Customer Reviews

A Midsummer Night's Dream

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One of Shakespeare's most enjoyable works, "A Midsummer's Nights Dream" is the story of four lovers (either loved, in love, or both) who travel into an "enchanted" forest, filled with magical fairies who play tricks on them and even themselves. Meanwhile, a hapless stage production prepares for a performance at the Duke's wedding. All storylines lead to an enjoyable resolution climaxing with the hilarious performance of "The Most Lamentable Comedy of Pyramus and Thisbe." This is one of Shakespeare's funniest and consequently is one of his most univerally-enjoyed plays. I recommend it for anyone with any interest at all in Shakespeare's works.

It's neither the best nor worst of Shakespeare's many comedies, but "A Midsummer Night's Dream" definitely holds one honor -- it's the most fantastical of his works. This airy little comedy is filled with fairies, spells, love potions and romantic mixups, with only the bland human lovers making things a little confusing (who's in love with whom again?).

As Athens prepares for the wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta, the fusty Egeus is demanding that his daughter Hermia marry the man he's chosen for her, Demetrius. Her only other options are death or nunhood.

Since she's in love with a young man named Lysander (no, we never learn why her dad hates Lysander), Hermia refuses, and the two of them plot to escape Athens and marry elsewhere. But Helena, a girl who has been kicked to the curb by Demetrius, tips him off about their plans; he chases Hermia and Lysander into the woods, with Helena following him all the way. Are you confused yet?

But on this same night, the fairy king Oberon and his queen Titania are feuding over a little Indian boy. Oberon decides to use a magical "love juice" from a flower to cause some trouble for Titania by making her fall in love with some random weaver named Nick Bottom (whom his henchman Puck has turned into a donkey-headed man). He also decides to have Puck iron out the four lovers' romantic troubles with the same potion. But of course, hijinks ensue.

"A Midsummer Night's Dream" is another one of Shakespeare's plays that REALLY needs to be seen before it's read. Not only is it meant to be seen rather than read, but the tangle of romantic problems and hijinks are a little difficult to follow... okay, scratch that. They can be VERY difficult to follow, especially if you need to keep the four lovers straight.

But despite those small flaws, Shakespeare is in rare form here -- the story floats along in an enchanted haze of fairy magic, forest groves, and a love square that twists in on itself. And Shakespeare's lush, haunting poetry is absolutely lovely here ("With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine/There sleeps Titania sometime of the night/Lull'd in these flowers with dances and delight...").

But he also packs it with plenty of hilarity -- not only is it funny to read about the haughty fairy queen fawning over a guy with a donkey head (Nick Bottom = "ass's head", get it?), but there's plenty of funny moments in the dialogue ("Thisby, the flowers of odious savours sweet...").

The four main lovers are relatively bland and interchangeable, and we never find out much about them except that Helena is kind of stalkerish and not too bright (she tips off the guy she likes that the girl HE likes is eloping so he can stop her?). The real draws are the fairy creatures -- Titania and Oberon are proud alien creatures filled with both cruelty and kindness, and Puck is delightfully mischievous and.... puckish.

"A Midsummer Night's Dream" is a shimmering little concoction of magic, romantic mayhem and fairy squabbling. Absolutely stunning.

I have read this and think that it is a must for anyone. The characters are well-developed and unusual.The plot is complex but manages to stay easy to understand. The language is the only problem.Although the language is a slight drawback, after you get through it you unearth poetry that is a wonderful example of old-english culture.The complicated love-triangles,well, you can't really call them triangles, they are more like squares, involving the 4 main characters.Ultimately, I think that this is a wonderful book and i really do suggest that anyone does read it.

As a seventh grader I have just finished the required read of a MidSummer's Night dream and I found it to have a plot line that kids can relate to through movies but not through the life that a kid lives. We see love all over televsion and we see how it works and we can connect that to the play. What I do think that was great about this is how it kept to ryhming and a rhythem, I think that is what creates a great book!

I had to read this book in English class and I thought it was enertaining. I liked the way it was like an old fashioned soap opera, only more entertaining. I think at one point in our lives we should read this book to show the true meaning of love being messed up. I sometimes wonder now if Puck on the Real World's role model was this Puck. Oh well, whatever. This is probably one of Shakespeares best plays if you ask me.

I thought that Midsummer Nights Dream was a good comedy by William Shakespeare. This book is about 2 couples who are in love with one another but their love changes when fairies come with a special plant to change their hearts. The couples are then in love with the wrong person for the wrong reason. While all this is going on, common people are preparing a play for the duke's wedding. Although the play is short, every part of it is enjoyable and funny. If you read one scene, you will want to read the next.