the promise she makes to meet Lysander in the forest.
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— Caitlin, Owl Eyes Staff
In this soliloquy, Helena muses on love and her unfair situation. She is unlucky in her unrequited love, but she is also the character that seems to understand real love the most. She claims here that love is nonjudgemental and comes from understanding rather than lusting after a person. Even though she has this rational perception of love, she still loses confidence after Demetrius's rejection and becomes cynical when she is the subject of both men's desire later in the play.
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— Caitlin, Owl Eyes Staff
In one of the most famous and quotable lines from this play Lysander elevates his love to the status of famous doomed romances and historical "star-crossed" lovers. Ironically, he uses this comparison to reassure Hermia that hope is not lost. Notice that in comparing their love to history, Lysander is able to claim that their love is "true love." This could set up Hermia and Lysander to be tragic characters; however, these lines are spoken within a comedy making Lysander's claims to tragic, ill-fated love not as serious as they are intended.
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— Caitlin, Owl Eyes Staff
"Swift as a shadow" comes from a 12th-century proverb "to flee like a shadow." Lysander uses this metaphor to highlight the brevity of love and its ephemeral nature. Hermia complains that the biggest obstacle to love is choice. But Lysander notes that the forces of nature often conspire against love even if one gets to choose, and death, war, or sickness cut it short. These lines begin the play in a more dramatic tone than one would expect from a comedy. There is a darker theme that runs throughout the play and underscores the lighter romantic themes and tropes. This darker theme questions the truth and value of a love that is so fickle it can be drawn from perception and so ephemeral that it can change its object frequently over the course of this short play.
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— Caitlin, Owl Eyes Staff
Helena's soliloquy underscores a major theme within this play: the connection between love and perception. Helena notes that she is just as beautiful as Hermia, but does not appear so to Demetrius because love colors his perception. The relationship between love and eyesight continue to develop throughout the rest of the play as Puck's love potion causes the characters to fall in love by sight. The play continues to explore whether or not love comes from the heart or from the eye after the question is posed within this speech.
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— Stephen Holliday
The phrase "stolen the impression of her fantasy" describes how Lysander has won Hermia over by gifting her poems, bracelets, rings, games, and sweets. Hermia has impressed his image onto her imagination, or mind.
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— Stephen Holliday
The word "dowager" refers to a widow who is endowed with the right to an estate's revenue during her lifetime.
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— Sonya Cashdan
As Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta would have been a worshiper of the virgin goddess of the hunt and of the moon, known as Artemis in Greek mythology and Diana in Roman mythology. The following references to the moon as a measurement of slowly-passing time thus take on a measure of irony: Hippolyta will lose the virginity cherished by her goddess.