Act 4, Scene 1 Summary

Oberon observes Titania and Bottom as they remain engrossed with each other. Bottom doesn’t find it odd that the queen of fairies regards him with such importance and is in love with him. He is happy to have her care and attention and does not hesitate to order Titania’s fairies to fetch him food and scratch his head. Titania and Bottom soon fall asleep in each other’s arms. Puck enters and Oberon lets him know that, as Titania was engrossed with Bottom, she easily gave up the Indian boy. Oberon feels sad to see his wife pining after Bottom and reverses the spell. He orders Puck to restore Bottom’s original head and make it feel as if Bottom was dreaming the entire thing. Meanwhile, Titania wakes up and tells Oberon about her weird dream of being in love with a donkey. They happily reunite and walk away talking about blessing Theseus and Hippolyta’s wedding.

Theseus, Hippolyta, and Egeus find Hermia, Lysander, Demetrius, and Helena sleeping in the forest. Horns are blown to wake the four Athenians up. Lysander accepts that he had intended to elope with Hermia the previous night, but that they have no clue about how they ended up in the woods. Egeus is infuriated, but Demetrius tells him that he is deeply in love with Helena and reassures Egeus that he has no problem if Lysander marries Hermia. Theseus announces that the four Athenians too will marry the same day as he and Hippolyta.

Bottom wakes up alone in the woods and thinks that his friends have abandoned. He recalls his dream and decides to ask Quince to write a ballad based on his dream. Bottom intends to perform the ballad someday.

Act 4, Scene 1 Analysis

Act 4 of A Midsummer Night’s Dream is the shortest and is meant as a transitional act. The conflicts that were introduced in the first three acts are resolved in this act. Interestingly, the conflicts are resolved easily with the help of magic, which give way to lighthearted humor. In the first act, the audience was introduced to the characters and their problems; the second act introduces the fantastical elements of the play, which become the backdrop for most parts of the remainder of the play. The third climactic act heightens the conflicts by bringing all characters from both the worlds together. The easy resolution of the conflicts suggest that Shakespeare did not want to highlight the conflicts. Instead, he focuses on the setting and the actions of the individual characters to enhance the play’s comedic appeal.

In this scene, all the lovers unite out of love, not because of any spell, the exception being Demetrius’ love for Helena. However, this is arguably unimportant because the aim of the play is to invoke humor.

Notably, Theseus and Hippolyta, although integral characters of the play, only appear at the beginning of the play and at the end.

Act 4, Scene 2 Summary

The scene takes place in Peter Quince’s cottage, where the artisans have gathered and are worried and upset about Bottom’s absence; they are also unable to find him. They have agreed that no one else can play Pyramus except Bottom; they are thus concerned that they might not be able to perform at Theseus and Hippolyta’s wedding. The artisans are also sad about missing the chance to sixpence per day if they cannot stage the play. Just then, Bottom enters and urges everyone to get ready for the performance. He promises to narrate to them the adventures of the previous night.

Act 4, Scene 2 Analysis

At this point, the audience is expecting to witness the wedding of the four Athenians, as well as Theseus and Hippolyta’s. However, Shakespeare chooses not to depict the weddings onstage. The audience learns about the wedding taking place only from Snug’s words in this scene: “Masters, the Duke is coming from the temple, and there are two or three lords and ladies more married.” As the artisans proceed to perform the play, it becomes clear that the final act of the play will be all about the play within the play.