A Midsummer Night's Dream

A Midsummer Night's Dream is one of William Shakespeare's most beloved comedies. It portrays events surrounding the marriage of Theseus, the Duke of Athens, to Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons, and the adventures of four young Athenian actors, the couples Hermia and Lysander, and Helena and Demetrius. The couples get lost in the woods, but not just any woods: the romantic interplay is turned up when they enter faerie land, over which Oberon and Titania, the King and Queen of the Fairies, reign. We find unforgettable characters like the mischievous Puck, who gets a little liberal with the Fairy Spanish Fly.

While most of Shakespeare's plays relied heavily on existing history, myths, or narrative poetry, A Midsummer Night's Dream was conjured out of the ether. It isn't his absolute best work according to scholars, being complex sometimes to the point of confusion, but it is a brilliant feat of light comedy. The myriad characters and plot twists which abound make this play one that should certainly be viewed before reading. All in all, A Midsummer Night's Dream is a timeless play whose themes of love, dreams, and the creative imagination will certainly be a favorite.