A Midsummer Night's Dream Characters

Puck is the mischievous sprite who serves Oberon, the Fairy King.In Elizabethan folklore, Puck (a.k.a. Robin Goodfellow) is a household sprite who, depending on his mood, plays annoying tricks...

Bottom is a weaver and one of the Athenian craftsmen who are referred to as "the Mechanicals." (These are the working-class guys slated to perform the play Pyramus and Thisbe for Theseus's wedding...

Theseus is the Duke of Athens, and consequently the most powerful character in the courtly realm of the play. Though he's missing entirely from Acts 2 and 3, his upcoming wedding to Hippolyta is th...

Hippolyta is the Amazon Queen who marries Theseus (off-stage in Act 4, Scene 1). Shakespeare bases Hippolyta's character on the ancient historian Plutarch's portrayal of her in his "Life of Theseu...

Oberon is King of the Fairies, master of Puck, and husband of Titania (in a seemingly open relationship). There are a couple of ways to read Oberon's character. At times, he can be a compassionate...

Titania is Queen of the Fairies, wife of Oberon, and a force to be reckoned with in the world of magic. When we first meet Titania, she's a gracious queen (inviting Oberon to dance), but she's sti...

Early on in the play, we learn that Titania has been taking care of a "lovely" Indian boy and spends all her time lavishing him with love and affection (2.1). This has caused a huge rift between...

Lysander is Hermia's boyfriend and he really wants to get hitched. Since Hermia's dad isn't having it, Lysander runs off with Hermia to elope. In the woods, he's drugged (by mistake) when Puck squ...

Shakespeare introduces Hermia to us as the disobedient daughter of Egeus. She's supposed to marry Demetrius, but she's fallen in love with Lysander. Hermia could be mistaken for being young and foo...

One of the four young lovers who gets caught up in fairy magic, Demetrius is an Athenian man who's engaged to Hermia... who, for her part, doesn't want anything to do with him. In the play, he's d...

Shakespeare introduces Helena to us as the character that nobody loves. She also has the most time to philosophize on the nature of love, maybe because she's not too busy actually being loved by a...

Peter Quince is one of the illustrious Mechanicals who puts on the play Pyramus and Thisbe. In this mockery of a "play within the play," Quince delivers the slapstick Prologue.

Another one of the Mechanicals, Flute plays the role of Thisbe in Pyramus and Thisbe. Flute's character Thisbe dies onstage, crooning, "Adieu, adieu, adieu."

As one of the not-so-talented Mechanicals, Starveling plays the role of Moonshine in Pyramus and Thisbe.

During Pyramus and Thisbe, the "play within the play," Snug is quick to point out that the ladies in the audience should not fear, because, although he may act the role of the lion, he is none othe...

Snout plays the role of the Wall in the Mechanicals' production of Pyramus and Thisbe. More specifically, he plays the role of the hole in the wall through which Pyramus and Thisbe communicate. It...

Philostrate is Duke Theseus's party planner. His official title is "Master of the Revels," which happened to be a court-appointed position in Shakespeare's day. Basically, the Master of the Revel...