Lex

Browse

GenresShelvesPremiumBlog

Company

AboutJobsPartnersSell on LexAffiliates

Resources

DocsInvite FriendsFAQ

Legal

Terms of ServicePrivacy Policygeneral@lex-books.com(215) 703-8277

© 2026 LexBooks, Inc. All rights reserved.

A Midsummer Night's Dream

1600

William Shakespeare

Read

A Midsummer Night's Dream

William Shakespeare

1600

British Literature, Classics of Literature, Plays/Films/Dramas

In a moonlit Athenian forest, love becomes a kind of madness. Shakespeare stages a dazzling experiment: what happens when four young lovers and a troupe of bumbling actors stumble into a realm ruled by quarreling fairies with magical potions? The result is chaos both hilarious and unsettling. Puck, Oberon's mischievous sprite, sprays juice from a purple flower on the sleeping eyes of the wrong people, and suddenly men chase women who despise them, women pursue men who reject them, and everyone wakes up certain they've been dreaming. It sounds like a farce, and it is, but beneath the giggles lies something genuinely strange: love as involuntary compulsion, desire as something that happens to us rather than something we choose. The mechanicals rehearsing their play for the Duke's wedding mirror this theme of performed identity, while Titania's enchanted love for the donkey-headed Bottom remains one of the most bizarre and funny moments in literature. Shakespeare understood that love is ridiculous, that we're all a little bewitched, and that the forest is where we go to lose ourselves. Anyone who has ever been in love, or utterly confused by it, will recognize themselves here.

Project Gutenberg

A classic play, likely written in the late 16th century. This comedic work interweaves the lives of various characters,...

Wikipedia

A Midsummer Night's Dream is a comedy play written by William Shakespeare in about 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athe...

Goodreads

Shakespeare's intertwined love polygons begin to get complicated from the start--Demetrius and Lysander both want Hermia...

3.9(575K)

Editions

A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's DreamCurrent
Project Gutenberg · 71 pages
EPUB
A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Project Gutenberg · 63 pages
EPUB
A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Project Gutenberg · 70 pages
EPUB
A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Project Gutenberg · 71 pages
EPUB

X-Ray

“Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind; And therefore is wing'd Cupid painted blind. Nor hath love's mind of any judgment taste; Wings and no eyes figure unheedy haste: And therefore is love said to be a child, Because in choice he is so oft beguil'd.””

— William Shakespeare

“Though she be but little, she is fierce!””

— William Shakespeare

“The course of true love never did run smooth; But, either it was different in blood,O cross! too high to be enthrall’d to low. Or else misgraffed in respect of years, O spite! too old to be engag’d to young. Or else it stood upon the choice of friends,O hell! to choose love by another’s eye.””

— William Shakespeare

“Lord, what fools these mortals be!””

— William Shakespeare

“And yet,to say the truth, reason and love keep little company together nowadays.””

— William Shakespeare

“Lovers and madmen have such seething brains,Such shaping fantasies, that apprehendMore than cool reason ever comprehends.The lunatic, the lover and the poetAre of imagination all compact:One sees more devils than vast hell can hold,That is, the madman: the lover, all as frantic,Sees Helen's beauty in a brow of Egypt:The poet's eye, in fine frenzy rolling,Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven;And as imagination bodies forthThe forms of things unknown, the poet's penTurns them to shapes and gives to airy nothingA local habitation and a name.””

— William Shakespeare

“My soul is in the sky.””

— William Shakespeare

“If we shadows have offended, Think but this, and all is mended,That you have but slumbered hereWhile these visions did appear.And this weak and idle theme,No more yielding but a dream,Gentles, do not reprehend:If you pardon, we will mend:And, as I am an honest Puck,If we have unearned luckNow to 'scape the serpent's tongue,We will make amends ere long;Else the Puck a liar call;So, good night unto you all.Give me your hands, if we be friends,And Robin shall restore amends.””

— William Shakespeare

“Are you sure That we are awake? It seems to me That yet we sleep, we dream””

— William Shakespeare

Link to this book

Add a free, dofollow link to Lex on your blog, forum, syllabus, or reading list.

Read A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare free on Lex
HTML
<a href="https://lex-books.com/book/a-midsummer-night-s-dream-5a2fa31a-e406-480c-9985-08089651bc93"><img src="https://lex-books.com/badges/read-on-lex.svg" alt="Read A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare free on Lex" width="160" height="40"></a>
Markdown
[![Read A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare free on Lex](https://lex-books.com/badges/read-on-lex.svg)](https://lex-books.com/book/a-midsummer-night-s-dream-5a2fa31a-e406-480c-9985-08089651bc93)
BBCode
[url=https://lex-books.com/book/a-midsummer-night-s-dream-5a2fa31a-e406-480c-9985-08089651bc93][img]https://lex-books.com/badges/read-on-lex.svg[/img][/url]
Plain link
Read A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare free on Lex: https://lex-books.com/book/a-midsummer-night-s-dream-5a2fa31a-e406-480c-9985-08089651bc93

Cite this book

Reading this edition for a paper or guide? Copy a citation.

MLA
Shakespeare, William. A Midsummer Night's Dream. Lex, lex-books.com/book/a-midsummer-night-s-dream-5a2fa31a-e406-480c-9985-08089651bc93.
APA
Shakespeare, W. (1600). A Midsummer Night's Dream. Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/a-midsummer-night-s-dream-5a2fa31a-e406-480c-9985-08089651bc93
Chicago
Shakespeare, William. A Midsummer Night's Dream. Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/a-midsummer-night-s-dream-5a2fa31a-e406-480c-9985-08089651bc93.

Across the web

aggregate ratings
Goodreads3.94575k ratings↗

More books from this author

William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
1564-1616

Iconic English playwright known for his profound tragedies and innovative comedies.

King Lear

William Shakespeare

King Lear

Othello

William Shakespeare

Othello

Hamlet

William Shakespeare

Hamlet

Henry V

William Shakespeare

Henry V

The Tamingof the Shrew

William Shakespeare

The Taming of the Shrew

JuliusCaesar

William Shakespeare

Julius Caesar

Richard III

William Shakespeare

Richard III

The Tempest(Comprehen...Summary)

William Shakespeare

The Tempest (Comprehensive Summary)
Premium

Romeo andJuliet(Comprehen...Summary)

William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet (Comprehensive Summary)
Premium

Macbeth(Comprehen...Summary)

William Shakespeare

Macbeth (Comprehensive Summary)
Premium

King Lear(Comprehen...Summary)

William Shakespeare

King Lear (Comprehensive Summary)
Premium

JuliusCaesar(Comprehen...Summary)

William Shakespeare

Julius Caesar (Comprehensive Summary)
Premium

Hamlet(Comprehen...Summary)

William Shakespeare

Hamlet (Comprehensive Summary)
Premium

A MidsummerNight’sDream(Comprehe...

William Shakespeare

A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Comprehensive Summary)
Premium

The TwoNobleKinsmen

William Shakespeare

The Two Noble Kinsmen

Henry VI,Part II

William Shakespeare

Henry VI, Part II

The Tempest

William Shakespeare

The Tempest

The Winter’sTale

William Shakespeare

The Winter’s Tale

Love’sLabour’sLost

William Shakespeare

Love’s Labour’s Lost

A MidsummerNight’sDream

William Shakespeare

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Henry VI,Part I

William Shakespeare

Henry VI, Part I

Henry IV,Part I

William Shakespeare

Henry IV, Part I

Henry VI,Part III

William Shakespeare

Henry VI, Part III

All’s WellThat EndsWell

William Shakespeare

All’s Well That Ends Well

The MerryWives ofWindsor

William Shakespeare

The Merry Wives of Windsor

The TwoGentlemen ofVerona

William Shakespeare

The Two Gentlemen of Verona

King John

William Shakespeare

King John

Edward III

William Shakespeare

Edward III

Henry IV,Part II

William Shakespeare

Henry IV, Part II

Poetry

William Shakespeare

Poetry

More books like this

right arrow

Don Juan

1819

George Gordon Byron, Baron Byron

TheAdventuresof FerdinandCount Fat...

T. Smollett

The Adventures of Ferdinand Count Fathom — Complete

Pride andPrejudice

1813

Jane Austen

Now We AreSix

1927

A. A. Milne

Now We Are Six

The Rainbow

1915

D. H. Lawrence

The Rainbow

Nostromo: ATale of theSeaboard

1904

Joseph Conrad

New GrubStreet

George Gissing

The CompleteProse Worksof MartinFarquhar...

Martin Farquhar Tupper

Men andWomen

Robert Browning

Phantasmag...and OtherPoems

1869

Lewis Carroll

Outlines ofEnglish andAmericanLiteratur...

William J. Long

Sybil, Or,the TwoNations

1845

Benjamin, Earl of Beaconsfield Disraeli

KiplingStories andPoems EveryChild Sho...

Rudyard Kipling

TheGourmet'sGuide toLondon

Lieut.-Col. Newnham-Davis

The Gourmet's Guide to London

The Works ofJohnMarston.Volume 3

John Marston

The Works of John Marston. Volume 3

OldMortality,Complete

Walter Scott

Old Mortality, Complete