A Midsummer Night's Dream: Act 1, Scene 1
Metropolitan Opera, 1996
Enter THESEUS, HIPPOLYTA,
[PHILOSTRATE,] with others.
THESEUS: Duke of Athens. HIPPOLYTA: Queen of the Amazons betrothed to Theseus. PHILOSTRATE: Master of the Revels to Theseus.
THESEUS
1 Now, fair Hippolyta, our nuptial hour
2 Draws on apace; four happy days bring in
3 Another moon: but, O, methinks, how slow
4 This old moon wanes! she lingers my desires,
4. lingers: delays the fulfillment of.
5 Like to a step-dame or a dowager
5. step-dame: stepmother. dowager: a widow who has rights to revenue from an estate during her lifetime.
6 Long withering out a young man's revenue.
HIPPOLYTA
7 Four days will quickly steep themselves in night;
8 Four nights will quickly dream away the time;
9 And then the moon, like to a silver bow
10 New-bent in heaven, shall behold the night
11 Of our solemnities.
11. solemnities: i.e., marriage rites.
THESEUS
Go, Philostrate,
12 Stir up the Athenian youth to merriments;
13 Awake the pert and nimble spirit of mirth;
13. pert: lively, brisk.
14 Turn melancholy forth to funerals;
15 The pale companion is not for our pomp.
14-15. Turn melancholy . . . pomp: send melancholy to funerals; his pale face is not for our ceremonial splendor. —In other words, "No tragedies or sad songs for our wedding festivities!"
[Exit PHILOSTRATE.]
16 Hippolyta, I woo'd thee with my sword,
17 And won thy love, doing thee injuries;
16-17. I woo'd . . . injuries: Theseus captured Queen Hippolyta during his military conquest of the Amazons.
18 But I will wed thee in another key,
19 With pomp, with triumph and with revelling.
19. triumph: public festival and spectacle.
HERMIA . . . DEMETRIUS: Hermia and Lysander love one another. Demetrius has a crush on Hermia, who does not like him.
Enter EGEUS and his daughter HERMIA
and LYSANDER and DEMETRIUS.
EGEUS
20 Happy be Theseus, our renowned duke!
Anna Friel as Hermia
1999 film
THESEUS
21 Thanks, good Egeus: what's the news with thee?
EGEUS
 Christian Bale as Demetrius |  Dominic West as Lysander |
22 Full of vexation come I, with complaint
23 Against my child, my daughter Hermia.
24 Stand forth, Demetrius. My noble lord,
25 This man hath my consent to marry her.
26 Stand forth, Lysander: and my gracious duke,
27 This man hath bewitch'd the bosom of my child;
28 Thou, thou, Lysander, thou hast given her rhymes,
29 And interchanged love-tokens with my child:
30 Thou hast by moonlight at her window sung,
31 With feigning voice verses of feigning love,
32 And stol'n the impression of her fantasy
32. stol'n . . . fantasy: dishonestly stamped your image on her imagination.
33 With bracelets of thy hair, rings, gawds, conceits,
33. gawds: trinkets. conceits: ingenious trifles. . . . more
34 Knacks, trifles, nosegays, sweetmeats, messengers
34. Knacks: knickknacks.
35 Of strong prevailment in unharden'd youth:
36 With cunning hast thou filch'd my daughter's heart,
37 Turn'd her obedience, which is due to me,
38 To stubborn harshness: and, my gracious duke,
38. harshness: i.e., disobedience.
39 Be it so she will not here before your grace
39. Be it so: if.
40 Consent to marry with Demetrius,
41 I beg the ancient privilege of Athens,
42 As she is mine, I may dispose of her:
43 Which shall be either to this gentleman
44 Or to her death, according to our law
45. Immediately provided in that case: i.e., as the law expressly provides for in such a case.
45 Immediately provided in that case.
THESEUS
46. Be advis'd: consider well.
46 What say you, Hermia? Be advis'd fair maid:
47 To you your father should be as a god;
48 One that composed your beauties, yea, and one
49. a form in wax: i.e., an impression in a wax seal, of the kind that would be attached to an official document to prove its authenticity. 51. leave: i.e., leave unchanged. disfigure: obliterate.
49 To whom you are but as a form in wax
50 By him imprinted and within his power
51 To leave the figure or disfigure it.
52 Demetrius is a worthy gentleman.
HERMIA
53 So is Lysander.
THESEUS
53 In himself he is;
54. in this kind: in this respect. wanting: lacking. voice: consent.
54 But in this kind, wanting your father's voice,
55 The other must be held the worthier.
HERMIA
56 I would my father look'd but with my eyes.
THESEUS
57 Rather your eyes must with his judgment look.
HERMIA
58 I do entreat your grace to pardon me.
59 I know not by what power I am made bold,
60. how it may concern: whether it befit.
60 Nor how it may concern my modesty,
61 In such a presence here to plead my thoughts;
62 But I beseech your grace that I may know
63 The worst that may befall me in this case,
64 If I refuse to wed Demetrius.
THESEUS
65. die the death: be put to death by judicial sentence. abjure: to renounce on oath, forswear; to withdraw, retract, recant (a heresy or other opinion or position formerly held).
65 Either to die the death or to abjure
66 For ever the society of men.
67 Therefore, fair Hermia, question your desires;
68. Know of your youth: inquire of your youthful feelings. blood: passions.
68 Know of your youth, examine well your blood,
69 Whether, if you yield not to your father's choice,
70. livery: habit, distinctive garb.
70 You can endure the livery of a nun,
71. aye: ever. mew'd: shut up, confined.
71 For aye to be in shady cloister mew'd,
72 To live a barren sister all your life,
73. Chanting faint hymns to the cold fruitless moon:—Diana, the goddess of chastity, is also the moon . . . more
73 Chanting faint hymns to the cold fruitless moon.
74 Thrice-blessed they that master so their blood,
75. maiden pilgrimage: i.e., journey through life as a virgin.
75 To undergo such maiden pilgrimage;
76. earthlier happy: happier on earth. the rose distill'd: metaphorically, a . . . more 77. thorn: a thorny stem of a rose bush. 78. single blessedness: "divine blessing accorded to a life of celibacy" (Oxford English Dictionary). 76 But earthlier happy is the rose distill'd,
77 Than that which withering on the virgin thorn
78 Grows, lives and dies in single blessedness.
HERMIA
79 So will I grow, so live, so die, my lord,
80. virgin patent: ownership of myself conferred by virginity.
81-82. whose . . . sovereignty: i.e., my soul refuses consent to the sovereignty Demetrius would have over me in the yoke of a marriage I do not want.
 |
|
|
80 Ere I will yield my virgin patent up
81 Unto his lordship, whose unwished yoke
82 My soul consents not to give sovereignty.
THESEUS
83 Take time to pause; and, by the next new moon—
84 The sealing-day betwixt my love and me,
85 For everlasting bond of fellowship—
86 Upon that day either prepare to die
87 For disobedience to your father's will,
88. Or: either. as he would: as he desires.
88 Or else to wed Demetrius, as he would;
89. protest: vow.
89 Or on Diana's altar to protest
90 For aye austerity and single life.
DEMETRIUS
91 Relent, sweet Hermia: and, Lysander, yield
92. crazed: cracked, unsound, flawed. title: claim to possession.
92 Thy crazed title to my certain right.
LYSANDER
93 You have her father's love, Demetrius;
94 Let me have Hermia's: do you marry him.
EGEUS
95 Scornful Lysander! true, he hath my love,
96. render him: give to him.
96 And what is mine my love shall render him.
97 And she is mine, and all my right of her
98. estate unto: settle or bestow upon.
98 I do estate unto Demetrius.
LYSANDER
99. well deriv'd: well born.
99 I am, my lord, as well deriv'd as he,
100. As well possess'd: endowed with equal wealth.
100 As well possess'd; my love is more than his;
101. My fortunes every way as fairly rank'd: my situation and prospects are, in every way, just as good as. 102. with vantage: better.
101 My fortunes every way as fairly rank'd,
102 If not with vantage, as Demetrius';
103 And, which is more than all these boasts can be,
104 I am beloved of beauteous Hermia:
105 Why should not I then prosecute my right?
106. head: i.e., face.
106 Demetrius, I'll avouch it to his head,
107 Made love to Nedar's daughter, Helena,
108 And won her soul; and she, sweet lady, dotes,
109 Devoutly dotes, dotes in idolatry,
110. spotted and inconstant: morally stained with inconstancy.
110 Upon this spotted and inconstant man.
THESEUS
111 I must confess that I have heard so much,
112 And with Demetrius thought to have spoke thereof;
113. self-affairs: my own affairs.
113 But, being over-full of self-affairs,
114 My mind did lose it. But, Demetrius, come;
115 And come, Egeus; you shall go with me,
116. schooling: admonition.
116 I have some private schooling for you both.
117. For: as for. look you arm: see that you prepare.
117 For you, fair Hermia, look you arm yourself
118. fancies: affections, likings, thoughts of love.
118 To fit your fancies to your father's will;
119 Or else the law of Athens yields you up—
120. extenuate: mitigate.
120 Which by no means we may extenuate—
121 To death, or to a vow of single life.
122 Come, my Hippolyta: what cheer, my love?
123. go along: come with us.
123 Demetrius and Egeus, go along:
124 I must employ you in some business
125. Against: in preparation for.
125 Against our nuptial and confer with you
126. nearly that: that closely.
126 Of something nearly that concerns yourselves.
EGEUS
127. duty and desire: eagerness to serve.
127 With duty and desire we follow you.
Exeunt [all but LYSANDER and HERMIA].
LYSANDER
128 How now, my love! why is your cheek so pale?
129 How chance the roses there do fade so fast?
HERMIA
130. Belike: very likely.
130 Belike for want of rain, which I could well
131. Beteem: grant, afford.
131 Beteem them from the tempest of my eyes.
LYSANDER
132 Ay me! for aught that I could ever read,
133 Could ever hear by tale or history,
134 The course of true love never did run smooth;
135. blood: birth, hereditary station.
135 But, either it was different in blood,—
HERMIA
136. cross: vexation, thwarting.
136 O cross! too high to be enthrall'd to low.
LYSANDER
137. misgraffed: ill grafted, i.e., badly matched.
137 Or else misgraffed in respect of years,—
HERMIA
138 O spite! too old to be engaged to young.
LYSANDER
139. friends: i.e., relatives.
139 Or else it stood upon the choice of friends,—
HERMIA
140 O hell! to choose love by another's eyes.
LYSANDER
141. a sympathy in choice: i.e., true love between two who freely chose one another.
141 Or, if there were a sympathy in choice,
142 War, death, or sickness did lay siege to it,
143. momentany: momentary.
143 Making it momentany as a sound,
144 Swift as a shadow, short as any dream;
145. collied: black as coal.
145 Brief as the lightning in the collied night,
146. in a spleen: i.e., as if in a sudden fit of passion or in a flash. The spleen was thought to be the seat of sudden impulsive feelings and actions. unfolds: discloses, reveals.
146 That, in a spleen, unfolds both heaven and earth,
147 And ere a man hath power to say "Behold!"
148 The jaws of darkness do devour it up:
149. So quick bright things come to confusion: (1) so quickly bright things come to darkness; (2) so bright things full of light or love come to darkness and destruction.
150-151. If then true lovers . . . destiny: i.e., then if true lovers have always been thwarted, it proves that destiny is saying that our thwarted . . . more 152. teach our trial patience: i.e., discipline ourselves to meet this trial patiently.
150-151. If then true lovers . . . destiny: i.e., then if true lovers have always been thwarted, it proves that destiny is saying that our thwarted . . . more 152. teach our trial patience: i.e., discipline ourselves to meet this trial patiently.
149 So quick bright things come to confusion.
HERMIA
150 If then true lovers have been ever cross'd,
151 It stands as an edict in destiny:
152 Then let us teach our trial patience,
153 Because it is a customary cross,
154. As due to love as : as much love's due as melancholy moods. 155. fancy's: amorous passion's; love's.
154 As due to love as thoughts and dreams and sighs,
155 Wishes and tears, poor fancy's followers.
LYSANDER
156. persuasion: opinion, doctrine.
156 A good persuasion: therefore, hear me, Hermia.
157 I have a widow aunt, a dowager
158 Of great revenue, and she hath no child:
159. seven leagues: A league is roughly equivalent to three miles. 160. respects: regards.
159 From Athens is her house remote seven leagues;
160 And she respects me as her only son.
161 There, gentle Hermia, may I marry thee;
162 And to that place the sharp Athenian law
163 Cannot pursue us. If thou lovest me then,
164 Steal forth thy father's house tomorrow night;
165 And in the wood, a league without the town,
166 Where I did meet thee once with Helena,
167. do observance to a morn of May: perform the ceremonies of May-day. 168. stay: wait.
167 To do observance to a morn of May,
168 There will I stay for thee.
HERMIA
168 My good Lysander!
169 I swear to thee, by Cupid's strongest bow,
170. arrow . . . head: Ovid's . . . more 171. simplicity: harmlessness, innocence. doves: i.e., those that drew Venus' chariot. 173. Carthage queen: Dido, who immolated herself on a funeral pyre after the Trojan hero Aeneas, her lover, secretly sailed away from Carthage.170 By his best arrow with the golden head,
171 By the simplicity of Venus' doves,
172 By that which knitteth souls and prospers loves,
173 And by that fire which burn'd the Carthage queen,
174 When the false Troyan under sail was seen,
175 By all the vows that ever men have broke,
176 In number more than ever women spoke,
177 In that same place thou hast appointed me,
178 Tomorrow truly will I meet with thee.
LYSANDER
179 Keep promise, love. Look, here comes Helena.
Enter HELENA.
HERMIA
180 God speed fair Helena! whither away?
HELENA
181 Call you me fair? that fair again unsay.
182. fair: O happy fair: beauty: O lucky fair one.
182 Demetrius loves your fair: O happy fair!
183. lode-stars: guiding stars. air: melody, music. 184. tuneable: tuneful, melodious.
183 Your eyes are lode-stars; and your tongue's sweet air
184 More tuneable than lark to shepherd's ear,
185. When wheat is green, when hawthorn buds appear: i.e., in the promising and beautiful springtime. 186. favor: appearance, attributes.
185 When wheat is green, when hawthorn buds appear.
186 Sickness is catching: O, were favor so,
187 Yours would I catch, fair Hermia, ere I go;
188 My ear should catch your voice, my eye your eye,
189 My tongue should catch your tongue's sweet melody.
190. bated: excepted.
190 Were the world mine, Demetrius being bated,
191. translated: transformed.
191 The rest I'd give to be to you translated.
192. art: i.e., magical charm.
192 O, teach me how you look, and with what art
 |
|
|
197. affection: passion. move: arouse.
193 You sway the motion of Demetrius' heart.
HERMIA
194 I frown upon him, yet he loves me still.
HELENA
195 O that your frowns would teach my smiles such skill!
HERMIA
196 I give him curses, yet he gives me love.
HELENA
197 O that my prayers could such affection move!
HERMIA
198 The more I hate, the more he follows me.
HELENA
199 The more I love, the more he hateth me.
HERMIA
200 His folly, Helena, is no fault of mine.
HELENA
201 None, but your beauty: would that fault were mine!
HERMIA
202 Take comfort: he no more shall see my face;
203 Lysander and myself will fly this place.
204 Before the time I did Lysander see,
205 Seem'd Athens as a paradise to me:
206 O, then, what graces in my love do dwell,
207 That he hath turn'd a heaven unto a hell!
LYSANDER
208. our minds we will unfold: our plans we will reveal.
208 Helen, to you our minds we will unfold:
209. Phoebe: Diana, the moon.
209 Tomorrow night, when Phoebe doth behold
210. glass: mirror.
210 Her silver visage in the watery glass,
211 Decking with liquid pearl the bladed grass,
212. still: always.
212 A time that lovers' flights doth still conceal,
213. devis'd: decided.
213 Through Athens' gates have we devis'd to steal.
HERMIA
214 And in the wood, where often you and I
215. faint: pale, or faintly scented.
215 Upon faint primrose-beds were wont to lie,
216. counsel: secret, inmost thought.
216 Emptying our bosoms of their counsel sweet,
217 There my Lysander and myself shall meet;
218 And thence from Athens turn away our eyes,
219. stranger companies: the company of strangers.
219 To seek new friends and stranger companies.
220 Farewell, sweet playfellow: pray thou for us;
221 And good luck grant thee thy Demetrius!
222-223. Keep word: keep your promise. Starve our sight / From lovers' food: i.e., refrain from seeing each other.
222 Keep word, Lysander: we must starve our sight
223 From lovers' food till morrow deep midnight.
LYSANDER
224 I will, my Hermia.
Exit HERMIA.
224 Helena, adieu:
225 As you on him, Demetrius dote on you!
Exit LYSANDER.
HELENA
226. How happy some o'er other some can be!: how more happy (and lucky) than others some can be!
226 How happy some o'er other some can be!
227 Through Athens I am thought as fair as she.
228 But what of that? Demetrius thinks not so;
229. He will not know: he refuses to acknowledge.
229 He will not know what all but he do know:
230-231. And as he errs . . . qualities: i.e., and as he wanders about in a daze of love, doting on Hermia's eyes . . . more 232. holding no quantity: lacking proportion, unsubstantial, unshapely. 233. transpose: change, transform. dignity: worth.
230 And as he errs, doting on Hermia's eyes,
231 So I, admiring of his qualities:
232 Things base and vile, holding no quantity,
233 Love can transpose to form and dignity:
234 Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind;
235. painted blind: i.e., portrayed in paintings as being blindfolded. 236. Nor. . . taste: i.e., nor has Love, which deals in imagination's fancy, any trace of judgment or reason. 
237. Wings and no eyes figure unheedy haste: [Cupid's] wings and lack of sight symbolize the heedless haste [of lovers]. 240. game: fun, sport.
237. Wings and no eyes figure unheedy haste: [Cupid's] wings and lack of sight symbolize the heedless haste [of lovers]. 240. game: fun, sport.235 And therefore is wing'd Cupid painted blind:
236 Nor hath Love's mind of any judgement taste;
237 Wings and no eyes figure unheedy haste:
238 And therefore is Love said to be a child,
239 Because in choice he is so oft beguiled.
240 As waggish boys in game themselves forswear,
241 So the boy Love is perjured every where:
242. eyne: eyes. --"Eyne" was archaic even in Shakespeare's time, but it rhymes with "mine" in the next line.
242 For ere Demetrius look'd on Hermia's eyne,
243 He hail'd down oaths that he was only mine;
244 And when this hail some heat from Hermia felt,
245 So he dissolved, and showers of oaths did melt.
246 I will go tell him of fair Hermia's flight:
247 Then to the wood will he tomorrow night
248. intelligence: information.
248 Pursue her; and for this intelligence
249-251. If . . . again: i.e., If all I get from telling Demetrius of Hermia's whereabouts is a thank-you, I will have made a costly purchase ("dear expense"), but I intend to enrich myself for my pains, by having his loving looks go to Hermia and return back to me. —Helena's plan is highly irrational, but as she has already said, love has no judgment.
249 If I have thanks, it is a dear expense:
250 But herein mean I to enrich my pain,
251 To have his sight thither and back again.
Exit.