Original Text |
Translated Text |
| Source: Folger Shakespeare Library |
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Enter a Fairy at one door and Robin Goodfellow at
another. ROBIN
How now, spirit? Whither wander you? | In an enchanted wood, we meet a "puck" (mischievous sprite) named Robin Goodfellow. (In some editions of the play, he's referred to simply as "Puck." The Folger edition uses "Robin." We use both.) Puck meets a fairy and says, "What's up? Where are you going?" |
FAIRY
Over hill, over dale,
Thorough bush, thorough brier,
Over park, over pale,
Thorough flood, thorough fire; 5
I do wander everywhere,
Swifter than the moon’s sphere.
And I serve the Fairy Queen,
To dew her orbs upon the green.
The cowslips tall her pensioners be; 10
In their gold coats spots you see;
Those be rubies, fairy favors;
In those freckles live their savors.
I must go seek some dewdrops here
And hang a pearl in every cowslip’s ear. 15
Farewell, thou lob of spirits. I’ll be gone.
Our queen and all her elves come here anon. | The fairy says she's flying around the woods running errands for the Titania the Fairy Queen—errands like painting flowers and hanging the morning dew on them. She says "so long" to Robin by calling him the Goofus of the spirit world and telling him that Titania is headed to this spot in the woods. |
ROBIN
The King doth keep his revels here tonight.
Take heed the Queen come not within his sight,
For Oberon is passing fell and wrath 20
Because that she, as her attendant, hath
A lovely boy stolen from an Indian king;
She never had so sweet a changeling.
And jealous Oberon would have the child
Knight of his train, to trace the forests wild. 25
But she perforce withholds the lovèd boy,
Crowns him with flowers and makes him all her
joy.
And now they never meet in grove or green,
By fountain clear or spangled starlight sheen, 30
But they do square, that all their elves for fear
Creep into acorn cups and hide them there. | Robin snaps back that the Fairy King (Oberon) is having party in these woods tonight, so the Fairy Queen better watch her back and stay out of Oberon's way. (We're sensing some tension here, kids.) He gives us some backstory, explaining that Titania and Oberon have been fighting over a stolen child (a.k.a., a changeling). Oberon wants the kid to be his personal page (errand boy), but Titania wants him for herself. She spends all her time crowning him with flowers and doting on him. Because of this feud, Titania and Oberon—who are supposed to be a couple—never hangout anymore. |
FAIRY
Either I mistake your shape and making quite,
Or else you are that shrewd and knavish sprite
Called Robin Goodfellow. Are not you he 35
That frights the maidens of the villagery,
Skim milk, and sometimes labor in the quern
And bootless make the breathless huswife churn,
And sometime make the drink to bear no barm,
Mislead night wanderers, laughing at their harm? 40
Those that “Hobgoblin” call you and “sweet Puck,”
You do their work, and they shall have good luck.
Are not you he? | Oho! Now the fairy recognizes Puck. Maybe he's not such a Goofus. Actually, maybe he is. After all, he's pretty famous for his pranks: frightening village girls, ruining batches of homemade butter, leading people astray as they travel at night...running with scissors. |
ROBIN Thou speakest aright.
I am that merry wanderer of the night. 45
I jest to Oberon and make him smile
When I a fat and bean-fed horse beguile,
Neighing in likeness of a filly foal.
And sometime lurk I in a gossip’s bowl
In very likeness of a roasted crab, 50
And, when she drinks, against her lips I bob
And on her withered dewlap pour the ale.
The wisest aunt, telling the saddest tale,
Sometime for three-foot stool mistaketh me;
Then slip I from her bum, down topples she 55
And “Tailor!” cries and falls into a cough,
And then the whole choir hold their hips and loffe
And waxen in their mirth and neeze and swear
A merrier hour was never wasted there.
But room, fairy. Here comes Oberon. 60 | Puck brags that his boss, Oberon, loves his pranks and tricks. Puck also tells us about the good times he's had making old ladies spill their drinks and fall on the ground—by pretending to be a stool and then disappearing when they try to sit. He sees Oberon coming and tells the fairy to step aside. |
FAIRY
And here my mistress. Would that he were gone! | Uh-oh. Titania has just arrived, too. The fairy isn't happy about this turn of events. |
Enter Oberon the King of Fairies at one door, with his
train, and Titania the Queen at another, with hers. OBERON
Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania. TITANIA
What, jealous Oberon? Fairies, skip hence.
I have forsworn his bed and company. OBERON
Tarry, rash wanton. Am not I thy lord? 65 | Titania and Oberon enter from opposite sides of the stage and face off like a couple of cowboys at the O.K. Corral. Titania orders her fairies to scram and says she's no longer sharing a bed with Oberon. Then Oberon calls Titania a foolish whore. So far, so good. |
TITANIA
Then I must be thy lady. But I know
When thou hast stolen away from Fairyland
And in the shape of Corin sat all day
Playing on pipes of corn and versing love
To amorous Phillida. Why art thou here, 70
Come from the farthest steep of India,
But that, forsooth, the bouncing Amazon,
Your buskined mistress and your warrior love,
To Theseus must be wedded, and you come
To give their bed joy and prosperity? 75 | Titania accuses Oberon of sleeping around with other women—she knows for a fact that Oberon disguised himself as a shepherd so he could hook up with a country girl. She also accuses Oberon of being Hippolyta's lover. (Remember, Hippolyta is the Queen of the Amazons and she's about to marry Theseus.) |
OBERON
How canst thou thus for shame, Titania,
Glance at my credit with Hippolyta,
Knowing I know thy love to Theseus?
Didst not thou lead him through the glimmering
night 80
From Perigouna, whom he ravishèd,
And make him with fair Aegles break his faith,
With Ariadne and Antiopa? | Oberon fights back. He accuses Titania of having the hots for Theseus and of stealing Theseus away from a bunch of his other mistresses (Perigouna, Aegles, Ariadne, and Antiopa, to name a few). |
TITANIA
These are the forgeries of jealousy;
And never, since the middle summer’s spring, 85
Met we on hill, in dale, forest, or mead,
By pavèd fountain or by rushy brook,
Or in the beachèd margent of the sea,
To dance our ringlets to the whistling wind,
But with thy brawls thou hast disturbed our sport. 90
Therefore the winds, piping to us in vain,
As in revenge have sucked up from the sea
Contagious fogs, which, falling in the land,
Hath every pelting river made so proud
That they have overborne their continents. 95
The ox hath therefore stretched his yoke in vain,
The plowman lost his sweat, and the green corn
Hath rotted ere his youth attained a beard.
The fold stands empty in the drownèd field,
And crows are fatted with the murrain flock. 100
The nine-men’s-morris is filled up with mud,
And the quaint mazes in the wanton green,
For lack of tread, are undistinguishable.
The human mortals want their winter here.
No night is now with hymn or carol blessed. 105
Therefore the moon, the governess of floods,
Pale in her anger, washes all the air,
That rheumatic diseases do abound.
And thorough this distemperature we see
The seasons alter: hoary-headed frosts 110
Fall in the fresh lap of the crimson rose,
And on old Hiems’ thin and icy crown
An odorous chaplet of sweet summer buds
Is, as in mockery, set. The spring, the summer,
The childing autumn, angry winter, change 115
Their wonted liveries, and the mazèd world
By their increase now knows not which is which.
And this same progeny of evils comes
From our debate, from our dissension;
We are their parents and original. 120 | Titania says he's just jealous—so jealous that he hasn't let her and her fairies do any of their special nature dances since spring, which has the natural world all messed up. Because he keeps interrupting their rituals, it's been windy and foggy, and the rivers are all flooding, which is causing serious damage to the local crops. Brain Snack: Some literary scholars (like Gail Kern Paster and Skiles Howard) say that this is a reference to how, in Europe during the 1590s, seriously bad weather ruined crops, which caused food shortages, which, in turn, caused inflation, hunger, disease, and so on. |
OBERON
Do you amend it, then. It lies in you.
Why should Titania cross her Oberon?
I do but beg a little changeling boy
To be my henchman. | Oberon says Titania can fix everything.All she has to do is give him the changeling boy. Brain Snack: A "changeling" is a child that's been secretly switched with another, usually by mischievous fairies. |
TITANIA Set your heart at rest: 125
The Fairyland buys not the child of me.
His mother was a vot’ress of my order,
And in the spicèd Indian air by night
Full often hath she gossiped by my side
And sat with me on Neptune’s yellow sands, 130
Marking th’ embarkèd traders on the flood,
When we have laughed to see the sails conceive
And grow big-bellied with the wanton wind;
Which she, with pretty and with swimming gait,
Following (her womb then rich with my young 135
squire),
Would imitate and sail upon the land
To fetch me trifles and return again,
As from a voyage, rich with merchandise.
But she, being mortal, of that boy did die, 140
And for her sake do I rear up her boy,
And for her sake I will not part with him. | Titania claims that she didn't steal the kid from anyone. She says she's raising the boy as a favor to his dead mother, a human who was a good friend of Titania's back in India. Oberon should just get over it because Titania's never going to give up her foster son. |
OBERON
How long within this wood intend you stay? TITANIA
Perchance till after Theseus’ wedding day.
If you will patiently dance in our round 145
And see our moonlight revels, go with us.
If not, shun me, and I will spare your haunts. | Oberon slyly asks Titania how long she plans to be in the woods. She says she'll stay until Theseus is married. She tells Oberon he can join her in the fairies' dancing and moonlight revels—if he can behave. |
OBERON
Give me that boy and I will go with thee. TITANIA
Not for thy fairy kingdom. Fairies, away.
We shall chide downright if I longer stay. 150 Titania and her fairies exit. | Oberon says he'll only participate if he can have the boy. Titania reaffirms that she won't turn over the little boy—not even for Oberon's whole kingdom—and exits before they get into another fight. |
OBERON
Well, go thy way. Thou shalt not from this grove
Till I torment thee for this injury.—
My gentle Puck, come hither. Thou rememb’rest
Since once I sat upon a promontory
And heard a mermaid on a dolphin’s back 155
Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath
That the rude sea grew civil at her song
And certain stars shot madly from their spheres
To hear the sea-maid’s music. ROBIN I remember. 160 OBERON
That very time I saw (but thou couldst not),
Flying between the cold moon and the Earth,
Cupid all armed. A certain aim he took
At a fair vestal thronèd by the west,
And loosed his love-shaft smartly from his bow 165
As it should pierce a hundred thousand hearts.
But I might see young Cupid’s fiery shaft
Quenched in the chaste beams of the wat’ry moon,
And the imperial vot’ress passèd on
In maiden meditation, fancy-free. 170
Yet marked I where the bolt of Cupid fell.
It fell upon a little western flower,
Before, milk-white, now purple with love’s wound,
And maidens call it “love-in-idleness.”
Fetch me that flower; the herb I showed thee once. 175
The juice of it on sleeping eyelids laid
Will make or man or woman madly dote
Upon the next live creature that it sees.
Fetch me this herb, and be thou here again
Ere the leviathan can swim a league. 180 | Oberon vows that Titania won't leave the woods until he pays her back. He calls Puck to him and reminds him of a story he told him once before. One night, Oberon was watching a mermaid riding on a dolphin's back when he saw Cupid try to hit a royal virgin with one of his arrows. Cupid missed his target and instead hit a little white flower (a pansy), which then turned purple. Brain Snack: Most literary critics agree that the royal virgin Cupid was aiming his arrow at is a shout-out to Shakespeare's monarch, Queen Elizabeth I. Elizabeth never married and made a very big deal about being a virgin queen. Anyway, back to pansies. Oberon asks Puck to bring him the flower because it has magical properties. When the juice of the flower is squeezed on a sleeping person's eyelids, it enchants the sleeper to fall madly in love with the first thing he or she sees upon waking. (It's sort of like Love Potion Number 9. Go to "Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory" for more about this.) |
ROBIN
I’ll put a girdle round about the Earth
In forty minutes. He exits. OBERON Having once this juice,
I’ll watch Titania when she is asleep
And drop the liquor of it in her eyes. 185
The next thing then she, waking, looks upon
(Be it on lion, bear, or wolf, or bull,
On meddling monkey, or on busy ape)
She shall pursue it with the soul of love.
And ere I take this charm from off her sight 190
(As I can take it with another herb),
I’ll make her render up her page to me.
But who comes here? I am invisible,
And I will overhear their conference. | Puck flies off to get the flower, and Oberon talks about his plan. He's going to put the juice on Titania's eyes in hopes that she'll fall madly in love with some awful, ugly beast. In her lovesickness, he can convince her to give him the little boy. Once his master plan is accomplished, he'll remove the spell. In the middle of his monologuing, Oberon hears some people approaching and announces that, since he's invisible, he can stay and listen to the conversation. |
Enter Demetrius, Helena following him. DEMETRIUS
I love thee not; therefore pursue me not. 195
Where is Lysander and fair Hermia?
The one I’ll stay; the other stayeth me.
Thou told’st me they were stol’n unto this wood,
And here am I, and wood within this wood
Because I cannot meet my Hermia. 200
Hence, get thee gone, and follow me no more. | Demetrius enters with Helena at his heels. He's searching for Lysander and Hermia, presumably to kill Lysander and win Hermia's heart, but he can't find them. He tells Helena to quit stalking him. (She must be making it hard for him to stalk Hermia.) |
HELENA
You draw me, you hard-hearted adamant!
But yet you draw not iron, for my heart
Is true as steel. Leave you your power to draw,
And I shall have no power to follow you. 205 | Helena says it's Demetrius's fault that she's chasing him. If he wasn't so darned attractive, she wouldn't bother him. |
DEMETRIUS
Do I entice you? Do I speak you fair?
Or rather do I not in plainest truth
Tell you I do not, nor I cannot love you? | Demetrius claims he hasn't encouraged her at all. In fact, he's even told her flat-out that he'll never love her. |
HELENA
And even for that do I love you the more.
I am your spaniel, and, Demetrius, 210
The more you beat me I will fawn on you.
Use me but as your spaniel: spurn me, strike me,
Neglect me, lose me; only give me leave
(Unworthy as I am) to follow you.
What worser place can I beg in your love 215
(And yet a place of high respect with me)
Than to be usèd as you use your dog? | Helena gives a little speech that it's impossible to put a positive spin on—we dare you to try. Essentially, she says the more he beats her, the more she'll dote on him. She loves him SO much, that it's an honor just to be treated the way he would treat a dog. |
DEMETRIUS
Tempt not too much the hatred of my spirit,
For I am sick when I do look on thee. HELENA
And I am sick when I look not on you. 220 DEMETRIUS
You do impeach your modesty too much
To leave the city and commit yourself
Into the hands of one that loves you not,
To trust the opportunity of night
And the ill counsel of a desert place 225
With the rich worth of your virginity. | Demetrius says that looking at Helena makes him feel sick. He also tells her that it looks pretty immoral for her, a virgin, to be running around in the woods in the dark of night throwing herself at a man who doesn't love her. |
HELENA
Your virtue is my privilege. For that
It is not night when I do see your face,
Therefore I think I am not in the night.
Nor doth this wood lack worlds of company, 230
For you, in my respect, are all the world.
Then, how can it be said I am alone
When all the world is here to look on me? | Helena declares that it's not dark out to her because Demetrius's face shines like a light. Also, she's never alone when she's with him because he's her whole world. |
DEMETRIUS
I’ll run from thee and hide me in the brakes
And leave thee to the mercy of wild beasts. 235 | Demetrius isn't about to take on the role of her protector in the woods. He says he'll run away from her, hide in the bushes, and leave her to be eaten by a wild beast. Ah, love. |
HELENA
The wildest hath not such a heart as you.
Run when you will. The story shall be changed:
Apollo flies and Daphne holds the chase;
The dove pursues the griffin; the mild hind
Makes speed to catch the tiger. Bootless speed 240
When cowardice pursues and valor flies! | Helena says she's bucking traditional gender roles by chasing after Demetrius. She doesn't think it's fair that guys can be aggressive when it comes to love but girls can't. (Hmm. Is she talking about the fact that Theseus won Hippolyta by conquering the Amazons?) |
DEMETRIUS
I will not stay thy questions. Let me go,
Or if thou follow me, do not believe
But I shall do thee mischief in the wood. | Demetrius says he's not going to stick around for anymore of Helena's foolishness. He tells her not to follow him and warns her that if she does, he'll probably do something bad to her. |
HELENA
Ay, in the temple, in the town, the field, 245
You do me mischief. Fie, Demetrius!
Your wrongs do set a scandal on my sex.
We cannot fight for love as men may do.
We should be wooed and were not made to woo. Demetrius exits. I’ll follow thee and make a heaven of hell 250
To die upon the hand I love so well. Helena exits. | Helena says Demetrius has already hurt her, and not just in the woods: in the church, the town, the fields. Hm...we did hear that he used to flirt with her (from Lysander back in Scene 1). Helena says that Demetrius should be courting her now. Women were made to be pursued, not to do the chasing. He leaves, and she—of course—follows him. Even if he kills her in the woods, that'll be okay. She'd be happy to be killed by someone she loves. (Ugh.) |
OBERON
Fare thee well, nymph. Ere he do leave this grove,
Thou shalt fly him, and he shall seek thy love. Enter Robin. Hast thou the flower there? Welcome, wanderer. ROBIN
Ay, there it is. 255 OBERON I pray thee give it me.
Robin gives him the flower.
I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,
Quite overcanopied with luscious woodbine,
With sweet muskroses, and with eglantine. 260
There sleeps Titania sometime of the night,
Lulled in these flowers with dances and delight.
And there the snake throws her enameled skin,
Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in.
And with the juice of this I’ll streak her eyes 265
And make her full of hateful fantasies.
Take thou some of it, and seek through this grove.
He gives Robin part of the flower.
A sweet Athenian lady is in love
With a disdainful youth. Anoint his eyes,
But do it when the next thing he espies 270
May be the lady. Thou shalt know the man
By the Athenian garments he hath on.
Effect it with some care, that he may prove
More fond on her than she upon her love.
And look thou meet me ere the first cock crow. 275 ROBIN
Fear not, my lord. Your servant shall do so. They exit. | Oberon, who's been watching, is disgusted by what he's seen and vows to turn the tables on Demetrius and Helena. Before they leave the woods, Demetrius will be pursuing her and she'll be running from him. When Robin comes back with the flower, Oberon explains they now have two targets. Oberon will take care of Titania, who's sleeping on the riverbank, and Robin is to find a "disdainful youth" (Demetrius) and make him fall in love with the "sweet Athenian lady" (Helena). |