A Midsummer Night's Dream

1. The Law of Athens and the Flight of Lovers If you walk out into a forest on a warm summer night, when the moon is a silver crescent and shadows dance between the trees, you might feel a sudden tingling shiver on the back of your neck. That is the edge of another world. More than 400 years ago, around the year 1595, a playwright named William Shakespeare wrote a play about that very feeling, called A Midsummer Night's Dream. Today, we are stepping directly inside his story, leaving our world behind for the marble streets of ancient Athens and the wild whispering woods that lie just beyond its gates. Our story begins in the bright, sharp sunlight of Athens. The orderly city is preparing for a grand celebration. Theseus, the Duke of Athens, is about to marry Hippolyta, the Queen of the Amazons. But amid the hanging banners, a young woman named Hermia is miserable. She is fiercely in love with a sweet, poetic nobleman named Lysander. In ancient Athens, however, a daughter did not get to choose her husband. That choice belonged entirely to her father. Hermia's stern father, Egeus, marches into the Duke's palace with a dark cloud over his face, dragging along another young man named Demetrius. Demetrius is wealthy, arrogant, and determined to have Hermia for his wife. Egeus demands the ancient cruel law of Athens. If Hermia refuses to marry Demetrius, she must either be put to death or vow to live forever in a cold, silent temple, never to speak to another man again. Duke Theseus gives Hermia until the next new moon to make her choice. Left alone, Hermia collapses into Lysander's arms, weeping. Lysander holds her tight, whispering, "The course of true love never did run smooth." But Lysander is also a man of action. He whispers a secret plan into her ear. He has an aunt who lives far outside Athens, beyond the reach of the city's harsh laws. "If we can steal away tomorrow night," he says, "we can fly to her house and be married. Meet me in the great wood, a league outside the town, where the wild hawthorn grows." Hermia eagerly agrees, swearing by all the vows of love to meet him there. Just then, Hermia's oldest and dearest friend, Helena, enters the garden. Helena is miserable because she is hopelessly, desperately in love with Demetrius. Before Demetrius saw Hermia, he had promised his love to Helena, but now he has cast her aside like a withered flower. The more he rejects her, the more she dotes on him. To comfort her weeping friend, Hermia decides to share their secret. "Take comfort, Helena," Hermia whispers. "Tomorrow night, Lysander and I are fleeing Athens. We shall meet in the woods and escape, and Demetrius will be yours again." After the lovers depart, Helena stands alone in the garden. A desperate, foolish idea takes hold of her aching heart. If she tells Demetrius of the lovers' flight, he will surely pursue Hermia into the woods tomorrow night. And if he goes, Helena can follow him. Even if he curses her, she will have the painful joy of walking by his side under the stars. It is a plan born of a broken heart, but love makes fools of the wisest minds. Helena hurries off to find Demetrius, setting in motion a chain of events that will lead them all into a night of absolute madness. ## 2. The Wood by Night The wood outside Athens was not an ordinary forest. By day, shepherds watched their flocks there. But by night, when the silver moon looked down, the forest belonged to the fairies. These were not the tiny, delicate fairies of modern storybooks, but ancient, powerful spirits, woven from moonlight and shadow. And on this midsummer night, their kingdom was in a state of civil war. At the forest's center stood Oberon, the fairy king, and Titania, the fairy queen. They were glaring at one another, and their anger was so intense that it had curdled the seasons in the human world, bringing fogs, floods, and winter frost to summer roses. The cause of their quarrel was…

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