A Midsummer Night's Dream

Front Cover
Penguin UK, Apr 7, 2005 - Drama - 224 pages

'He could mingle sublimity with pathos, bitterness with joy and peace and love' Aldous Huxley

In one of Shakespeare's most perennially popular comedies a young woman, Hermia, flees ancient Athens with her lover, only to be pursued by her would-be husband and her best friend. Unwittingly, all four find themselves in an enchanted forest where fairies and sprites take an interest in human affairs, dispensing magical love potions and casting mischievous spells. Slapstick collides with courtly romance and confusion ends in harmony, as love is transformed, misplaced and ultimately restored.

Used and Recommended by the National Theatre

General Editor Stanley Wells
Edited by Stanley Wells
Introduction by Helen Hackett

 

Selected pages

Contents

General Introduction
The Play in Performance
An Account of the Text
Copyright

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Common terms and phrases

actors appear Athens bear beginning Bottom characters close comedy comes comic dance death Demetrius desire direction doth early edition Egeus Elizabeth Elizabethan English Enter Exit eyes fair fairies fear flower Flute follow give hand hath head hear heart Helena Henry Hermia Hippolyta hold imagination kind King ladies leave light lines lion look lord lovers Lysander means mechanicals Midsummer Night’s Dream mind moon never night Oberon once performance perhaps play present printed probably production Puck Pyramus Quarto Queen QUINCE reason reference scene seems seen sense sexual Shakespeare sleep Snout Snug song sound speak speech stage stand Starveling story sweet tell thee Theseus things Thisbe thou Titania true turned verse voice waking wall wedding wood young

About the author (2005)

Stanley Wells is the General Editor of the Penguin Shakespeare. He is Emeritus Professor of the University of Birmingham and Chairman of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. Helen Hackett is a Reader in English Literature at University College London. Her publications include Writers and Their Work: 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' (1997), and Women and Romance Fiction in the English Renaissance (2000).


Stanley Wells is the General Editor of the Penguin Shakespeare. He is Emeritus Professor of the University of Birmingham and Chairman of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.

Helen Hackett is a Reader in English Literature at University College London. Her publications include Writers and Their Work: 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' (1997), and Women and Romance Fiction in the English Renaissance (2000).

Bibliographic information

TitleA Midsummer Night's Dream
Works, William Shakespeare
AuthorWilliam Shakespeare
EditorStanley Wells
ContributorHelen Hackett
PublisherPenguin UK, 2005
ISBN0141922206, 9780141922201
Length224 pages
Subjects › 

Drama / Shakespeare
  
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