A Midsummer Night’s Dream | Characters, Summary, & Facts (2024)

FAQs

How many characters are in Midsummer Night Dream? ›

With nearly 20 characters in the opera, familiarising yourself with them all will help you to enjoy the production even more! Unusually for an opera, A Midsummer Night's Dream doesn't have 'dominant' roles, instead all characters get their chance to shine (although Oberon, Titania and Bottom perhaps more so).

A Midsummer Night's Dream Summary. Four Athenians run away to the forest only to have Puck the fairy make both of the boys fall in love with the same girl. The four run through the forest pursuing each other while Puck helps his master play a trick on the fairy queen.

Though there is little character development in A Midsummer Night's Dream and no true protagonist, critics generally point to Puck as the most important character in the play.

CHARACTER PROFILE: DEMTRIUS.

Demetrius, an Athenian man who is in love with Hermia.

The gender of Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream has been the subject of debate and interpretation. Puck is referred to using male pronouns throughout the play, and it is customary to cast a man to play him. However, at some points throughout history, women were the preferred casting choice for Puck.

They represent the mythical and magical "Green World." King Oberon, Queen Titania, and Puck are the most influential fairies in the play. Queen Titania's four fairy attendants, Cobweb, Mustardseed, Peaseblossom, and Moth, readily serve Bottom the Weaver.

A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play about love. It proposes that love is a dream, or perhaps a vision; that it is absurd, irrational, a delusion, or, perhaps, on the other hand, a transfiguration; that it is doomed to be momentary (“So quick bright things come to confusion” [1.1.

Oberon, who is quarreling with his wife, Titania, uses the flower juice on her eyes. She falls in love with Bottom, who now, thanks to Robin Goodfellow, wears an ass's head.As the lovers sleep, Robin Goodfellow restores Lysander's love for Hermia, so that now each young woman is matched with the man she loves.

Puck's mistake with the love potion in A Midsummer Night's Dream occurs when he accidentally applies it to Lysander's eyes instead of Demetrius's. This causes Lysander to fall in love with Helena, leading to confusion and chaos among the lovers.

Although he is more mischievous than malevolent, Puck reminds us that the fairy world is not all goodness and generosity. Another definition of his name aligns him with a Norse demon, sometimes associated with the devil.

Which character changed the least in Midsummer Night's Dream? ›

Theseus doesn't change much over the course of the play. When Hippolyta points out that the lovers have told a consistent (if strange) story about their night in the forest, Theseus adamantly refuses to believe the lovers. By play's end Theseus' patriarchal attitude seems less problematic.

Puck is Oberon's servant, and seems to willingly carry out his commands, speaking politely and respectfully to the King of the Fairies. In carrying out his orders, and ultimately making a mistake, Puck becomes the catalyst for most of the drama, and the comedy, in the play.

After Lysander is put under Puck's spell, being mistaken for Demetrius he falls in love with Helena, but Helena loves Demetrius. Eventually, the spell is reversed and Lysander marries Hermia. There is a party at the end where the Mechanicals perform their play and Hermia and Lysander get married.

Betrothed to Theseus, Hippolyta is very much in love with her husband to be and is very much looking forward to their imminent wedding.

In The Life of Theseus, according to Plutarch, it was Hippolyta who concluded a four month long war between Athens and the Amazons with a peace treaty, resulting in the marriage between Theseus and Hippolyta.

Margot and William are the only named characters in the story, with the rest of the students in the classroom being referred to en masse as the children. These children are followers; they support William's actions and don't consider how their actions will affect Margot.

There are four main 'worlds' in A Midsummer Night's Dream, made of different groupings of characters: the court, the lovers, the fairies and the mechanicals.

While there are a dozen ways to interconnect the relationships in the play, we are going to focus on the main relationships between Oberon and Titania, Theseus and Hippolyta, Lysander and Hermia, and Demetrius and Helena. These four couples deal with heartache, bickering, pining, and other factors surrounding love.

A Midsummer Night's Dream begins with two sets of lovers, Lysander and Hermia and Helena and Demetrius. Unfortunately for Helena, Demetrius no longer loves Helena, instead falling for Hermia. Hermia's father Egeus however, wants Hermia to marry Demetrius.