A Midsummer Night's Dream E-Book und Hörbuch

William Shakespeare

• E-Book-Herausgeber: Librofilio
  Hörbuch-Herausgeber: Sheba Blake Publishing Corp.
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Seitenzahl: 87

Beschreibung

Immerse yourself in the enchanting world of Elizabethan theater with William Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream". This bewitching comedy whisks you away into a whirlwind of love, fantasy, and magic.
Follow the complicated loves of four young lovers lost in a mysterious forest, where mischievous fairies play tricks on them. Amidst misunderstandings, confusions, and magical spells, this summer night promises twists as amusing as they are surprising.
Meanwhile, in the realm of fairies, the king and queen of the elves quarrel, causing unexpected consequences for the mortals lost in their fairy kingdom.
With his poetic writing and colorful characters, William Shakespeare leads us into an enchanting comedy where the boundaries between reality and the supernatural blur. Let yourself be captivated by the magic of the summer night and the romantic misadventures that will make you laugh and dream.
"A Midsummer Night's Dream" is a literary masterpiece celebrating love, imagination, and enchantment. This timeless play continues to charm audiences and readers worldwide for centuries.
Plunge into this unique theatrical experience and discover why "A Midsummer Night's Dream" is one of William Shakespeare's most beloved and performed works. An essential read for all enthusiasts of romance, fantasy, and poetry.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR


William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was an English playwright, poet, and actor, often considered the greatest writer of all time. He is renowned for his plays, including classics like "Romeo and Juliet", "Hamlet", "Macbeth", and "Othello". Shakespeare wrote in a variety of genres, including comedy, tragedy, and romance, and his works explore universal themes such as love, power, betrayal, and the human condition.
Though little is known about his personal life, Shakespeare was active in the London theater scene in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. His plays were performed at the famous Globe Theatre, of which he was a co-owner. His work has been praised for its depth, mastery of language, and ability to capture the complexity of human emotions.
Shakespeare's writings have had a significant influence on Western literature and culture, and his characters and quotes have become iconic. Even centuries after his death, his works continue to be studied, performed, and appreciated worldwide, making him an indispensable literary figure.

Leseprobe

A Midsummer Night's Dream

William Shakespeare

– 1600 –

Dramatis Personæ

THESEUS, Duke of AthensHIPPOLYTA, Queen of the Amazons, bethrothed to TheseusEGEUS, Father to HermiaHERMIA, daughter to Egeus, in love with LysanderHELENA, in love with DemetriusLYSANDER, in love with HermiaDEMETRIUS, in love with HermiaPHILOSTRATE, Master of the Revels to TheseusQUINCE, the CarpenterSNUG, the JoinerBOTTOM, the WeaverFLUTE, the Bellows-menderSNOUT, the TinkerSTARVELING, the TailorOBERON, King of the FairiesTITANIA, Queen of the FairiesPUCK, or ROBIN GOODFELLOW, a FairyPEASEBLOSSOM, FairyCOBWEB, FairyMOTH, FairyMUSTARDSEED, FairyPYRAMUS, THISBE, WALL, MOONSHINE, LION; Characters in the Interlude performed by the ClownsOther Fairies attending their King and QueenAttendants on Theseus and Hippolyta

SCENE: Athens, and a wood not far from it

ACT I

SCENE I. Athens. A room in the Palace of Theseus

Enter Theseus, Hippolyta, Philostrate and Attendants.

THESEUS.Now, fair Hippolyta, our nuptial hourDraws on apace; four happy days bring inAnother moon; but oh, methinks, how slowThis old moon wanes! She lingers my desires,Like to a step-dame or a dowager,Long withering out a young man’s revenue.

HIPPOLYTA.Four days will quickly steep themselves in night;Four nights will quickly dream away the time;And then the moon, like to a silver bowNew bent in heaven, shall behold the nightOf our solemnities.

THESEUS.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.

[Exit Philostrate.]

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.

Enter Egeus, Hermia, Lysander and Demetrius.

EGEUS.Happy be Theseus, our renownèd Duke!

THESEUS.Thanks, good Egeus. What’s the news with thee?

EGEUS.Full of vexation come I, with complaintAgainst 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 interchang’d love-tokens with my child.Thou hast by moonlight at her window sung,With feigning voice, verses of feigning love;And stol’n the impression of her fantasyWith bracelets of thy hair, rings, gauds, conceits,Knacks, trifles, nosegays, sweetmeats (messengersOf 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 graceConsent 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 gentlemanOr to her death, according to our lawImmediately provided in that case.

THESEUS.What say you, Hermia? Be advis’d, fair maid.To you your father should be as a god;One that compos’d your beauties, yea, and oneTo whom you are but as a form in waxBy him imprinted, and within his powerTo leave the figure, or disfigure it.Demetrius is a worthy gentleman.

HERMIA.So is Lysander.

THESEUS.In himself he is.But in this kind, wanting your father’s voice,The other must be held the worthier.

HERMIA.I would my father look’d but with my eyes.

THESEUS.Rather your eyes must with his judgment look.

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 modestyIn such a presence here to plead my thoughts:But I beseech your Grace that I may knowThe worst that may befall me in this case,If I refuse to wed Demetrius.

THESEUS.Either to die the death, or to abjureFor 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-blessèd they that master so their bloodTo undergo such maiden pilgrimage,But earthlier happy is the rose distill’dThan that which, withering on the virgin thorn,Grows, lives, and dies, in single blessedness.

HERMIA.So will I grow, so live, so die, my lord,Ere I will yield my virgin patent upUnto his lordship, whose unwishèd yokeMy soul consents not to give sovereignty.

THESEUS.Take time to pause; and by the next new moonThe sealing-day betwixt my love and meFor everlasting bond of fellowship,Upon that day either prepare to dieFor disobedience to your father’s will,Or else to wed Demetrius, as he would,Or on Diana’s altar to protestFor aye austerity and single life.

DEMETRIUS.Relent, sweet Hermia; and, Lysander, yieldThy crazèd title to my certain right.

LYSANDER.You have her father’s love, Demetrius.Let me have Hermia’s. Do you marry him.

EGEUS.Scornful Lysander, true, he hath my love;And what is mine my love shall render him;And she is mine, and all my right of herI do estate unto Demetrius.

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

THESEUS.I must confess that I have heard so much,And with Demetrius thought to have spoke thereof;But, being over-full of self-affairs,My mind did lose it.—But, Demetrius, come,And come, Egeus; you shall go with me.I have some private schooling for you both.—For you, fair Hermia, look you arm yourselfTo fit your fancies to your father’s will,Or else the law of Athens yields you up(Which by no means we may extenuate)To death, or to a vow of single life.Come, my Hippolyta. What cheer, my love?Demetrius and Egeus, go along;I must employ you in some businessAgainst our nuptial, and confer with youOf something nearly that concerns yourselves.

EGEUS.With duty and desire we follow you.

[Exeunt all but Lysander and Hermia.]

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 wellBeteem them from the tempest of my eyes.

LYSANDER.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.But either it was different in blood—

HERMIA.O cross! Too high to be enthrall’d to low.

LYSANDER.Or else misgraffèd in respect of years—

HERMIA.O spite! Too old to be engag’d to young.

LYSANDER.Or else it stood upon the choice of friends—

HERMIA.O hell! to choose love by another’s eyes!

LYSANDER.Or, if there were a sympathy in choice,War, death, or sickness did lay siege to it,Making it momentany as a sound,Swift as a shadow, short as any dream,Brief as the lightning in the collied nightThat, in a spleen, unfolds both heaven and earth,And, ere a man hath power to say, ‘Behold!’The jaws of darkness do devour it up:So quick bright things come to confusion.

HERMIA.If then true lovers have ever cross’d,It stands as an edict in destiny.Then let us teach our trial patience,Because it is a customary cross,As due to love as thoughts and dreams and sighs,Wishes and tears, poor fancy’s followers.

LYSANDER.A good persuasion; therefore, hear me, Hermia.I have a widow aunt, a dowagerOf great revenue, and she hath no child.From Athens is her house remote seven leagues,And she respects me as her only son.There, gentle Hermia, may I marry thee,And to that place the sharp Athenian lawCannot pursue us. If thou lovest me then,Steal forth thy father’s house tomorrow night;And in the wood, a league without the town(Where I did meet thee once with HelenaTo do observance to a morn of May),There will I stay for thee.

HERMIA.My good Lysander!I swear to thee by Cupid’s strongest bow,By his best arrow with the golden head,By the simplicity of Venus’ doves,By that which knitteth souls and prospers loves,And by that fire which burn’d the Carthage queenWhen the false Trojan 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,Tomorrow truly will I meet with thee.

LYSANDER.Keep promise, love. Look, here comes Helena.

Enter Helena.

HERMIA.God speed fair Helena! Whither away?

HELENA.Call you me fair? That fair again unsay.Demetrius loves your fair. O happy fair!Your eyes are lode-stars and your tongue’s sweet airMore tuneable than lark to shepherd’s ear,When wheat is green, when hawthorn buds appear.Sickness is catching. O were favour so,Yours would I catch, fair Hermia, ere I go.My ear should catch your voice, my eye your eye,My tongue should catch your tongue’s sweet melody.Were the world mine, Demetrius being bated,The rest I’d give to be to you translated.O, teach me how you look, and with what artYou sway the motion of Demetrius’ heart!

HERMIA.I frown upon him, yet he loves me still.

HELENA.O that your frowns would teach my smiles such skill!

HERMIA.I give him curses, yet he gives me love.

HELENA.O that my prayers could such affection move!

HERMIA.The more I hate, the more he follows me.

HELENA.The more I love, the more he hateth me.

HERMIA.His folly, Helena, is no fault of mine.

HELENA.None but your beauty; would that fault were mine!

HERMIA.Take comfort: he no more shall see my face;Lysander and myself will fly this place.Before the time I did Lysander see,Seem’d Athens as a paradise to me.O, then, what graces in my love do dwell,That he hath turn’d a heaven into hell!

LYSANDER.Helen, to you our minds we will unfold:Tomorrow night, when Phoebe doth behold