A Midsummer Night’s Dream

1 Enter Oberon.
2 OBERON.
3 I wonder if Titania be awak’d;
4 Then, what it was that next came in her eye,
5 Which she must dote on in extremity.
6 Enter Puck.
7 Here comes my messenger. How now, mad spirit?
8 What night-rule now about this haunted grove?
9 PUCK.
10 My mistress with a monster is in love.
11 Near to her close and consecrated bower,
12 While she was in her dull and sleeping hour,
13 A crew of patches, rude mechanicals,
14 That work for bread upon Athenian stalls,
15 Were met together to rehearse a play
16 Intended for great Theseus’ nuptial day.
17 The shallowest thick-skin of that barren sort
18 Who Pyramus presented in their sport,
19 Forsook his scene and enter’d in a brake.
20 When I did him at this advantage take,
21 An ass’s nole I fixed on his head.
22 Anon, his Thisbe must be answerèd,
23 And forth my mimic comes. When they him spy,
24 As wild geese that the creeping fowler eye,
25 Or russet-pated choughs, many in sort,
26 Rising and cawing at the gun’s report,
27 Sever themselves and madly sweep the sky,
28 So at his sight away his fellows fly,
29 And at our stamp, here o’er and o’er one falls;
30 He murder cries, and help from Athens calls.
31 Their sense thus weak, lost with their fears, thus strong,
32 Made senseless things begin to do them wrong;
33 For briers and thorns at their apparel snatch;
34 Some sleeves, some hats, from yielders all things catch.
35 I led them on in this distracted fear,
36 And left sweet Pyramus translated there.
37 When in that moment, so it came to pass,
38 Titania wak’d, and straightway lov’d an ass.
39 OBERON.
40 This falls out better than I could devise.
41 But hast thou yet latch’d the Athenian’s eyes
42 With the love-juice, as I did bid thee do?
43 PUCK.
44 I took him sleeping—that is finish’d too—
45 And the Athenian woman by his side,
46 That, when he wak’d, of force she must be ey’d.
47 Enter Demetrius and Hermia.
48 OBERON.
49 Stand close. This is the same Athenian.
50 PUCK.
51 This is the woman, but not this the man.
52 DEMETRIUS.
53 O why rebuke you him that loves you so?
54 Lay breath so bitter on your bitter foe.
55 HERMIA.
56 Now I but chide, but I should use thee worse,
57 For thou, I fear, hast given me cause to curse.
58 If thou hast slain Lysander in his sleep,
59 Being o’er shoes in blood, plunge in the deep,
60 And kill me too.
61 The sun was not so true unto the day
62 As he to me. Would he have stol’n away
63 From sleeping Hermia? I’ll believe as soon
64 This whole earth may be bor’d, and that the moon
65 May through the centre creep and so displease
66 Her brother’s noontide with th’ Antipodes.
67 It cannot be but thou hast murder’d him.
68 So should a murderer look, so dead, so grim.
69 DEMETRIUS.
70 So should the murder’d look, and so should I,
71 Pierc’d through the heart with your stern cruelty.
72 Yet you, the murderer, look as bright, as clear,
73 As yonder Venus in her glimmering sphere.
74 HERMIA.
75 What’s this to my Lysander? Where is he?
76 Ah, good Demetrius, wilt thou give him me?
77 DEMETRIUS.
78 I had rather give his carcass to my hounds.
79 HERMIA.
80 Out, dog! Out, cur! Thou driv’st me past the bounds
81 Of maiden’s patience. Hast thou slain him, then?
82 Henceforth be never number’d among men!
83 O once tell true; tell true, even for my sake!
84 Durst thou have look’d upon him, being awake,
85 And hast thou kill’d him sleeping? O brave touch!
86 Could not a worm, an adder, do so much?
87 An adder did it; for with doubler tongue
88 Than thine, thou serpent, never adder stung.
89 DEMETRIUS.
90 You spend your passion on a mispris’d mood:
91 I am not guilty of Lysander’s blood;
92 Nor is he dead, for aught that I can tell.
93 HERMIA.
94 I pray thee, tell me then that he is well.
95 DEMETRIUS.
96 And if I could, what should I get therefore?
97 HERMIA.
98 A privilege never to see me more.
99 And from thy hated presence part I so:
100 See me no more, whether he be dead or no.
101 [_Exit._]
102 DEMETRIUS.
103 There is no following her in this fierce vein.
104 Here, therefore, for a while I will remain.
105 So sorrow’s heaviness doth heavier grow
106 For debt that bankrupt sleep doth sorrow owe;
107 Which now in some slight measure it will pay,
108 If for his tender here I make some stay.
109 [_Lies down._]
110 OBERON.
111 What hast thou done? Thou hast mistaken quite,
112 And laid the love-juice on some true-love’s sight.
113 Of thy misprision must perforce ensue
114 Some true love turn’d, and not a false turn’d true.
115 PUCK.
116 Then fate o’er-rules, that, one man holding troth,
117 A million fail, confounding oath on oath.
118 OBERON.
119 About the wood go swifter than the wind,
120 And Helena of Athens look thou find.
121 All fancy-sick she is, and pale of cheer
122 With sighs of love, that costs the fresh blood dear.
123 By some illusion see thou bring her here;
124 I’ll charm his eyes against she do appear.
125 PUCK.
126 I go, I go; look how I go,
127 Swifter than arrow from the Tartar’s bow.
128 [_Exit._]
129 OBERON.
130 Flower of this purple dye,
131 Hit with Cupid’s archery,
132 Sink in apple of his eye.
133 When his love he doth espy,
134 Let her shine as gloriously
135 As the Venus of the sky.—
136 When thou wak’st, if she be by,
137 Beg of her for remedy.
138 Enter Puck.
139 PUCK.
140 Captain of our fairy band,
141 Helena is here at hand,
142 And the youth mistook by me,
143 Pleading for a lover’s fee.
144 Shall we their fond pageant see?
145 Lord, what fools these mortals be!
146 OBERON.
147 Stand aside. The noise they make
148 Will cause Demetrius to awake.
149 PUCK.
150 Then will two at once woo one.
151 That must needs be sport alone;
152 And those things do best please me
153 That befall prepost’rously.
154 Enter Lysander and Helena.
155 LYSANDER.
156 Why should you think that I should woo in scorn?
157 Scorn and derision never come in tears.
158 Look when I vow, I weep; and vows so born,
159 In their nativity all truth appears.
160 How can these things in me seem scorn to you,
161 Bearing the badge of faith, to prove them true?
162 HELENA.
163 You do advance your cunning more and more.
164 When truth kills truth, O devilish-holy fray!
165 These vows are Hermia’s: will you give her o’er?
166 Weigh oath with oath, and you will nothing weigh:
167 Your vows to her and me, put in two scales,
168 Will even weigh; and both as light as tales.
169 LYSANDER.
170 I had no judgment when to her I swore.
171 HELENA.
172 Nor none, in my mind, now you give her o’er.
173 LYSANDER.
174 Demetrius loves her, and he loves not you.
175 DEMETRIUS.
176 [_Waking._] O Helen, goddess, nymph, perfect, divine!
177 To what, my love, shall I compare thine eyne?
178 Crystal is muddy. O how ripe in show
179 Thy lips, those kissing cherries, tempting grow!
180 That pure congealèd white, high Taurus’ snow,
181 Fann’d with the eastern wind, turns to a crow
182 When thou hold’st up thy hand. O, let me kiss
183 This princess of pure white, this seal of bliss!
184 HELENA.
185 O spite! O hell! I see you all are bent
186 To set against me for your merriment.
187 If you were civil, and knew courtesy,
188 You would not do me thus much injury.
189 Can you not hate me, as I know you do,
190 But you must join in souls to mock me too?
191 If you were men, as men you are in show,
192 You would not use a gentle lady so;
193 To vow, and swear, and superpraise my parts,
194 When I am sure you hate me with your hearts.
195 You both are rivals, and love Hermia;
196 And now both rivals, to mock Helena.
197 A trim exploit, a manly enterprise,
198 To conjure tears up in a poor maid’s eyes
199 With your derision! None of noble sort
200 Would so offend a virgin, and extort
201 A poor soul’s patience, all to make you sport.
202 LYSANDER.
203 You are unkind, Demetrius; be not so,
204 For you love Hermia; this you know I know.
205 And here, with all good will, with all my heart,
206 In Hermia’s love I yield you up my part;
207 And yours of Helena to me bequeath,
208 Whom I do love and will do till my death.
209 HELENA.
210 Never did mockers waste more idle breath.
211 DEMETRIUS.
212 Lysander, keep thy Hermia; I will none.
213 If e’er I lov’d her, all that love is gone.
214 My heart to her but as guest-wise sojourn’d;
215 And now to Helen is it home return’d,
216 There to remain.
217 LYSANDER.
218 Helen, it is not so.
219 DEMETRIUS.
220 Disparage not the faith thou dost not know,
221 Lest to thy peril thou aby it dear.
222 Look where thy love comes; yonder is thy dear.
223 Enter Hermia.
224 HERMIA.
225 Dark night, that from the eye his function takes,
226 The ear more quick of apprehension makes;
227 Wherein it doth impair the seeing sense,
228 It pays the hearing double recompense.
229 Thou art not by mine eye, Lysander, found;
230 Mine ear, I thank it, brought me to thy sound.
231 But why unkindly didst thou leave me so?
232 LYSANDER.
233 Why should he stay whom love doth press to go?
234 HERMIA.
235 What love could press Lysander from my side?
236 LYSANDER.
237 Lysander’s love, that would not let him bide,
238 Fair Helena, who more engilds the night
239 Than all yon fiery oes and eyes of light.
240 Why seek’st thou me? Could not this make thee know
241 The hate I bare thee made me leave thee so?
242 HERMIA.
243 You speak not as you think; it cannot be.
244 HELENA.
245 Lo, she is one of this confederacy!
246 Now I perceive they have conjoin’d all three
247 To fashion this false sport in spite of me.
248 Injurious Hermia, most ungrateful maid!
249 Have you conspir’d, have you with these contriv’d,
250 To bait me with this foul derision?
251 Is all the counsel that we two have shar’d,
252 The sisters’ vows, the hours that we have spent,
253 When we have chid the hasty-footed time
254 For parting us—O, is all forgot?
255 All school-days’ friendship, childhood innocence?
256 We, Hermia, like two artificial gods,
257 Have with our needles created both one flower,
258 Both on one sampler, sitting on one cushion,
259 Both warbling of one song, both in one key,
260 As if our hands, our sides, voices, and minds,
261 Had been incorporate. So we grew together,
262 Like to a double cherry, seeming parted,
263 But yet a union in partition,
264 Two lovely berries moulded on one stem;
265 So, with two seeming bodies, but one heart;
266 Two of the first, like coats in heraldry,
267 Due but to one, and crownèd with one crest.
268 And will you rent our ancient love asunder,
269 To join with men in scorning your poor friend?
270 It is not friendly, ’tis not maidenly.
271 Our sex, as well as I, may chide you for it,
272 Though I alone do feel the injury.
273 HERMIA.
274 I am amazèd at your passionate words:
275 I scorn you not; it seems that you scorn me.
276 HELENA.
277 Have you not set Lysander, as in scorn,
278 To follow me, and praise my eyes and face?
279 And made your other love, Demetrius,
280 Who even but now did spurn me with his foot,
281 To call me goddess, nymph, divine and rare,
282 Precious, celestial? Wherefore speaks he this
283 To her he hates? And wherefore doth Lysander
284 Deny your love, so rich within his soul,
285 And tender me, forsooth, affection,
286 But by your setting on, by your consent?
287 What though I be not so in grace as you,
288 So hung upon with love, so fortunate,
289 But miserable most, to love unlov’d?
290 This you should pity rather than despise.
291 HERMIA.
292 I understand not what you mean by this.
293 HELENA.
294 Ay, do. Persever, counterfeit sad looks,
295 Make mouths upon me when I turn my back,
296 Wink each at other; hold the sweet jest up.
297 This sport, well carried, shall be chronicled.
298 If you have any pity, grace, or manners,
299 You would not make me such an argument.
300 But fare ye well. ’Tis partly my own fault,
301 Which death, or absence, soon shall remedy.
302 LYSANDER.
303 Stay, gentle Helena; hear my excuse;
304 My love, my life, my soul, fair Helena!
305 HELENA.
306 O excellent!
307 HERMIA.
308 Sweet, do not scorn her so.
309 DEMETRIUS.
310 If she cannot entreat, I can compel.
311 LYSANDER.
312 Thou canst compel no more than she entreat;
313 Thy threats have no more strength than her weak prayers.
314 Helen, I love thee, by my life I do;
315 I swear by that which I will lose for thee
316 To prove him false that says I love thee not.
317 DEMETRIUS.
318 I say I love thee more than he can do.
319 LYSANDER.
320 If thou say so, withdraw, and prove it too.
321 DEMETRIUS.
322 Quick, come.
323 HERMIA.
324 Lysander, whereto tends all this?
325 LYSANDER.
326 Away, you Ethiope!
327 DEMETRIUS.
328 No, no. He will
329 Seem to break loose. Take on as you would follow,
330 But yet come not. You are a tame man, go!
331 LYSANDER.
332 Hang off, thou cat, thou burr! Vile thing, let loose,
333 Or I will shake thee from me like a serpent.
334 HERMIA.
335 Why are you grown so rude? What change is this,
336 Sweet love?
337 LYSANDER.
338 Thy love? Out, tawny Tartar, out!
339 Out, loathèd medicine! O hated potion, hence!
340 HERMIA.
341 Do you not jest?
342 HELENA.
343 Yes, sooth, and so do you.
344 LYSANDER.
345 Demetrius, I will keep my word with thee.
346 DEMETRIUS.
347 I would I had your bond; for I perceive
348 A weak bond holds you; I’ll not trust your word.
349 LYSANDER.
350 What, should I hurt her, strike her, kill her dead?
351 Although I hate her, I’ll not harm her so.
352 HERMIA.
353 What, can you do me greater harm than hate?
354 Hate me? Wherefore? O me! what news, my love?
355 Am not I Hermia? Are not you Lysander?
356 I am as fair now as I was erewhile.
357 Since night you lov’d me; yet since night you left me.
358 Why then, you left me—O, the gods forbid!—
359 In earnest, shall I say?
360 LYSANDER.
361 Ay, by my life;
362 And never did desire to see thee more.
363 Therefore be out of hope, of question, of doubt;
364 Be certain, nothing truer; ’tis no jest
365 That I do hate thee and love Helena.
366 HERMIA.
367 O me! You juggler! You cankerblossom!
368 You thief of love! What! have you come by night
369 And stol’n my love’s heart from him?
370 HELENA.
371 Fine, i’ faith!
372 Have you no modesty, no maiden shame,
373 No touch of bashfulness? What, will you tear
374 Impatient answers from my gentle tongue?
375 Fie, fie, you counterfeit, you puppet, you!
376 HERMIA.
377 Puppet! Why so? Ay, that way goes the game.
378 Now I perceive that she hath made compare
379 Between our statures; she hath urg’d her height;
380 And with her personage, her tall personage,
381 Her height, forsooth, she hath prevail’d with him.
382 And are you grown so high in his esteem
383 Because I am so dwarfish and so low?
384 How low am I, thou painted maypole? Speak,
385 How low am I? I am not yet so low
386 But that my nails can reach unto thine eyes.
387 HELENA.
388 I pray you, though you mock me, gentlemen,
389 Let her not hurt me. I was never curst;
390 I have no gift at all in shrewishness;
391 I am a right maid for my cowardice;
392 Let her not strike me. You perhaps may think,
393 Because she is something lower than myself,
394 That I can match her.
395 HERMIA.
396 Lower! Hark, again.
397 HELENA.
398 Good Hermia, do not be so bitter with me.
399 I evermore did love you, Hermia,
400 Did ever keep your counsels, never wrong’d you,
401 Save that, in love unto Demetrius,
402 I told him of your stealth unto this wood.
403 He follow’d you; for love I follow’d him;
404 But he hath chid me hence, and threaten’d me
405 To strike me, spurn me, nay, to kill me too:
406 And now, so you will let me quiet go,
407 To Athens will I bear my folly back,
408 And follow you no further. Let me go:
409 You see how simple and how fond I am.
410 HERMIA.
411 Why, get you gone. Who is’t that hinders you?
412 HELENA.
413 A foolish heart that I leave here behind.
414 HERMIA.
415 What! with Lysander?
416 HELENA.
417 With Demetrius.
418 LYSANDER.
419 Be not afraid; she shall not harm thee, Helena.
420 DEMETRIUS.
421 No, sir, she shall not, though you take her part.
422 HELENA.
423 O, when she’s angry, she is keen and shrewd.
424 She was a vixen when she went to school,
425 And though she be but little, she is fierce.
426 HERMIA.
427 Little again! Nothing but low and little?
428 Why will you suffer her to flout me thus?
429 Let me come to her.
430 LYSANDER.
431 Get you gone, you dwarf;
432 You minimus, of hind’ring knot-grass made;
433 You bead, you acorn.
434 DEMETRIUS.
435 You are too officious
436 In her behalf that scorns your services.
437 Let her alone. Speak not of Helena;
438 Take not her part; for if thou dost intend
439 Never so little show of love to her,
440 Thou shalt aby it.
441 LYSANDER.
442 Now she holds me not.
443 Now follow, if thou dar’st, to try whose right,
444 Of thine or mine, is most in Helena.
445 DEMETRIUS.
446 Follow! Nay, I’ll go with thee, cheek by jole.
447 [_Exeunt Lysander and Demetrius._]
448 HERMIA.
449 You, mistress, all this coil is long of you.
450 Nay, go not back.
451 HELENA.
452 I will not trust you, I,
453 Nor longer stay in your curst company.
454 Your hands than mine are quicker for a fray.
455 My legs are longer though, to run away.
456 [_Exit._]
457 HERMIA.
458 I am amaz’d, and know not what to say.
459 [_Exit, pursuing Helena._]
460 OBERON.
461 This is thy negligence: still thou mistak’st,
462 Or else commit’st thy knaveries willfully.
463 PUCK.
464 Believe me, king of shadows, I mistook.
465 Did not you tell me I should know the man
466 By the Athenian garments he had on?
467 And so far blameless proves my enterprise
468 That I have ’nointed an Athenian’s eyes:
469 And so far am I glad it so did sort,
470 As this their jangling I esteem a sport.
471 OBERON.
472 Thou seest these lovers seek a place to fight.
473 Hie therefore, Robin, overcast the night;
474 The starry welkin cover thou anon
475 With drooping fog, as black as Acheron,
476 And lead these testy rivals so astray
477 As one come not within another’s way.
478 Like to Lysander sometime frame thy tongue,
479 Then stir Demetrius up with bitter wrong;
480 And sometime rail thou like Demetrius.
481 And from each other look thou lead them thus,
482 Till o’er their brows death-counterfeiting sleep
483 With leaden legs and batty wings doth creep.
484 Then crush this herb into Lysander’s eye,
485 Whose liquor hath this virtuous property,
486 To take from thence all error with his might
487 And make his eyeballs roll with wonted sight.
488 When they next wake, all this derision
489 Shall seem a dream and fruitless vision;
490 And back to Athens shall the lovers wend,
491 With league whose date till death shall never end.
492 Whiles I in this affair do thee employ,
493 I’ll to my queen, and beg her Indian boy;
494 And then I will her charmèd eye release
495 From monster’s view, and all things shall be peace.
496 PUCK.
497 My fairy lord, this must be done with haste,
498 For night’s swift dragons cut the clouds full fast;
499 And yonder shines Aurora’s harbinger,
500 At whose approach, ghosts wandering here and there
501 Troop home to churchyards. Damnèd spirits all,
502 That in cross-ways and floods have burial,
503 Already to their wormy beds are gone;
504 For fear lest day should look their shames upon,
505 They wilfully themselves exile from light,
506 And must for aye consort with black-brow’d night.
507 OBERON.
508 But we are spirits of another sort:
509 I with the morning’s love have oft made sport;
510 And, like a forester, the groves may tread
511 Even till the eastern gate, all fiery-red,
512 Opening on Neptune with fair blessèd beams,
513 Turns into yellow gold his salt-green streams.
514 But, notwithstanding, haste, make no delay.
515 We may effect this business yet ere day.
516 [_Exit Oberon._]
517 PUCK.
518 Up and down, up and down,
519 I will lead them up and down.
520 I am fear’d in field and town.
521 Goblin, lead them up and down.
522 Here comes one.
523 Enter Lysander.
524 LYSANDER.
525 Where art thou, proud Demetrius? Speak thou now.
526 PUCK.
527 Here, villain, drawn and ready. Where art thou?
528 LYSANDER.
529 I will be with thee straight.
530 PUCK.
531 Follow me then to plainer ground.
532 [_Exit Lysander as following the voice._]
533 Enter Demetrius.
534 DEMETRIUS.
535 Lysander, speak again.
536 Thou runaway, thou coward, art thou fled?
537 Speak. In some bush? Where dost thou hide thy head?
538 PUCK.
539 Thou coward, art thou bragging to the stars,
540 Telling the bushes that thou look’st for wars,
541 And wilt not come? Come, recreant, come, thou child!
542 I’ll whip thee with a rod. He is defil’d
543 That draws a sword on thee.
544 DEMETRIUS.
545 Yea, art thou there?
546 PUCK.
547 Follow my voice; we’ll try no manhood here.
548 [_Exeunt._]
549 Enter Lysander.
550 LYSANDER.
551 He goes before me, and still dares me on;
552 When I come where he calls, then he is gone.
553 The villain is much lighter-heel’d than I:
554 I follow’d fast, but faster he did fly,
555 That fallen am I in dark uneven way,
556 And here will rest me. Come, thou gentle day!
557 [_Lies down._] For if but once thou show me thy grey light,
558 I’ll find Demetrius, and revenge this spite.
559 [_Sleeps._]
560 Enter Puck and Demetrius.
561 PUCK.
562 Ho, ho, ho! Coward, why com’st thou not?
563 DEMETRIUS.
564 Abide me, if thou dar’st; for well I wot
565 Thou runn’st before me, shifting every place,
566 And dar’st not stand, nor look me in the face.
567 Where art thou?
568 PUCK.
569 Come hither; I am here.
570 DEMETRIUS.
571 Nay, then, thou mock’st me. Thou shalt buy this dear
572 If ever I thy face by daylight see:
573 Now go thy way. Faintness constraineth me
574 To measure out my length on this cold bed.
575 By day’s approach look to be visited.
576 [_Lies down and sleeps._]
577 Enter Helena.
578 HELENA.
579 O weary night, O long and tedious night,
580 Abate thy hours! Shine, comforts, from the east,
581 That I may back to Athens by daylight,
582 From these that my poor company detest.
583 And sleep, that sometimes shuts up sorrow’s eye,
584 Steal me awhile from mine own company.
585 [_Sleeps._]
586 PUCK.
587 Yet but three? Come one more.
588 Two of both kinds makes up four.
589 Here she comes, curst and sad.
590 Cupid is a knavish lad
591 Thus to make poor females mad.
592 Enter Hermia.
593 HERMIA.
594 Never so weary, never so in woe,
595 Bedabbled with the dew, and torn with briers,
596 I can no further crawl, no further go;
597 My legs can keep no pace with my desires.
598 Here will I rest me till the break of day.
599 Heavens shield Lysander, if they mean a fray!
600 [_Lies down._]
601 PUCK.
602 On the ground
603 Sleep sound.
604 I’ll apply
605 To your eye,
606 Gentle lover, remedy.
607 [_Squeezing the juice on Lysander’s eye._]
608 When thou wak’st,
609 Thou tak’st
610 True delight
611 In the sight
612 Of thy former lady’s eye.
613 And the country proverb known,
614 That every man should take his own,
615 In your waking shall be shown:
616 Jack shall have Jill;
617 Nought shall go ill;
618 The man shall have his mare again, and all shall be well.
619 [_Exit Puck._]