Transcription of A Midsummer Night’s Dream
1 A Midsummer Night s Dre amWillia m Shakes pea reTHE EMC MASTERPI ECESERIESA ccessEditionsSERIESED IT ORRo bertD. ShepherdEMC/P aradigmPublishi ngSt. Paul, Mi nnesotaSt aff Cre dit s:Fo rEMC/Par ad igm Publish ing,St. Paul,MinnesotaForPe no bscot School Publis hing, Inc. ,Danvers, MassachusettsISBN0-8219-1635-1Co pyrigh t 1998byEMCCo rporationAllrig ht s re se rv partof thispublicationmaybeadapted,reproduced,s t or ed in a ret rieval system,or tr ansmittedin anyformor byanymeans,elec-tronic , mechanical,photocopying , recording,orotherwisewi th outpe rmis-sionfr byEMC/ParadigmPub l, Minnesot a 55102 Pri nt ed in theUnited Sta tesof 8 7 6 5 4xxx0908 07 06 05 Laurie SkibaEd it orSha nn on O Do nnellTaylorAss oc iate Edit orEileen SlaterEd itor ia l Co ns ulta ntJen niferJ.
2 AndersonAssis tant Edito rEdit oria lRobert D. ShepherdPres ide nt, Execut ive Edi torChristina E. Ko lbManaging Edit orSa ra HyryEd it orLa urie Fa riaAss oc iate Edit orSharo n Sa lingerCo pye di torMarily n Mur phyShepherdEd it or ial Advis orDesi gn and Prod uctionCharles uct ion ManagerSaraDayArt Dir ec torDianeCa st roCom pos ito rJanet Ste bb ingsCom pos ito rTable of ContentsTh e Lif e andWorks of Wil liamShakespeare .. ivTim e Lineof Shakesp eare s Li fe .. viiiTh e His tor icalCon textofA Mids um mer Nig ht s Dream .. xEchoes .. xviiiIll ust ration .. xixDr amatis Pe rso nae.. xxACTI.. 1 ACTII .. 17 ACTIII.. 33 ACTIV.. 59 ACTV .. 71 PlotAnalysis ofA Mids umme r Ni gh t s Dream .
3 89 Creativ e Wr itingActiviti es.. 92 Crit ica l WritingAc tiviti es .. 94 Projects.. 97 Sel ect ionsfo r Ad ditionalReading.. 99 Glos sary.. 11 2 Han db oo k of Li ter ary Terms.. 11 7 TAB LE OFCONTENTS iiiivA MI DS UMMERNI GHT S DREAMTHELI FE ANDWORKS OFWi llia m Shake speareWilliam Sh akes pe are (15 64 16 16).WilliamShakespearemay wellbe th e greatestdr amatist theworld mother,Mar y ArdenShakespeare,was fr oma well-to-do,wel l-connectedfamily. Hi s father,JohnShakespeare,wasapro sp erous glovemakerandlocalpoli s exactbirthdateis un known,buthewas baptizedin hi s hometownof Str atf ord-upon-AvononApr il 26, 15 64,andtr aditionhasas sig nedhi m a bi rthdateof Ap ri l 23 , whichwasalsothedayof his deathan d thefeastdayof SaintGeorge,England spatron sai areattendedtheStratford grammarschool,wherehe stu di ed La tinandperhaps so meGr theageof eigh-te en, Sh akespe aremarriedAnneHathaway, eight ye ar s hisseni or , whowa s ,WilliamandAnnehadth reechild re n, a daughterSusannaandtw insHamnetandJud it h.
4 He mayhavewo rkedfo r a whileas a schoolteacher,for there ar e manyreferencesto teachingin 1592,however, hewaslivingin Londonandpur suinga lifein theth eater. Sh ak es pearecontinuedto provideforhisfamilyandto ex pandhis ho ldi ngsin Stratford whileli vingin retiredto Str atford- upon- Avonat theendof hislif akespe ar e s Profe ssi onal Car eerBy 1593, Shakes peare wasa s histor y pl ay sHe nry the Six th ,Parts1, 2, and3, andTh eTra ged y of Ri chard th e Th irdhadestablishedhimas a significantforcein 93 , whenanoutbreakof thepla gu e for cedthecl os ingof thetheaters, Shakespearetu rnedto narrativepoetry,pr oducingVen us and AdonisandThe Rapeof Lucre ce ,bo thdedicatedtoa patron , theEar l ofSouthampton.
5 Whenthetheaters reope ned,Shakespear eplu ng edbackintohi s pri maryvocation,andwrotethirty-seven pl ay s in les s thantwentyyears, includingThe Tamingofthe Shrew;A Mid summe r Nig ht s Dream ; The Merchant of Ven ice;Twelf th Ni ght , or What You Wi ll ; All s Well Th at Ends Well; TheTra ged y of Ki ng Ric ha rd the Se cond; The Tragedyof Romeoan dJulie t; The Trage dy of Jul ius C s ar ; The Tragedyof Hamlet,PrinceWill iam Shak espe areTHELI FE ANDWORKSOF WIL LIA M SHAKESPEAREvof De nma rk; The Trage dy of Ot he ll o, th e Moor of Venice;TheTrage dy of Ki ng Lear; The Trage dy of Macbeth; Th e Winter sTale;andTh e Temp es ou nd1594,Shake sp earebecamea shareholderin a the-ate r companykn ow n as TheLo rdChamberla in sMen.
6 Thetro up e qui ck ly becamethemostpopula r in Lo ,the y we re wealthyeno ug h to bu ild theirowntheater , a lar geope n- ai r pl ay house theycal le d theGlobe,andin 1603th eybought theBl ackfriar s, a small, art if iciallylighted indoor the-ate r for winter perfo companybeganperfor m-in g reg ula rl y at theco urtof QueenElizabethI. Afterthedeathof Elizabethin 1603,Shakespeare s co mpanybe came,off icial-ly, ser va ntsof KingJa mesI, andtheir namewas changedtoTheKing sMen. Shakespeare s fi nalnoncollaborativeplay,Th eFam ous Hi stor y of th e Li fe of He nry th e Eighth ,wasperformedinLo ndon in 1613. Laterthatsameyear, hecollaboratedwithJo hnFletche r to write a play cal ledTh e Tw o Noble Kins e hewasprobabl y livi ngagainin Str atford,in a lar geho usecall ed NewPl acethathehadboughtin 15 ,su rv ivedby hi s wif e andhistw o daughters,Shake spearewa s a weal buriedin theHolyTr inity Chu rchin Stratfo rd-upo n-Avon, wherehisbo nesrestto s graverea ds,Go od fr endfor Jes us sakefor beare,Todig g th e dus t encloasedheare.
7 Bles t be th e manth at sparesthessto nes,And curst behe e Publicati on of Sh ake spe are s PlaysSh akespearedid no t personally pr eparehisplaysfor pu bli -ca ti on , andnoof fi cialco ll ectionof themappeareduntilaf terhis co llectionof hi s sonnets,co nsideredbycriticstobe amongthebestpoetryeverwrittenin English,appeared dualplay s we re pu blishedduringhislife-timeinunauthorizede ditionsknown as qu artos. Manyofthe se qu art os ar e qui te unreli abl e. Somewere probablybasedon actors memori es of thepl ay s. So mewe re re printingsof so -ca ll edprompter s co pi esusedinpr memay havebee n based onfinalmanuscr ip t versions pr o-ducedbytheau 16 23 , sevenyearsafter Shakespeare sdeat h, his fr iends andfel lowactorsJohnHemingeandHenryCo ndellpublisheda collect eded itionofth irt y-five ofShakespear e splays.
8 Thisco ll ectionis knownto literaryhis -tori an s as theFi rs t Fol io. Inthecenturiessince1623,andesp eci allyduring thelas t century anda half, editors haveworkeddi lig entlytocomparethevariousearlyprintedver si onsof Shakes peare swo rks to determinewhichversionor versi ons of ea chplaybest representShakespeare akespe ar e s Fin est Ach ie ve me ntFragmen ts canbetantalizi ,awak-en inga des ir e to ttleis kn ownof Shakespear e slif e beyonda fewofficialrecords andmentionsby others indiarie s orletters,manypeople havebeendri vento speculateabout theprivatelifeofEn gland s gr is madeallthemore diffi cult bythefactthatShakespearedidnotwritein apers on al vei n, abouthi mself, bu t ratherconcentratedhisvis io n onth e livesofothers.
9 Readinghisplays,or seeingth emper for med, we co meto know manyof hischaractersbetterth anwe kno w most people in ou r character-is ticof Sh ak espeare sgreatnessis thathiswork takesusonjo ur neysin to parallel universes,intootherminds,so thathisch ar acters inn er most feelings,dr eams,wishes, values,moti -vati on s, an d evenco ,perhap s, Sh ak espeare sfi Aut hor sh ip of Sh ake sp ear e s PlaysTh e factth atShakespeare wasa commonerandled,accord ingto th e fewfactswehave,a ratherordinarylife,hasle d many people to speculatethathisplays werewrittenbysomeoneels e by theEar l of Oxford,pe rhaps,orbyBenJonson,bu t therearegood reas onsto believethatShakespearewas, indeed , theau thorof thepl aysattributedto onto accept thetraditio nalattrib utionis thattheplayssho w anun ders tandingof thelivesof peoplein allstationsof li fe,fro m th e lo wl ies t peasantsto menandwomenof theco ur t.
10 We knowthatShakespearecamefro m a middle-classbackgroun d an d latermovedin court circles,andthisfactisco nsis tent wi th hisunderstandingof peoplefromall walksofli th e very least, a carefulreadermust co nclude thattheplay s at tri butedtoShakespeare aretheworkof a singleau thor, for th ey havea di stinctvoicenotto befoundin theworkofan y otherdramatist ofhisday avoicethathasen richedour languageas Uni que nes s of Sh ake spe ar e s WorkNo br iefsummarycanbegin to catalogthemanyvirtuesof Sh ak espeare swor k. Hewasa giftedobserverof people,capable of cr eatingunforgettable charactersfromallstationsan d walks of life. Heusedoneof thelar gest vocabularieseveremplo yedbyanau th or, fil linghi s playswithconcretedetailsviA MI DS UMMERNI GHT S DREAMan d wi thsp eechthat,whil e notalwaysrealistic,is alwaysen ga ging andbelievable.
