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:
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