A Midsummer Night’s Dream Quotes

Now, fair Hippolyta, our nuptial hour
Draws on apace. Four happy days bring in
Another moon. But, oh, methinks how slow
This old moon wanes. She lingers my desires,
Like to a stepdame or a dowager
Long withering out a young man’s revenue.

– William Shakespeare

A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 1, Scene 1. The Duke of Athens Theseus comments to Hippolya about their approaching wedding day in these opening lines of the play. He is impatient for their "nuptial hour" to arrive, complaining that time is passing too slowly. He uses the moon as a metaphor for his frustrated desires. He compares the slowly waning moon to a greedy aging stepmother or widow spending her husband’s fortune before her son can inherit it (examples of similes).

Four days will quickly steep themselves in night;
Four nights will quickly dream away the time.

– William Shakespeare

A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 1, Scene 1. Hippolyta responds to Theseus, after he complains that the four days until their wedding is frustrating his desires. Her reference to "dream away the time" foreshadows the prevelance of dreams in the play and the strange, magical occurances that will happen in the forest. These are the first words the Amazon queen speaks in the play.

And then the moon, like to a silver bow
New-bent in heaven, shall behold the night
Of our solemnities.

– William Shakespeare

A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 1, Scene 1. Hippolyta is referring to her upcoming wedding in four days time. Using a simile, she likens the waning moon to a silver bow bent into a curve in the sky and looking down on her wedding celebration. Personification is used here also, as Hippolyta visualizes the face of the moon as that of Diana watching her marry Theseus. In Roman mythology Diana was the goddess of the moon and of the hunt and is often depicted as a huntress carrying a bow and quiver full of arrows.

Go, Philostrate,
Stir up the Athenian youth to merriments.
Awake the pert and nimble spirit of mirth.
Turn melancholy forth to funerals;
The pale companion is not for our pomp.

– William Shakespeare

A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 1, Scene 1. Theseus instructs his Master of the Revels Philostrate to organize a celebratory atmosphere among the young people of Athens. He charges him with awakening the spirit of merriment for his marriage. He personifies both mirth and melancholy in this passage and says that sadness is for funerals and not the friend of a wedding celebration.

Hippolyta, I woo’d thee with my sword
And won thy love doing thee injuries,
But I will wed thee in another key,
With pomp, with triumph, and with revelling.

– William Shakespeare

A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 1, Scene 1. Theseus defeated and conquered Amazon Queen Hippolyta in battle and she is now betrothed to him. The Amazons were a mythical nation of warrior women, who were courageous and independent and the archenemies of the ancient Greeks. But in Theseus’ world it is the men who take charge and women are property and prizes to be won in battle. He uses verbal irony when he says that he won Hippolyta’s love by causing her injury, as hurting someone does not normally endear them to you. Theseus has now been transformed from warrior king and Hippolyta’s enemy to her lover. He employs a musical metaphor when he talks of wooing her with his sword and now wedding her "in another key" – with pomp and festivities and celebration instead of war. There is a subtle foreshadowing in this passage that love in the play has to be fought for and won. The uneasy union of Theseus and Hippolyta, brought about by enslavement, is also foreshadowing of the dispute between Oberon and Titania, their counterparts in the fairy world.

Full of vexation come I, with complaint
Against my child, my daughter Hermia. –
Stand forth, Demetrius. – My noble lord,
This man hath my consent to marry her. –
Stand forth, Lysander. – And my gracious duke,
This man hath bewitch’d the bosom of my child. –
Thou, thou, Lysander.

– William Shakespeare

A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 1, Scene 1. An angry Egeus complaints to Duke Theseus that his daughter Hermia is disobeying his wish that she marry Demetrius and she wants to wed Lysander instead. He effectively accuses Lysander of witchcraft: putting a spell on his daughter’s heart.

Thou hast by moonlight at her window sung
With feigning voice, verses of feigning love,
And stol’n the impression of her fantasy
With bracelets of thy hair, rings, gauds, conceits,
Knacks, trifles, nosegays, sweetmeats – messengers
Of strong prevailment in unhardened youth.

– William Shakespeare

A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 1, Scene 1. Egeus accuses Lysander of wooing his daughter by pretending to love her by singing at her window by moonlight. He says that he recited fake love poems, offered her various gifts, and even gave her a lock of his hair. All designed to influence an innocent child. Egeus is maintaining that Lysander’s so-called love is not true, but an illusion.

I beg the ancient privilege of Athens:
As she is mine, I may dispose of her,
Which shall be either to this gentleman
Or to her death, according to our law
Immediately provided in that case.

– William Shakespeare

A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 1, Scene 1. Egeus is demanding that his daughter Hermia marry the man he chooses for her, Demetrius, but she defies him because she loves Lysander. In this passage Egeus appeals to the Duke of Athens Theseus to enforce the law, saying that if his daughter disobeys she would be put to death. "As she is mine, I may dispose of her," an enraged Egeus ominously declares. Egeus sees her simply as his property, to do what he will with her under the law of Athens, including killing her!

What say you, Hermia? Be advised, fair maid:
To you your father should be as a god,
One that composed your beauties, yea, and one
To whom you are but as a form in wax,
By him imprinted and within his power
To leave the figure or disfigure it.

– William Shakespeare

A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 1, Scene 1. The young Athenian woman Hermia has been told by her father Egeus that she must marry Demetrius. In this passage the Duke Theseus, who is the authority in the city of Athens, upholds her father’s demand. Using a series of similes the Duke tells her that her father is "as a god" to her and she is to him "as a form of wax" to be shaped by him. Theseus is asserting a father’s complete power over his daughter and that she should obey him. As his daughter’s creator Egeus can do what he wishes with her, even "disfigure" her, according to Theseus.

THESEUS: Demetrius is a worthy gentleman.
HERMIA: So is Lysander.

– William Shakespeare

A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 1, Scene 1. In trying to get Hermia to tow the Athenian line and obey her father’s wish to marry Demetrius, Duke Theseus points out that Demetrius is a "worthy gentleman." Quick as a flash, Hermia responds that the man she loves Lysander is as well. There is unintended irony in what Theseus says, as Demetrius later engages in some very ungentlemanly and mean behavior towards Hermia in the woods when he threats to do her "mischief" and leave her to the mercy of "wild beasts." While Demetrius has managed to fool Theseus and Egeus that he the perfect gentleman, he hasn’t at all fooled Lysander, who later brands him a "spotted and inconstant man."

I do entreat your Grace to pardon me.
I know not by what power I am made bold,
Nor how it may concern my modesty
In such a presence here to plead my thoughts;
But I beseech your Grace that I may know
The worst that may befall me in this case
If I refuse to wed Demetrius.

– William Shakespeare

A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 1, Scene 1. A defiant Hermia, whose heart is set on Lysander, asks the Duke of Athens Theseus what her fate will be if she refuses to marry Demetrius. Tell me the worst that will happen me, she demands. Hermia is an outspoken and self-assertive young Athenian woman and has the courage to speak up for herself to the highest authority figure in the city.

Therefore, fair Hermia, question your desires,
Know of your youth, examine well your blood,
Whether (if you yield not to your father’s choice)
You can endure the livery of a nun,
For aye to be shady cloister mewed,
To live a barren sister all your life,
Chanting faint hymns to the cold fruitless moon.

– William Shakespeare

A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 1, Scene 1. Theseus has told Hermia that she has three choices: get married to Demetrius, become a nun, or die. He advises her to think carefully about what she wants. He warns her that she may not be able to tolerate a life of chastity shut up in a convent without husband or children, chanting hymns to the moon.

Thrice-blessed they that master so their blood,
To undergo such maiden pilgrimage;
But earthlier happy is the rose distill’d
Than that which, withering on the virgin thorn,
Grows, lives, and dies in single blessedness.

– William Shakespeare

A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 1, Scene 1. Theseus tells Hermia that she should marry Demetrius. He says that those who master their passions and remain virgins are three times blessed. But, using a flower metaphor, he suggests that a woman who is married and deflowered ("the rose distill’d") is happier than one who remains a virgin. The virgin simply grows, lives and withers on the stem.

So will I grow, so live, so die, my lord,
Ere I will yield my virgin patent up
Unto his Lordship, whose unwishèd yoke
My soul consents not to give sovereignty.

– William Shakespeare

A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 1, Scene 1. Hermia shows herself to be one of Shakespeare’s strong women as she defies the wishes of her father Egeus and Duke Theseus. They have commanded that she marry Demetrius instead of Lysander. In a powerful expression of women’s autonomy, she declares that she will not give up the ownership of her virginity to her father. Nor will her soul give her father sovereignty to command her to enter an unwanted marriage. Using a metaphor, she compares marriage to Demetrius to an "unwishèd yoke" – a pair of oxen harnessed togeher under the yoke of enforced marriage. She says that she would rather die or become a nun than marry Demetrius.

Take time to pause; and, by the next new moon
(The sealing day betwixt my love and me,
For everlasting bond of fellowship),
Upon that day either prepare to die
For disobedience to your father’s will,
Or else to wed Demetrius, as he would;
Or on Diana’s altar to protest
For aye austerity and single life.

– William Shakespeare

A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 1, Scene 1. Hermia is told by Theseus to think hard about her decision to disobey her father’s wish to marry the man he has chosen for his daughter. The Duke gives her a deadline of the next new moon. Then she must either marry Demetrius, or prepare to die or live a life of austerity as a virgin priestess in the temple of Diana. Hermia is denied the freedom to make her own choice in the matter of who she loves and marries. This is controlled by men: her father and Theseus.
Theseus

I am, my lord, as well derived as he,
As well possess’d; my love is more than his;
My fortunes every way as fairly ranked,
If not with vantage, as Demetrius’;
And, which is more than all these boasts can be,
I am beloved of beauteous Hermia:
Why should not I then prosecute my right?

– William Shakespeare

A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 1, Scene 1. Lysander fights for the hand of the woman he loves as he bravely presents his case to the Duke Theseus. He says that he has as much money and social rank as his rival Demetrius. Also and more importantly, the beautiful Hermia is in love with him.

Demetrius, I’ll avouch it to his head,
Made love to Nedar’s daughter, Helena,
And won her soul; and she, sweet lady, dotes,
Devoutly dotes, dotes in idolatry,
Upon this spotted and inconstant man.

– William Shakespeare

A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 1, Scene 1. Lysander dishes the dirt on love rival Demetrius and questions his constancy, as he fights for the right to wed Hermia. He brands Demetrius a player, accusing him of being morally flawed and fickle in his affections. He reveals that Demetrius first wooed and won the love of Hermia’s friend Helena, and now Helena obsesses over this unfaithful man. While Lysander questions Demetrius’ devotion to Helena, he portrays Helena’s affection as subservient and a one-side form of worship – "idolatry," he terms it. It is very clear that Lysander does not like Demetrius.

LYSANDER: How now, my love! why is your cheek so pale?
How chance the roses there do fade so fast?
HERMIA: Belike for want of rain, which I could well
Beteem them from the tempest of my eyes.

– William Shakespeare

A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 1, Scene 1. Lysander asks Hermia why she is so upset. He uses a flower metaphor to compare her pale cheeks to roses which have faded. Hermia, also speaking metaphorically, says that it cannot be for lack of rain because there is a tempest in her eyes. She is upset because she has been told that she must marry Demetrius or become a nun. For she loves Lysander and wants to marry him. The word "tempest" is foreshadowing of Hermia’s strong and fiery personality. One of the strongest female characters in the play, she is someone who follows her heart.

Ay me, for aught that I could ever read,
Could ever hear by tale or history,
The course of true love never did run smooth.

– William Shakespeare

A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 1, Scene 1. Lysander ironically offers comfort to his love, Hermia, by telling her that the troubles they are experiencing show that their love is indeed true love. This is one of the most famous lines from the play. It is foreshadowing of all the confusion, conflict and complications that will arise for the lovers in the play.
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