Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Please give a summary of Act IV scene 1 of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

This scene features a series of awakenings, as the
characters who have experienced the midsummer night dream wake up and return to reality.
Before this, however, we return to Bottom who is shown to be a very demanding person
through the ridiculous requests he makes of the fairies. He and Titania fall asleep
together and Oberon and Puck appear whilst they are asleep. Oberon tells Puck that he
has now gained the changeling that was the cause of the quarrel between him and Titania,
and he expresses his intention of removing the enchantment from her. He does so, and
then wakes her up, and Titania falls instantly in love with her husband and immediately
abhors Bottom. Oberon tells Puck to remove the ass's head from Bottom. Puck does this
and Titania causes Bottom and the four Athenian lovers to fall into a deep, enchanted
sleep.


Then Theseus, Hippolyta, and Egeus appear, hunting
in the countryside. The sound of the horns awake the five sleepers, and Theseus wonders
who they arrived in the woods. Theseus tries to find out the truth, but only receives
vague, equivocal answers. Lysander remembers his reason for going into the woods, nut
nothing else. Egeus is of course extremely angry to hear about this and demands justice,
but the situation is saved by Demetrius declaring that he no longer wishes to marry
Hermia as he loves Helena. Theseus eagerly seizes upon this solution and declares that
the two couples will marry as part of his own marriage to
Hippolyta.


The Athenian lovers remain unsure about the
reality or otherwise of their dreams and are ordered to go to the temple, and leave,
continuing to talk of their dreams. Bottom awakes and ruminates about his dream,
declaring that he will get Quince to turn it into a ballad to be sung at the end of the
play the craftsmen will perform.

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