A Midsummer Night's Dream (Folger Shakespeare Library)

By William Shakespeare, Retold by K Sankaranarayanan, William Hazlitt

Book Overview

In A Midsummer Night's Dream , Shakespeare stages the workings of love. Theseus and Hippolyta, about to marry, are figures from mythology. In the woods outside Theseus's Athens, two young men and two young women sort themselves out into couples--but not before they form first one love triangle, and then another. Also in the woods, the king and queen of fairyland, Oberon and Titania, battle over custody of an orphan boy; Oberon uses magic to make Titania fall in love with a weaver named Bottom, whose head is temporarily transformed into that of a donkey by a hobgoblin or "puck," Robin Goodfellow. Finally, Bottom and his companions ineptly stage the tragedy of "Pyramus and Thisbe." The authoritative edition of A Midsummer Night's Dream from The Folger Shakespeare Library, the trusted and widely used Shakespeare series for students and general readers, includes: -Freshly edited text based on the best early printed version of the play -Full explanatory notes conveniently placed on pages facing the text of the play -Scene-by-scene plot summaries -A key to the play's famous lines and phrases -An introduction to reading Shakespeare's language -An essay by a leading Shakespeare scholar providing a modern perspective on the play -Fresh images from the Folger Shakespeare Library's vast holdings of rare books -An annotated guide to further reading Essay by Catherine Belsey The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC, is home to the world's largest collection of Shakespeare's printed works, and a magnet for Shakespeare scholars from around the globe. In addition to exhibitions open to the public throughout the year, the Folger offers a full calendar of performances and programs. For more information, visit Folger.edu.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0743482816
• ISBN13: 9780743482813
• Release Date: August 2004
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.4" x 0.6" x 5.5"
• Age Range: 12 to 17 years
• Grade Range: Grades 7 to 12

Customer Reviews

Be careful of editions

I think the mass market paperback edition of these Folger Shakespeare are not worth to buy as used books. They become brittle, yellow, and smelly after a while. If you do like their small pocket size, then buy a new one. The tall paperback edition is printed on good paper.

Love it!

My favorite Shakespeare play!

The Ole Bard Has Quite a Sense of Humor

Never say Shakespeare didn't have a sense of humor. He even made fun of himself. This book, this play, is a comedy, a parody on his tragedy "Romeo and Juliet." This is laugh-out-loud funny at times. No Fear Shakespeare is the best way to read the Bard, and this book is no exception.

A Midsummer Night's Dream

A Midsummer Night's Dream is a great play. It was my first time reading Shakespeare and I thoroughly enjoyed it. There are a few sets of characters in this, and that makes it a little hard to understand at first. There isThere are the Athenians: Theseus, Philostrate, Hippolytta, Egeus, Demetrius, Helena, Hermia, and Lysander.The Artisans or Actors: Quince, Snout, Snug, Flute, Starveling, and Bottom (Not named Bottom for just any reason)The Fairies: Oberon, Titania, Robin Goodfellow (Puck), Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Mustardseed, and Mote.These characters are brought together all by one character, Robin Goodfellow. He is the servant of Oberon and he is ordered to complete some tasks, but he messes up. All of the characters are than linked by him. I won't tell you what happens because that is the good part of the book. I really liked the book because it was funny and it kept me on the edge, something that I didn't think would happen in this play. I read this in 7th grade and had a little trouble understanding it. Our class was told to buy the New Folger kind, because it helped explain the story. The book is a little hard to understand so is what Folger has done is put the synopsis of the scene at the beginning of each scene on the left hand page. Also on the left page are vocabulary words to help you further understand the book. The play is than written on the right hand side of the page. This makes life much easier. The plot is great and I didn't give it away so I expect you to buy the book at this cheap price and read the great play, A Midsummer Night's Dream!

One of Shakespeare's best

_A Midsummer Night's Dream_ is by far Shakespeare's most lighthearted tale, and one of his best. I may be prejudiced, this being the first Shakespearian play I was exposed to, but I really adore it. The theme is love, and while just about every character is involved with some romantic entanglement, this is not sentimental fluff, nor do the fairies provide only mindless fantasy. Instead, we see how, and why, "the course of true love never did run smooth"- mostly because, as Shakespeare makes amusingly obvious, love is awkward, silly, and ridiculous, and yet somehow the most a beautiful and worthwhile pursuit- no matter how humiating the pursuit may be. And humiliating it is, in this wonderful, lushly written literary masterpiece. I've seen almost all of the screen adaptations, and I strongly recommend the most recent, which stunningly portrays this work.