Structure

Use of Couplets

Sometimes characters speak in couplets. (two successive lines rhyming). Here are three examples:

''Captain of our fairy band,

 Helena is here at hand; 

And the youth, mistook by me,

 Pleading for a lover's fee. 

Shall we their fond pageant see? 

Lord, what fools these mortals be''   (Puck: 3. 2. 116-121)

''Now, until the break of day,  

Through this house each fairy stray.  

To the best bride-bed will we,  

Which by us shall blessed be;  

And the issue there create 

Ever shall be fortunate.'' (Oberon: 5. 2. 33-38) 

''O Helena, goddess, nymph, perfect, divine !

To what, my love, shall I compare thine eyne?

Crystal is muddy. O, how ripe in show

Thy lips, those kissing cherries, tempting grow!

That pure congealed white, high Taurus snow,

Fann'd with the eastern wind, turns to a crow

When thou hold'st up thy hand: O, let me kiss

This princess of pure white, this seal of bliss! ''(3. 2. 144-151)

Use of the language

 Speech varies according to the characters involved: Teseo and Ippolita speak in blank verse; the lovers in, and even the play Pyramus and Thisbe has a metre of its own. The fairies usually employ rhymed verses.

Themes

Love

The play represents the troubles linked with love. Puck creates problems to the lovers and puts a love potion on Titania's eyes, forcing her to fall in love with Bottom as an ass. In the forest, both couples are the victims of Puck's pitfalls. He gives the story a comic relief confounding the four lovers in the forest. At the end of the play, Hermia and Lysander, Helena and Demetrius happily marry.So the play alludes to different aspects of love:

-Love triumphs at the end: Despite all the obstacles they face, the central characters finally unite with the ones they love.

-Love presents pitfalls(tranelli): All of the lovers encounter mishaps before they achieve their heart's desire. As Lysander tells Hermia in Act I, Scene I, "The course of true love never did run smooth" (Line 134).

-Love is a pure, sacred, spiritual feeling:

But, gentle friend, for love and courtesy

''Lie further off; in human modesty,

Such separation as may well be said

Becomes a virtuous bachelor and a maid,

So far be distant; and, good night, sweet friend:

Thy love ne'er alter till thy sweet life end!''(p 58)

Mythological elements:

A Midsummer Night's Dream has a mix of mythological themes (it's setting in Athens, ancient Greece) 

.This is an example of a passage, spoken by Hermia, alluding to personages like Cupid (second line), Venus (fourth line), Dido (sixth line, referred to as Carthage queen), and Aeneas (seventh line, referred to as Troyan).

''My good Lysander!

I swear to thee, by Cupid’s strongest bow [see Cupid, above], 

By his best arrow with the golden head,

By the simplicity of Venus’ [see Venus, above] doves,

By that which knitteth souls and prospers loves,

And by that fire which burn’d the Carthage queen [see Dido, above],

When the false Troyan [false Trojan, Aeneas] under sail was seen,

By all the vows that ever men have broke,

In number more than ever women spoke,

In that same place thou hast appointed me,

To-morrow truly will I meet with thee. (1. 1. 174-184 / p)''

Magic

As the title says, A Midsummer Night's Dream is a sort of "dream". In fact, most action 

takes place at night in the moonlight, the characters continuously fall asleep and dream, they do not control their thoughts and words, but act under the influence of illusion and enchantment.

However, as the other part of the title suggests, A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play pervaded with "superstition"; on Midsummer Night (24th June) herbs were thought to have special virtues and fairies were believed to be more powerful. In these days  supernatural events which take place in the woodappears. During this night, magic was supposed to be practised. The form of the "supernatural" employed in the play is represented by the fairies. Shakespeare used them in an original way, mixing them freely with mortals and making them responsible for the wonderful complication and interferences which take place throughout the play.

Submission of female

The women were totally dominated by the male members of their family. The women were expected to instantly obey not only to their father, but also their brothers and any other male members of the family. Any unruly girls were beaten into submission and disobedience was seen as a crime against religion and family.

Noble women had very little choice in who her husband might be. Marriages were frequently arranged to bring prestige or wealth to the families. Egeus orders his daughter Hermia to marry a man she does not love. The following verses are an example:

''EGEUS

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, thou hast given her rhymes,

And interchanged love-tokens with my child:

Thou hast by moonlight at her window sung,

With feigning voice verses of feigning love,

And stolen the impression of her fantasy

With bracelets of thy hair, rings, gawds, conceits,

Knacks, trifles, nosegays, sweetmeats, messengers

Of strong prevailment in unharden'd youth:

With cunning hast thou filch'd my daughter's heart,

Turn'd her obedience, which is due to me,

To stubborn harshness: and, my gracious duke,

Be it so she; will not here before your grace

Consent to marry with Demetrius,

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.

''THESEUS

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.

Demetrius is a worthy gentleman.''

''HERMIA

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.

''THESEUS

Either to die the death or to abjure

For ever the society of men.

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 in shady cloister mew'd,

To live a barren sister all your life,

Chanting faint hymns to the cold fruitless 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.''

The enchanted forest atmosphere

Nature and animal imagery are two of the most important elements in the play.They help to maintain the “enchanted forest” atmosphere.

Oberon’s description of the place where Titania sleeps is an example of this imagery:

''I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,

Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,

Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,

With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine:

There sleeps Titania sometime of the night,

Lull'd in these flowers with dances and delight;

And there the snake throws her enamell'd skin,

Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in. (2. 1. 259-266)''

The song of the fairies in Act II, Scene II, is another example. It emphasizes the spooky creatures that inhabit the forest.

''You spotted snakes with double tongue,

Thorny hedgehogs, be not seen;

Newts and blind-worms, do no wrong,

Come not near our fairy queen.

Philomel,6 with melody 

Sing in our sweet lullaby;

Lulla, lulla, lullaby, lulla, lulla, lullaby:

Never harm,

Nor spell nor charm,

Come our lovely lady nigh;

So, good night, with lullaby.

Weaving spiders, come not here;

Hence, you long-legg'd spinners, hence!

Beetles black, approach not near;

Worm nor snail, do no offence. (2. 2. 12)''

Characters of the play

Puck - is Oberon’s jester, a mischievous spirit who has a very important rule in the story.  He is responsible for many of the complications that make the play intriguing. He is a capricious spirit, he is graceful but not so sweet as the other fairies, his character change the atmosphere of the play.

Oberon – is the king of the fairies. He uses Puck to manipulate the four lovers in the wood for this we can say that he is sensitive to other people’s sufferings. Oberon at the beginning of the play is in argue with Titania but at the end he is in love with her.

Titania – is the beautiful queen of the fairies, Titania resists the attempts of her husband, Oberon,so she has a steady personality. 
In the middle of the play she falls in love with Nick Bottom but only for a potion in fact in really she love Oberon.

Lysander – is a young man of Athens, in love with Hermia.  Lysander’s relationship with Hermia is the cause of all the love’s difficulty in the play: in fact they can’t marry because Egeus, Hermia’s father, wants her to wed Demetrius. He seem loyal with his love, Hermia.

Demetrius – is another young man of Athens, initially in love with Hermia and ultimately in love with Helena. Demetrius is very obstinate: he wants to marry Hermia  in spite of she isn’t in love with him. He is egotist and irreverent and cruel with Helena.

Hermia – is the Egeus’s daughter, a young woman of Athens. Hermia is in love with Lysander and is the best friend of Helena. She is very beautiful and, for this, is desires not only by Lysander but also by Demetrius. She is also hot-tempered.

Helena – is a young woman of Athens, in desperately love with Demetrius. Helena is the one character who thinks most about the nature of love. Demetrius and Helena were once betrothed, but when Demetrius met Helena’s friend Hermia, he fell in love with her and abandoned Helena.
I don’t like her personality because when she told to Demetrius the plain of Hermia and Lysander she was unfaithful with her best friend, Hermia.

Egeus – is Hermia’s father, who brings a complaint against his daughter: he has given to Demetrius the permission to marry Hermia, but Hermia is in love with Lysander.
He is irrational and obstinate with his daughter, only in the end of the story, when Demetrius isn’t in love with Hermia he consents the marriage of Lysandrus and his daughter.

Theseus – is the heroic duke of Athens, engaged to Hippolyta. Theseus represents power and order.
He appears only at the beginning and end of the story.

Hippolyta – is the legendary queen of the Amazons, engaged to Theseus. Like Theseus, she symbolizes order.

Nick Bottom - Nick Bottom is a weaver, and one of the actors who put on the play, "Pyramus and Thisbe." He is a hilariously, strong and confident character. Puck magically transforms Bottom's head into an ass's head, which scares his fellow players. When Pyramus and Thisbe is performed, Bottom plays the role of Pyramus with great energy and enthusiasm but little skill.

Plot

The story is set at the time of Greeks
The action begins at the noble court of Theseus: the Duke of Athens. In the beginning of the story Theseus announces he will marry Hippolyta, the queen of the Amazons in four days and he hears that Egeus wants his daughter Hermia to marry his chosen suitor Demetrius but she has refused because she's in love with Lysander, who Egeus dislikes. Theseus declares Hermia must marry Demetrius, or choose between death or joining a nunnery and gives her four days in which to decide what to do. So Lysander and Hermia decide to flee to the forest: in fact with this escape they can travel to the house of Lysander‘s aunt and there will be married. Helena, Hermia’s best friend, hears  this and decides to inform Demetrius, whom she loves. She decides to do that with the hope to become more liked by Demetrius but Demetrius loves only Hermia and decides to look for her in the forest. So Helena goes in the forest with Demetrius and hopes they will all meet. Meanwhile a band of laborers in which there are Quince, Bottom, Flute, Starveling, Snug, and Snout organizes, in the same place, a play to be performed at Theseus' wedding.
In the forest, Oberon (the King of the Fairies) argues with Titania (the Fairy Queen) because he wants to have her child as his slave. 
To triumph over the Queen, Oberon orders to his servant, Puck, to spread on Titania’s eyes, when she sleeps, the magic nectar which will causes the victim to fall in love with the first one she sees.
So Titania falls in love with Bottom, whose head has been turned into that of an ass.
In the same time Oberon sees that Demetrius is very cruel with Helena and orders to Puck to spread the nectar also to his eyes to fall in love him with her.
But Puck commits a wrong and spreads the nectar on Lysander’s eyes, so when he wake up and sees first Helena, who with Demetrius has come to them, fall in love with her.
Now there is a very disaster: Hermia loves Lysander but he loves Helena and Helena loves Demetrius but he loves Hermia.
So Puck  realizes that he has given the nectar to the wrong man and decides to spread the nectar also on Demetrius eyes but in this way now both men love Helena and she believes that both are false. Helena accuses Hermia of conspiring with the men to tease her. Oberon, realizes that Puck has caused these problems so he orders to him to make the things in the right order.
Puck derives to his master and make Lysander in love with Hermia.
In the same time Oberon awakes Titania and transforms Bottom back to a human so Oberon and Titania now love each other again. In the end of the story Theseus, Hippolyta, and Egeus appear and awake the four so they inform the three of their love. The lords agree to let them marry.
Now, for the marriage of Teseus with Hippolyta and the four youngs the company of actors makes a play . After the play, at midnight, all go to bed, then the fairies appear.