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194th out of 25,183 books
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95,873 voters
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Shakespeare's intertwined love polygons begin to get complicated from the start--Demetrius and Lysander both want Hermia but she only has eyes for Lysander. Bad news is, Hermia's father wants Demetrius for a son-in-law. On the outside is Helena, whose unreturned love burns hot for Demetrius. Hermia and Lysander plan to flee from the city under cover of darkness but are pur...more
Paperback, Folger Shakespeare Library, 204 pages
Published
January 1st 2004
by Simon & Schuster
(first published 1596)
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A Midsummer Night's Dream, abridged.
DEMETRIUS: I love Hermia!
LYSANDER: Shut up, I love her MORE. Anyway, you already hooked up with Helena.
DEMETRIUS: Who?
HERMIA: I want to marry Lysander but I'm already engaged to Demetrius and he won't leave me alone! Two hot boys are in love with me, WHY IS MY LIFE SO HARD?
HELENA: FUCK. YOU. ALL.
TITANIA: Hey Oberon, I got a new Indian baby from one of my dead servants.
OBERON: I want that kid - hand it over, or I'll punish you with bestiality.
PUCK: Holy shi...more
DEMETRIUS: I love Hermia!
LYSANDER: Shut up, I love her MORE. Anyway, you already hooked up with Helena.
DEMETRIUS: Who?
HERMIA: I want to marry Lysander but I'm already engaged to Demetrius and he won't leave me alone! Two hot boys are in love with me, WHY IS MY LIFE SO HARD?
HELENA: FUCK. YOU. ALL.
TITANIA: Hey Oberon, I got a new Indian baby from one of my dead servants.
OBERON: I want that kid - hand it over, or I'll punish you with bestiality.
PUCK: Holy shi...more
Has this ever happened to you:
1. You pledged your love by telling a guy how much like a spaniel you are?
2. Your father threatened to kill you or put you in a convent if you didn't marry the man he preferred?
3. Though Queen of the Amazons, you are now forced to marry your kidnapper?
4. Got close and personal with transspeciesism?
5. Your husband drugs you and then stands around to watch you profess your love to a stranger?
6. You challenged your rival to a duel but you both decide to nap instead?
7....more
1. You pledged your love by telling a guy how much like a spaniel you are?
2. Your father threatened to kill you or put you in a convent if you didn't marry the man he preferred?
3. Though Queen of the Amazons, you are now forced to marry your kidnapper?
4. Got close and personal with transspeciesism?
5. Your husband drugs you and then stands around to watch you profess your love to a stranger?
6. You challenged your rival to a duel but you both decide to nap instead?
7....more
58 likes · like · see review
My high school English teacher called this "the perfect play." He meant that in terms of it being performed. He would use it with new groups of drama students, because there was absolutely no possible way for them to screw it up. And now, close on 10 years later, I can't yet prove him wrong. I've been in this play twice (Hermia), I've seen it performed countless times by good groups of actors, mediocre ones, and one cast that was mostly pretty bad, I've seen it done in traditional Shakespearean...more
19 likes · like · see review
The moon methinks looks with a wat’ry eye;
And when she weeps, weeps every little flower”
(Titania)
Tomorrow night, when Phoebe doth behold
Her silver visage in the watery glass,
Decking with liquid pearl the bladed grass.
So quick bright things come to confusion
(Lysander)
Night and the ocean are the depthless things of the earth, where bright things come to confusion, become “undistinguishable, Like far-off mountains turned to clouds”. The unconscious, the sleep-world, the dream-world. Everywhere thro...more
And when she weeps, weeps every little flower”
(Titania)
Tomorrow night, when Phoebe doth behold
Her silver visage in the watery glass,
Decking with liquid pearl the bladed grass.
So quick bright things come to confusion
(Lysander)
Night and the ocean are the depthless things of the earth, where bright things come to confusion, become “undistinguishable, Like far-off mountains turned to clouds”. The unconscious, the sleep-world, the dream-world. Everywhere thro...more
21 likes · like · see review
One of Shakespeare's most popular comic plays. Essentially a love story between two couples,in a mythical Athens that never was .Lysander loves his girlfriend Hermia(they want to marry).But her father,Egeus, does not.Threatening Hermia with death or being forced to become a nun. With the help of Theseus,the Duke of Athens,it's the law... Fathers had that right then to choose their children's mates. Egeus, prefers his daughter , marry Demetrius.Why?Never explained!Also in the plot Helena,Hermia's...more
12 likes · like · see review
It's still as awesome as I remember. Though, unfortunately, causes me some initial irritation with The Iron King.
Robbie Goodfellow is a wicked spirit running around having fun and pulling ridiculous pranks. He's not a serious teenage boy who is dramatic and suspenseful or mysterious or sexy.
Why do we have to turn everything into sexy these days? Why does every male character have to suddenly fit the romantic male archetype?
Why are mythological creatures becoming obsessed with teenage girls?
Robbie Goodfellow is a wicked spirit running around having fun and pulling ridiculous pranks. He's not a serious teenage boy who is dramatic and suspenseful or mysterious or sexy.
Why do we have to turn everything into sexy these days? Why does every male character have to suddenly fit the romantic male archetype?
Why are mythological creatures becoming obsessed with teenage girls?
19 likes · like · see review
May 08, 2011
K.D. Oliveros
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommended to K.D. by:
Filipinos Group Read (May 2011)
Yey! The very first Shakespeare that I read from cover to cover! Sneer if you have to but I graduated from a low-standard high school in a small island in the Pacific. The only dramatization that we did was Leon Ma. Guerrero's My Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife. I played the lead role of Leon, the young farmer, though. In college, I took up a paramedical course in the city and we had World Lit but we only read mimeographed copies of Shakespeare sonnets. I still remember the term iambic pentamer...more
18 likes · like · see review
My favorite Shakespeare. I've been in it and I see it whenever I have the chance.
I forced it on 4th, 5th, and 6th graders last year. At first they were terribly confused by Shakespearean language but ultimately, they loved it.
During Bottom's soliloquy in the play-within-a play, after a half-page of ridiculous, melodrama and general wordiness, I asked the kids what he was trying to say, and one correctly deduced, "It's night. It's night. It's night. That's a wall. It's a wall. It's a wall."
My ot...more
I forced it on 4th, 5th, and 6th graders last year. At first they were terribly confused by Shakespearean language but ultimately, they loved it.
During Bottom's soliloquy in the play-within-a play, after a half-page of ridiculous, melodrama and general wordiness, I asked the kids what he was trying to say, and one correctly deduced, "It's night. It's night. It's night. That's a wall. It's a wall. It's a wall."
My ot...more
Click here for William Shakespeare Disclaimer
A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare is not one of my favorite plays by far. For some reason I found it boring. Even with it's redeeming quality of having faeries in it, which I love, it was still lacking. Bottom was the best character and the most entertaining along with Puck. I won't go into the plot, a quick online search will give you a brief overview, but at a very high level, it's about a number of different romances being tampered...more
A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare is not one of my favorite plays by far. For some reason I found it boring. Even with it's redeeming quality of having faeries in it, which I love, it was still lacking. Bottom was the best character and the most entertaining along with Puck. I won't go into the plot, a quick online search will give you a brief overview, but at a very high level, it's about a number of different romances being tampered...more
9 likes · like · see review
First of all:
@Madeline: Your review is brilliant. I had to laugh till the tears run down my cheeks.
;D
About the book:
I have not finished it yet, but it's a bit confusing. I still confound the names, because there are so many and on nearly each page the lovers are swapped.
-> first page: Hermia is in love with Lysander and he's in love with her. Helena is in love with Demetrius, but he's also in love with Hermia.
-> next page: Lysander now is in love with Helena, but Hermia is still in love...more
@Madeline: Your review is brilliant. I had to laugh till the tears run down my cheeks.
;D
About the book:
I have not finished it yet, but it's a bit confusing. I still confound the names, because there are so many and on nearly each page the lovers are swapped.
-> first page: Hermia is in love with Lysander and he's in love with her. Helena is in love with Demetrius, but he's also in love with Hermia.
-> next page: Lysander now is in love with Helena, but Hermia is still in love...more
To do justice to Shakespeare and his art is impossible. He is the greatest of all writers in the English language without doubt, and many posit him as the greatest writer of all time, and I am not going to argue with that pronouncement. Despite the fact that Hamlet is my favorite play, I have never tried to review Shakespeare on this website before this moment, too intimidating a figure has he been to approach. Really, there's not much for me to say about the Bard that hasn't already been said b...more
A Midsummer’s Night Dream is perhaps Shakespeare’s best known and most well loved comedy. It is one of Shakespeare’s most readable plays, and most people seem to love it because of its use of language and wonder. Like in many of the other plays, a reader can see the use of doubling, for instance Theseus and Hippolyta with Oberon and Titania. Also present are Shakespeare’s low characters and the standard confusion and inversion of roles.
As much as I love Dream, and I love Dream, it always leave...more
As much as I love Dream, and I love Dream, it always leave...more
My second reading of William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream was much more fruitful than my first. The play helped me realize, to a greater extent, Shakespeare’s genius and his works’ complexity.
The way Shakespeare frames the reality of those characters in love is very true and entertaining. In the final act, Theseus asserts that “The lunatic, the lover, and the poet / Are of imagination all compact.” Throughout the play, Shakespeare equates those in love to the insane, to those in a dre...more
The way Shakespeare frames the reality of those characters in love is very true and entertaining. In the final act, Theseus asserts that “The lunatic, the lover, and the poet / Are of imagination all compact.” Throughout the play, Shakespeare equates those in love to the insane, to those in a dre...more
4 likes · like · see review
This is a nice little play we read for English, so I think that my review of it is probably very different from a review I would give if I read it on my own. But I'll try to be as objective about it as I can.
The language is a bit challenging to sort through, but (with the help of a class full of smart people) I think that A Midsummer Night's Dream is a short little commentary on the nature of love. Specifically, the ridiculousness of love.
Shakespeare has a pretty clear theme running throughout t...more
The language is a bit challenging to sort through, but (with the help of a class full of smart people) I think that A Midsummer Night's Dream is a short little commentary on the nature of love. Specifically, the ridiculousness of love.
Shakespeare has a pretty clear theme running throughout t...more
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a light romp through the faery woods. It's a story filled with humor and imagination. It was a lot of fun to read. I loved the play within a play and had a soft spot for the bumbling actors. Pure silliness. My only discomfort came from Helena, that girl needs a major smack upside the head dose of self-esteem. Demetrius has told her he does not, cannot love her. Her response is, "And even for that do I love you the more. I am your spaniel; and Demetrius, the more yo...more
Sep 26, 2012
matt
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
theatrepieces,
shakespeare
Honestly, kind of hoping that it would be more fun to read than it actually was. The story's twists and turns, double-backing on lover's complaints and sudden, ridiculous enchantments seemed more sitcom-y than actually funny.
I know, I know it's blasphemy to say so but sometimes I think these situation comedies are already built to be performed, not read, so that the actor's timing and intonation sells the jokes more than reading them on the page ever will.
That said, for my own preference I lik...more
Feb 14, 2013
Daisy Leather
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
university,
college
Always will be one of my favourite ever Shakespeare plays. I adore it, and happily re-read it for this weeks lectures. We performed AMSND for AS level theatre studies (in which I was Bottom) and had THE MOST FUN! So it was so much fun reminiscing and remembering how everyone performed and how awesome it was whilst reading it. And also, I'd seen the film a while ago so I could remember back to that, and also to the amazing performance of it I saw at the Royal Exchange in Manchester a few years ba...more
Recently I read A Midsummer Night's Dream for my Introduction to Shakespeare class. Previously, I have read Hamlet, Macbeth, and Romeo & Juliet. While most high school students read Romeo and Juliet and most likely Hamlet in high school, I think that when I am a teacher (ohh the countdown...) I would like to try to incorporate A Midsummer Night's Dream into my classroom as opposed to the more traditional plays.
Hermia has problems, several that many teenagers can relate to. Problem #1 - Her d...more
Hermia has problems, several that many teenagers can relate to. Problem #1 - Her d...more
حلم ليلة صيف مسرحية من نوع الكوميدية "الملهاة"، بسيطة في حواراتها عميقة في معانيها
هذه هي تجربتي الأولى لشكسبير، ولم أرد أن تكون تجربتي في روميو وجولييت لذلك حاولت اختيار عنوان آخر
ولم يخب ظني، أحببت بساطة قصة الحب التي جمعت الأبطال "ليساندر وهرميا"، "ديمتريوس وهيلينا" وإن كانت بالرغم من بساطتها صادقة جداً ووفية
لم يقتصر شكسبير على تصوير الحب، بل صور بساطة مجموعة من العوام تحاول إنجاز مسرحية كي تعرض أمام الملك، والغيرة ومشاعر الكَبر التي قد تصيب الإنسان على غفلة
ممتعة وحواراتها تلامس القلب بكل حواسه
هذه هي تجربتي الأولى لشكسبير، ولم أرد أن تكون تجربتي في روميو وجولييت لذلك حاولت اختيار عنوان آخر
ولم يخب ظني، أحببت بساطة قصة الحب التي جمعت الأبطال "ليساندر وهرميا"، "ديمتريوس وهيلينا" وإن كانت بالرغم من بساطتها صادقة جداً ووفية
لم يقتصر شكسبير على تصوير الحب، بل صور بساطة مجموعة من العوام تحاول إنجاز مسرحية كي تعرض أمام الملك، والغيرة ومشاعر الكَبر التي قد تصيب الإنسان على غفلة
ممتعة وحواراتها تلامس القلب بكل حواسه
3 likes · like · see review
I'm not a huge fan of Shakespeare (I know, it's practically blasphemy), but I do like his comedies A LOT better than his tragedies. This one is, of course, especially ridiculous. Puck made the play for me, particularly after I saw Stanley Tucci's portrayal of the character. He's hilarious. Overall, seeing it performed helps immensely. The humor comes across so much better, and the often-confusing dialogue makes much more sense. I do often need the footnotes, though. I guess while I do somewhat e...more
This is one of my favourite pieces of literature ever written, while I admire all of Shakespeare's writings, I will always be in love with A Midsummers Nights Dream because of the complexity of the story. Most will deem it drab, on the contrary, I find it an exciting insightful piece. For the era in which it was written, the amount of imagination and complexity to the story is a sheer masterpiece. It's originality shows with every twist and turn, while Shakespeare has always had a way with words...more
I definitely am not a fan of Shakespeare's plays, but, I'll say that I prefer it over the other plays by him that I've seen/read. The movie was pretty good, but overall the play/book didn't seem to have much trouble in it. Then again, it is a comedy, so it's to be expected. I will give it this- much better than Romeo and Juliet. For lovers of Shakespeare who have a good sense of humor, I would definitely give this book a try. Overall, I'd give it two stars because I'm not a very big fan of his s...more
"A Midsummer Night's Dream" by William Shakespeare was a nice play. I liked it a lot, and I found it a bit humorous. He obviously did take "Pyramus and Thisbe" from Greek Mythology, but he incorporated it into his play nicely. He knew what he was going to be doing with "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and he had it planned out well. His character development was very well done and it actually does make you feel some love or pure hatred against a character. Even though the nagging of Helena about Deme...more
A midsummer Night's Dream was a very interesting play written by William Shakespeare. There are many different themes incorporated into this story and I believe that all of them tie together quite well. This story if about four lovers all caught in a tangled of love jealousy and incense of compassion. It starts of by introducing the readers to these four main characters, Helena , Hermia , Lysander , and Demetrius. But it also lets us see the lives of the Duke Theseus and his lovely bride Hippoly...more
This book made me laugh and a scratch my head confusedly. I loved how the plots twisted and turned, mixed comedy and tragedy, and left you feeling quite spent. Shakespeare worked in fantasy and reality, creating a harmony between what we know, and what we dream. The pettiness of Titania and Oberon is balanced out nicely with the four lovers. This story is quite different from other Shakespearean works in that there is this whimsical and enchanting feeling throughout the book, and the sadness is...more
This book was alright. It wasn't a favorite of mine, but it wasn't too bad. I liked the magical element it had a lot. I thought it was mostly interesting, but it wasn't something that I wanted to read, or felt like I had to keep reading. I am not a huge fan of romance stories, but they are okay, so it was a little interesting. I do like magical/fantasy stories though, so that made the book better for me at least. I like Romeo and Juliet better than A Middummer Night's Dream. I felt like this boo...more
I did appreciate that this wasn't a historical fiction book as much of what we have read this year has been. However I did not like that the whole plot revolved around couples. I very much dislike romances, and most of the time do not tolerate them, or see them as decent reading material. Not only that but while watching the movie I wondered; Doesn't it seem wrong to spell someone who loved another person because you felt bad for another who held a one sided love for them? My opinion of it was t...more
"A midsummer Night's Dream" is like "Romeo and Juliet" but with a happy ending. The book is set in ancient Athens and begins by announcing a wedding in four days. All the events in this story will happen before then. The introduction also show the reader Theseus, the duke, who is to be married. At this point Theseus is judging a complaint made by one of his citizens. The case shows the reader the four main characters and their love problems quickly and concisely.
From their the play jumps into t...more
From their the play jumps into t...more
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live in a different time or place? Just pick up a copy of this comedy by William Shakespeare. It is a book that mixes four plots interchangeably, thus blurring the line between what is real and what is not. It is a book about Fairies, Royalty, and Struggling Actors. A timeless classic. Those who read through it's magical pages will never forget the content therein.
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play in Five Acts, and revolves around several major c...more
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play in Five Acts, and revolves around several major c...more
I have read a lot of Shakespeare plays for school, and they are definetely not for me. However, I found A Midsummer Night's Dream to be much more enjoyable than the rest. It has fantasy aspects(which I love), it has an easily understandable plot/structure, and it is open enough that it literally could take place in any time period.
It would probably be 5 times better for me if the characters actually spoke in modern English, though. I'm really not a fan of that old English way of talking. I liter...more
It would probably be 5 times better for me if the characters actually spoke in modern English, though. I'm really not a fan of that old English way of talking. I liter...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Goodreads Librari...: Can Someone Please Combine This Turkish Version of A Midsummer Night's Dream with already created one? | 3 | 14 | Jun 12, 2013 12:27am | |
| Did anyone else notice the Roman gods? | 6 | 43 | May 09, 2013 08:22pm | |
| 9EN3: MSND | 1 | 4 | Mar 21, 2013 08:41pm | |
| Quotes on Dream | 9 | 52 | Feb 17, 2013 03:04pm |
William Shakespeare (baptised 26 April 1564) was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon" (or simply "The Bard"). His surviving works consist of 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and several other poems. His plays have been tr...more
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“Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind,
And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.”
—
15,462 people liked it
And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.”
“Lord, what fools these mortals be!”
—
1,357 people liked it
More quotes…
May 31, 2013 11:51am
Jun 17, 2013 03:16pm