{{Infobox Drama
|T = Ein Sommernachtstraum
|OT = A Midsummer Night's Dream
|Gattung = Komödie
|OS = englisch
|Autor = William Shakespeare
|LitVorl =
|Mus =
|EJahr = 1595 oder 1596
|UA = vor 1600
|UAort = 
|OrtZeit = Athen und ein Wald in der Nähe
|Pers =
* Theseus (Herzog von Athen)
* Egeus (Vater der Hermia)
* Lysander (verliebt in Hermia)
* Demetrius (verliebt in Hermia)
* Philostrat (Zeremonienmeister des Theseus)
* Squenz, Schnock, Zettel, Flaut, Schnauz, Schlucker (Handwerker)
* Hippolytia (Königin der Amazonen, mit Theseus verlobt)
* Hermia (Tochter des Egeus, in Lysander verliebt)
* Helena (in Demetrius verliebt)
* Oberon (König der Elfen)
* Titania (Königin der Elfen)
* Puck, auch Robin Gutfreund genannt (Hofnarr Oberons)
* Erbsenblüte, Spinnweb, Motte, Senfsamen (Elfen)
* u. a.
}}

thumb|Study for The Quarrel of Oberon and Titania, [[Joseph Noel Paton, um 1849]]

Die Komödie '''Ein Sommernachtstraum''' (engl. ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'', der korrekte deutsche Titel wäre also ''Ein Mittsommernachtstraum'', auch um den Sinn nicht zu verfremden) wurde 1595 oder 1596 von William Shakespeare geschrieben und vor 1600 uraufgeführt.

Das Stück ist eines der meistgespielten Shakespeare-Stücke. In den englischsprachigen Ländern ist der ''Sommernachtstraum'' ein Klassiker für Schul- und Laientheaterinszenierungen. Auch im Film Club der toten Dichter wird dieses Stück von den Welton-Schülern gespielt.

Das Stück wird sehr oft auch als A Midsummer Night's Dream'' (1960) von Benjamin Britten. Sehr bekannt wurde auch die Schauspielmusik von Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. Auch moderne Autoren haben sich auf den Sommernachtstraum bezogen, so etwa Botho Strauß in ''Der Park'' (1983) und Neil Gaiman in ''The Sandman – Dream Country'' (1991).

== Ein Sommernachtstraum - Die Handlung ==

Die erste Szene spielt in Athen. Theseus, Herzog von Athen, und Hippolyta, Königin der Amazonen, wollen heiraten. Da erscheint Egeus, ein Athener, gefolgt von seiner Tochter Hermia und dem jungen Athener Lysander, die ein Liebespaar sind. Egeus jedoch hält Demetrius für die bessere Wahl. Dieser ist vernarrt in Hermias Schönheit, und hat bei Egeus auch schon um ihre Hand angehalten. Davor hatte er sich aber bereits mit Helena, einer Freundin Hermias verlobt. Egeus verlangt, dass Hermia bestraft werde, wenn sie seiner Forderung Demetrius zu heiraten nicht entspreche. Theseus erklärt, sollte sich Hermia weiterhin nicht dem Willen des Vaters fügen, müsse sie entweder in ein Nonnenkloster oder sterben. Der Herzog  setzt ihr eine Frist, in der sie sich entscheiden soll. Nachdem Egeus und Demetrius zu einem vertraulichen Gespräch mit Theseus gebeten wurden, entwickeln Lysander und Hermia einen Plan, um aus Athen zu fliehen. Als Helena, die Freundin Hermias, kommt, erzählen ihr die beiden, dass sie sich am Abend des nächsten Tages in einem Wald treffen und fliehen wollen. In der Hoffnung, dass der von ihr Geliebte sich dankbar zeigen möge, verrät Helena den Plan an Demetrius.

Szenenwechsel: Unter der Leitung von Peter Squenz treffen sich sechs Athener Handwerker, die das Stück Pyramus und Thisbe (nach Ovid) auf der Feier bei der Hochzeit von Theseus und Hippolyta aufführen wollen. Sie verteilen die Rollen und verabreden sich für den folgenden Abend zur Probe im Wald.

In eben diesem Wald streiten sich an besagtem Abend Oberon, König der Elfen, und Titania, Königin der Elfen, die einen jungen indischen Prinzen aufgenommen hat, den Oberon herausverlangt. Oberon will Titania einen Streich spielen. Er gibt seinem vertrauten Elf Puck, auch Robin Gutfreund (Robin Goodfellow) genannt, den Auftrag, eine bestimmte Blume zu holen, die einst von Cupidos Pfeil getroffen wurde. Der Nektar dieser Blume, kommt er in die Augen eines Schlafenden, sorgt dafür, dass dieser sich in die nächste lebende Kreatur verliebt, die er sieht. So soll es mit Titania geschehen. Während Puck unterwegs ist, kommen Demetrius, der Lysander und Hermia sucht, und Helena, die ihm gefolgt ist. Oberon beobachtet den Streit der beiden und gibt Puck, als er zurückkommt, den Auftrag, nach einem jungen Athener zu suchen, der von einer Frau verfolgt wird, und ihm etwas von dem Saft auf die Augenlider zu tun.

Oberon findet wenig später die schlafende Titania und tropft ihr den Nektar der Blume in die Augen. Hermia und Lysander legen sich im Wald schlafen. Bald darauf erscheint Puck, hält Lysander für den gesuchten jungen Athener und verbreitet den Nektar auf seinen Augenlidern. Dann kommen Helena und Demetrius. Helena sieht den schlafenden Lysander und weckt ihn auf; er verliebt sich in sie und folgt ihr. Kurz darauf erwacht Hermia, stellt fest, dass Lysander verschwunden ist, und zieht alleine weiter.

Mittlerweile haben sich die Handwerker zu ihrer Probe eingefunden. Puck kommt dazu und verwandelt den Kopf des Webers Niklaus Zettel (engl.: Nick Bottom) in den eines Esels. Daraufhin führt er ihn zu Titania, die aufwacht und sich in das Ungetüm verliebt. Oberon, der sich darüber köstlich amüsiert, entdeckt kurz darauf Pucks Fehler hinsichtlich Lysander. Er befiehlt Puck, Helena zu holen, und wendet selbst das Mittel bei Demetrius an. Als Helena erscheint, wacht Demetrius auf und verliebt sich in sie. Nun lieben beide, Lysander und Demetrius, Helena. Hermia tritt auf und fühlt sich von den Dreien aufs Übelste verspottet. Oberon erkennt das Chaos und befiehlt Puck, es rückgängig zu machen. Dieser sorgt dafür, dass die vier jungen Menschen aus Athen getrennt voneinander einschlafen und wendet nochmals den Nektar bei Lysander an. Nachdem Titania sich bereit erklärt hat, den indischen Prinzen an Oberon herauszugeben, befreit dieser sie von der Wirkung des Liebesnektars. Puck spricht einen Zauber, so dass Zettel sein ursprüngliches Aussehen zurückerhält.

Am nächsten Morgen finden Theseus, Hippolyta und Egeus die schlafenden Liebenden. Pucks Zauber wirkt: Lysander liebt Hermia so wie sie ihn, und auch Demetrius und Helena sind ein glückliches Paar. Theseus lädt sie ein, zum großen Hochzeitsfest zu kommen. Die Handwerker finden Zettel und spielen bei der Dreifachhochzeit ihr Stück vor. Zum Schluss kommt noch einmal Puck auf die Bühne und spricht direkt zum Publikum. Er bittet sie, wenn ihnen das Stück nicht gefallen hat, es als einen Traum zu betrachten. Wenn es ihnen aber gefallen hat, sollen sie klatschen. In Shakespeares Worten: ''Give me your hands, if we be friends and Robin shall restore amends.''

== Datierung des Stücks ==

Die korrekte Datierung des Stücks ist nicht gesichert. Die am Anfang erwähnte mögliche Datierung des Stücks zwischen 1595 und 1596 basiert auf den folgenden Indizien:<ref>Introduction" von ''The Arden Shakespeare'', Edited by Harold F. Brooks</ref>

* Beim Tauffest von Prince Henry am 30. August 1594, während König James anwesend war, wurde ein Wagen von einem Mohr gezogen. Dieser Wagen hätte von einem Löwen gezogen werden sollen. Da jedoch der Löwe den Anwesenden Angst hätte einjagen können oder da die Lichter und Lampen den Löwen aufregen hätten können, wurde entschieden, dass der Mohr den Platz des Löwen einnehmen sollte. Da im Theaterstück der Handwerker ein Löwe vorkommen sollte und besonders da die Handwerker bedenken, ob der Löwe nicht zuviel dramatische Illusion darstellt, obwohl er im Sommernachtstraum gerade nicht furchteinflößend ist, deutet auf einen eingebauten Scherz. Dies bedeutet, dass Herbst 1594 der früheste Zeitpunkt für den Sommernachtstraum darstellen kann.
* Titania klagt Oberon an, dass das schlechte Wetter und alle Plagen nur von ihrem Streit herrühren. Bemerkenswert schlechtes Wetter herrschte von März 1594 an bis zum Jahresende, mit Ausnahme von August; gefolgt von schlechten, nassen Sommern in den Jahren 1595 und 1596. Die Uebereinstimmung mit der großen Rede von Titania, in welcher außerordentlich schlechtes Wetter und die Konfusion der Jahreszeiten beklagt wird, ist der zweite Hinweis für die Datierung des Stücks.
* Im Sommernachtstraum fallen 2 Passagen auf, welche mit dem Stück Romeo und Julia eng verknüpft sind. Hermia ist Demetrius versprochen, liebt aber Lysander. Der Vater Egeus verstößt eher seine Tochter als dass er in die Heirat mit Lysander einwilligt. Pyramus und Thisbe sterben wie Romeo und Julia. Shakespeare brauchte einen possenhaften Gegenpart zum Trotz von Hermia und Lysander bezüglich dem väterlichen Verdikt und muss auf Ovid zurückgegriffen haben. Somit ist der Sommernachtstraum zeitlich eng mit Romeo und Julia verknüpft
* Wahrscheinlich wurde der Sommernachtstraum für eine Hochzeit vorgesehen. Der Sommernachtstraum hat manche Charakteristiken eines Hochzeits-Stücks, da diese textlich eher kürzer waren und andererseits mit Songs und Tänzen "aufgefüllt" wurden. Die Songs und die Verfügbarkeit von Buben, welche die Elfen spielten und der verschwenderische Umgang mit Musik legt nahe, dass Shakespeare auf größere Ressourcen zählen konnte als normal im öffentlichen Theater. Es gibt wenig Zweifel, dass Shakespeare das Stück "The Merry Wifes of Windsor" für den Ritterschlag von Sir George (Lord Chamberlain of the Household) schrieb, wobei Shakespeare für eine Szene zusätzliche Buben brauchte, welche singen konnten. Solche Buben wurden auch beim Sommernachtstraum gebraucht. Sir George hielt in seinem Haushalt auch ein musisches ''Establishement'' woher diese Buben wahrscheinlich kamen. Es ist deshalb wahrscheinlich, dass Shakespeare auf diese Quelle für seinen Sommernachtstraum zurückgriff. Sir George war ein bedeutender Förderer von Musik und ließ Robert Johnson (später 10 Jahre lang Komponist der Shakespeare Company) eine musische Ausbildung zukommen.
* Es ist wahrscheinlich, dass Queen Elisabeth I an der Erstaufführung anwesend war. Diese Feststellung basiert auf zwei Komplimenten, welche im Stück eingebaut sind und auf die Queen zugeschnitten erscheinen. Es erscheint natürlich, dass Shakespeare diese Komplimente im Stück einbaute, weil er wusste, dass die Queen erscheinen würde. Der Blick auf den Kalender der königlichen Hochzeiten in den Jahren 1594 bis 1598 suggeriert 2 Möglichkeiten. Die spätere und wahrscheinlichere Möglichkeit war die Heirat zwischen Elizabeth Carey und Thomas, Sohn von Henry, Lord Berkeley, am 19. Februar 1596. Allerdings sind keine Details bekannt und somit auch nicht, ob die Queen anwesend war. Jedoch war Elizabeth Carey eine Patentochter der Queen aber auch Enkelin von Henry, Lord Hunsdon, welcher der Lord des königlichen Haushaltes (Lord Chamberlain) und der Queen's Cousin war. Lord Hunsdons's Sohn (Sir George, der spätere Lord Chamberlain und der Vater von Elizabeth Carey) war von der Queen offenkundig geschätzt. Ein Theaterstück, bei welchem Musik ein integraler Bestandteil ist, wäre ja auch ideal um Sir George, den Vater der Braut und Sohn des Patrons der Shakespeare Company an der Hochzeit seiner Tochter zu erfreuen.

Die Hypothese, welche die meisten Tatsachen und Möglichkeiten vereint (und doch eine Hypothese bleibt), ist, dass der Sommernachtstraum im Winter 1595/ 1596 für die Heirat der Careys vom 19. Februar 1596 geschrieben wurde. Mit Vertrauen kann das Stück zwischen Herbst 1594 und Frühling 1596 datiert werden und mit Sicherheit vor 1598.

== Quellen des Stücks ==

Besonders interessant an der Komödie ''Ein Sommernachtstraum'' sind die Quellen, da sich keine direkte Vorlage, wie beispielsweise zu Die Komödie der Irrungen, finden lässt. Der Plot besteht aus vier Handlungssträngen:

* die Herrscherhochzeit geht auf Plutarchs ''Bíoi parálleloi'' und auf Chaucers ''Canterbury Tales'' (The Knight's Tale) zurück.
* die aristokratischen Liebeswirren weisen Ähnlichkeiten mit Paaren aus Sidneys ''Arcadia'' auf.
* die Handwerker versuchen sich an der Tragödie von Pyramus und Thisbe, welche die Elisabethaner vor allem aus Goldings Übersetzung von den Apuleius' Metamorphosen entnommen worden sein.
* die Intrigen der Feenwelt ergeben sich aus Elementen aus Spensers Epos ''The Faerie Queene'', Greenes Lustspiel ''James IV'', der französischen Romanzendichtung (''Huon de Bordeaux''), Ovids Metamorphosen (Titania) und mündlich überlieferten Volkssagen, aus denen vor allem Puck und die Elfen entstammen.

250px|right|thumb|Facsimile of the first page of ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' from the ''[[First Folio'', published in 1623.]]
thumb|right|250px|Title page of the [[first quarto (1600)]]
'''''A Midsummer Night's Dream''''' is a romantic comedy by Athenian lovers and a group of amateur actors, their interactions with the Duke and Duchess of Athens, Theseus and Hippolyta, and with the fairies who inhabit a moonlit forest. The play is one of Shakespeare's most popular works for the stage and is widely performed across the world.

==Sources== 
It is not known exactly when ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' was written or first performed, but, on the basis of topical references and an allusion to Spenser's ''Epithalamion'', it is usually dated Queen to celebrate the feast day of St. John.  No concrete evidence exists to support either theory. In any case, it would have been performed at The Globe in London.

Some features of the plot and characters can be traced to elements of earlier mythologically-based literature; for example, the story of Metamorphoses'' and the transformation of Bottom into an ass is descended from Apuleius' ''The Golden Ass''. Lysander was also an ancient Greek warlord while Theseus and Hippolyta were respectively the Duke of Athens and Queen of the Amazons. In addition, Shakespeare could have been working on ''Romeo and Juliet'' at about the same time that he wrote ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'', and it is possible to see Pyramus and Thisbe as a comic reworking of the tragic play.
A further, seldom noted source is ''The Knight's Tale'' in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.<ref>[http://www.shakespeare-online.com/sources/mssources.html Shakespeare's Sources for A Midsummer Night's Dream<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

==Date and text==
The play was entered into the Register of the Stationers Company on Q1 states that the play was "sundry times publicly acted" prior to 1600. The first performance known with certainty occurred at Court on January 1, 1604.

==Synopsis==
The play features three interlocking plots, connected by a celebration of the Amazonian queen Hippolyta, and set simultaneously in the woodland, and in the realm of Fairyland, under the light of the moon.<ref></ref> 

In the opening scene, Hermia refuses to comply with her father Egeus's wish for her to marry his chosen man, Demetrius. In response, Egeus quotes before Theseus an ancient Athenian law whereby a daughter must marry the suitor chosen by her father, or else face death. Theseus  does not want this young girl to die, and offers her another choice, lifelong chastity worshipping Diana as a nun. (The word 'nun' in this sense is an anachronism.) 
 
Hermia and her lover Lysander decide to elope by escaping through the forest at night. Hermia informs her best friend Helena, but Helena has recently been rejected by Demetrius and decides to win back his favour by revealing the plan to him. Demetrius, followed doggedly by Helena, chases Hermia. Hermia and Lysander, believing themselves safely out of reach, sleep in the woods.  

thumb|right|350px|''Study for The Quarrel of Oberon and Titania'' by [[Joseph Noel Paton]]
Meanwhile, Oberon, king of the fairies, and his queen, Titania, arrive in the forest outside Athens.  Titania tells Oberon that she plans to stay there  until after she has attended Theseus and Hippolyta's wedding. Oberon and Titania are estranged because Titania refuses to give her Indian Puck (also called Hobgoblin and Robin Goodfellow) to help him apply a magical juice from a flower called "love-in-idleness" (a.k.a. pansy), which makes the victim fall in love with the first living thing seen upon awakening. He instructs Puck to retrieve the flower so that he can make Titania fall in love with some vile creature of the forest. Oberon applies the juice to Titania in order to distract her and force her to give up the page-boy. 

Having seen Demetrius act cruelly toward Helena, Oberon orders Puck to spread some of the elixir on the eyelids of the young Athenian man.  Instead, Puck accidentally puts the juice on the eyes of Lysander, who then falls in love with Helena.  Oberon sees Demetrius still following Hermia and is enraged.  When Demetrius decides to go to sleep, Oberon sends Puck to get Helena while he charms Demetrius' eyes. Due to Puck's errors, both lovers now fight over Helena instead of Hermia.  Helena, however, is convinced that her two suitors are mocking her, as neither loved her originally. The four pursue and quarrel with each other most of the night, until they become so enraged that they seek a place to duel each other to the death to settle the quarrel.  Oberon orders Puck to keep the lovers from catching up with one another in the forest and to re-charm Lysander for Hermia, to prevent them all from killing each other.

Meanwhile, a band of lower-class labourers ("rude mechanicals", as they are famously described by Puck) have arranged to perform a crude play about bower, for their rehearsal. Nick Bottom, a stage-struck weaver, is spotted by Puck, who transforms his head into that of an ass (donkey). Titania is awakened by Bottom's singing and immediately falls in love with him. She treats him like a nobleman and lavishes him with attention. While in this state of devotion, she encounters Oberon and casually gives him the Indian boy. Having achieved his goals, Oberon releases Titania and orders Puck to remove the ass's head from Bottom. The magical enchantment is removed from Lysander but is allowed to remain on Demetrius, so that he may reciprocate Helena's love. 

The fairies then disappear, and Theseus and Hippolyta arrive on the scene, during an early morning hunt. They wake the lovers and, since Demetrius doesn't love Hermia anymore, Theseus over-rules Egeus's demands and arranges a group wedding. The lovers decide that the night's events must have been a dream. After they all exit, Bottom awakes, and he too decides that he must have experienced a dream "past the wit of man." In Athens, Theseus, Hippolyta and the lovers watch the mechanicals perform "Pyramus and Thisbe." It is ridiculous and badly performed but gives everyone pleasure regardless, and afterward everyone retires to bed. Finally, as night falls, Oberon and Titania bless the house, its occupants, and the future children of the newlyweds, and Puck delivers a soliloquy to the audience.

==Characters==
* The men and women in the play of high social class:
** Lysander, beloved of Hermia
** Hermia, beloved of Lysander, engaged to Demetrius
** Helena, in love with Demetrius
** Demetrius, in love with Hermia but then falls in love with Helena later on. Engaged to Hermia
** Egeus, father of Hermia, wants to force Hermia to wed Demetrius
** Theseus, Duke of Athens, good friend of Egeus
** Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons and betrothed of Theseus
* The lower-class citizens in the play:
** Philostrate, Master of the Revels for Theseus
** The acting troupe (otherwise known as The Mechanicals):
*** Peter Quince, carpenter, who leads the troupe
*** Nick Bottom, weaver; he plays Pyramus in the troupe's production of "Pyramus and Thisbe," and gets a donkey head put on him by Puck so that Titania will magically fall in love with a monster.
*** Francis Flute, the bellows-mender who plays Thisbe.
*** Robin Starveling, the tailor who plays Moonshine.
*** Tom Snout, the tinker who plays the wall.
*** Snug, the joiner who plays the lion.
* The supernatural characters:
** Puck, a.k.a. Hobgoblin or Robin Goodfellow; a faun, servant to Oberon
** Oberon, King of Fairies
** Titania, Queen of Fairies
** Titania's fairy servants (her "train"):
*** First Fairy
*** Peaseblossom, fairy
*** Cobweb, fairy
*** Moth (sometimes rendered as 'Mote') fairy
*** Mustardseed, fairy

==Analysis and Criticism== 
===Themes===
====Love====
Writer David Bevington finds in the play what he refers to as the dark side of love. He writes that the fairies make light of love by mistaking the lovers and by applying a love potion to Titania’s eyes, forcing her to fall in love with Bottom as an ass <ref>(Bevington 24-35)</ref>. There are many dark sides of love that occur in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Hippolyta is “woo’d” by a sword instead of being given “love-tokens” in the same way Lysander has won Hermia’s love (1.1.17-30)<ref>(Shakespeare 256-283)</ref>. What is even more disturbing is the possible outcome that could have taken place at the forest. Shakespeare borrows the myth of Pyramus and Thisbe from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, transforming it into a play that is performed at the end and using ideas of the myth for the entire play. Like Pyramus and Thisbe, Hermia and Lysander escape to the forest to avoid the tyranny of Hermia’s father. In the forest, both couples are met by problems and assume that a partner is dead at some point. Hermia and Lysander are both met by Puck, who provides some comedic relief in the play by confusing the four lovers in the forest. Despite the darkness and difficulty that obstructs the love in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, it is still a comedy as Benedetto Croce indicates. He writes, “love is sincere, yet deceives and is deceived; it imagines itself to be firm and constant, and turns out to be fragile and fleeting” <ref>(Croce 386-7)</ref>. This passage, like the play juxtaposes one idea next to another. The play is a comedy, yet it harbors serious ideas. At the end of the play, Hermia and Lysander, happily married, watch the play about the unfortunate lovers, Pyramus and Thisbe, and are able to enjoy and laugh about the play, not realizing the similarities between them. Although their story is very similar to that of Pyramus and Thisbe, it does not end in tragic death <ref>(Bevington 32)</ref>.  Hermia and Lysander are both oblivious to the dark side of their love. They are not aware of the possible outcome that could have taken place at the forest.

====Loss of Individual Identity====
Maurice Hunt, Chair of the English Department at Baylor University writes of the blurring of the identities of fantasy and reality in the play that make possible “that pleasing, narcotic dreaminess associated with the fairies of the play” <ref>(Hunt 1)</ref>. By emphasizing this theme even in the setting of the play, Shakespeare prepares the reader’s mind to accept the fantastic reality of the fairy world and its magical happenings. This also seems to be the axis around which the plot conflicts in the play occur. Hunt suggests that it is the breaking down of individual identities leads to the central conflict in the story<ref>(Hunt 1)</ref>. It is the brawl between Oberon and Titania, based on a lack of recognition for the other in the relationship, that drives the rest of the drama in the story and makes it dangerous for any of the other lovers to come together due to the disturbance of Nature caused by a fairy dispute <ref>(Hunt 1)</ref>. Similarly, this failure to identify and make distinction is what leads Puck to mistake one set of lovers for another in the forest and place the juice of the flower on Lysander’s eyes instead of Demetrius’. Victor Kiernan, a Marxist scholar and historian, writes that it is for the greater sake of love that this loss of identity takes place and that individual characters are made to suffer accordingly: “It was the more extravagant cult of love that struck sensible people as irrational, and likely to have dubious effects on its acolytes” <ref>(Kiernan 212)</ref>. He believes that identities in the play are not so much lost as they are blended together to create a type of haze through which distinction becomes nearly impossible. It is driven by a desire for new and more practical ties between characters as a means of coping with the strange world within the forest, even in relationships as diverse and seemingly unrealistic as the brief love between Titania and Bottom the Ass: “It was the tidal force of this social need that lent energy to relationships” <ref>(Kiernan 210)</ref>. David Marshall, an aesthetics scholar and English Professor at the University of California - Santa Barbara, takes this theme to an even further conclusion, pointing out that the loss of identity is especially played out in the description of the mechanicals their assumption of other identities.  In describing the occupations of the acting troupe, he writes “Two construct or put together, two mend and repair, one weaves and one sews.  All join together what is apart or mend what has been rent, broken, or sundered” <ref>(Marshall 562)</ref>.  In Marshall’s opinion, this loss of individual identity not only blurs specificities, it creates new identities found in community, which Marshall points out may lead to some understanding of Shakespeare’s opinions on love and marriage.  Further, the mechanicals understand this theme as they take on their individual parts for a corporate performance of Pyramus and Thisbe. Marshall remarks that “To be an actor is to double and divide oneself, to discover oneself in two parts: both oneself and not oneself, both the part and not the part” <ref>(Marshall 563)</ref>.  He claims that the mechanicals understand this and that each character, particularly among the lovers, has a sense of laying down individual identity for the greater benefit of the group or pairing <ref>(Marshall 562-64)</ref>.  It seems that a desire to lose one’s individuality and find identity in the love of another is what quietly moves the events of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. It is the primary sense of motivation and is even reflected in the scenery and mood of the story.

====Ambiguous sexuality====
In his essay "Preposterous Pleasures, Queer Theories and ''A Midsummer Night's Dream''", Douglas E. Green explores possible interpretations of alternate sexuality that he finds within the text of the play, in juxtaposition to the proscribed social mores of the culture at the time the play was written. He writes that his essay "does not (seek to) rewrite ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' as a gay play but rather explores some of its 'homoerotic significations'...moments of 'queer' disruption and eruption in this Shakespearean comedy."<ref>(Green 370)</ref>. Green states that he does not consider Shakspeare to have been a "sexual radical", but that the play represented a "topsy-turvy world" or "temporary holiday" that mediates or negotiates the "discontents of civilization", which while resolved neatly in the story's conclusion, do not resolve so neatly in real life.<ref>(Green 375)</ref> Green writes that the "sodomitical elements", "homoeroticism", "lesbianism", and even "compulsory heterosexuality" in the story must be considered in the context of the "culture of early modern England" as a commentary on the "aesthetic rigidities of comic form and political ideologies of the prevailing order."  Aspects of ambiguous sexuality and gender conflict in the story are also addressed in essays by Shirley Garner <ref>(Garner 129-130)</ref> and William W.E. Slights <ref>(Slights 261)</ref>.

===Other interpretations===
====Feminist====
Male dominance is one thematic element found in A Midsummer Night's Dream. Shakespeare's comedies often include a section in which females enjoy more power and freedom than they actually possess. In A Midsummer Night's Dream, Helena and Hermia escape into the woods for a night where they do not fall under the laws of Theseus or Egeus. Upon their arrival in Athens, the couples are married. Marriage is seen as the ultimate social achievement for women while men can go on to do many other great things and gain societal recognition <ref>(Howard 414)</ref>. In his article, "The Imperial Votaress," Louis Montrose draws attention to male and female gender roles and norms present in the comedy in connection with Elizabethan culture. In reference to the triple wedding, he says, "The festive conclusion in A Midsummer Night's Dream depends upon the success of a process by which the feminine pride and power manifested in Amazon warriors, possessive mothers, unruly wives, and willful daughters are brought under the control of lords and husbands" <ref>(Montrose 65)</ref>. He says that the consummation of marriage is how power over a woman changes hands from father to husband. A connection between flowers and sexuality is drawn. The juice employed by Oberon can be seen as symbolizing menstrual blood as well as the sexual blood shed by virgins. While blood as a result of menstruation is representative of a woman's power, blood as a result of a first sexual encounter represents man's power over women <ref>(Montrose 61-69)</ref>.

There are points in the play, however, when there is an absence of patriarchal control. In his book, Power on Display, Leonard Tennenhouse says the problem in A Midsummer Night's Dream is the problem of "authority gone archaic" <ref>(Tennenhouse 73)</ref>. The Athenian law requiring a daughter to die if she does not do her father's will is outdated. Tennenhouse contrasts the patriarchal rule of Theseus in Athens with that of Oberon in the carnivalistic Faerie world. The disorder in the land of the faeries completely opposes the world of Athens. He states that during times of carnival and festival, male power is broken down. For example, what happens to the four lovers in the woods as well as Bottom's dream represents chaos that contrasts with Theseus' political order. However, Theseus does not punish the lovers for their disobedience. According to Tennenhouse, by forgiving of the lovers, he has made a distinction between the law of the patriarch (Egeus) and that of the monarch (Theseus), creating two different voices of authority. This distinction can be compared to the time of Elizabeth I in which monarchs were seen as having two bodies: the body natural and the body mystical. Elizabeth's succession itself represented both the voice of a patriarch as well as the voice of a monarch: (1) her father's will which stated that the crown should pass to her and (2) the fact that she was the daughter of a king<ref>(Tennenhouse 74-76)</ref>. The challenge to patriarchal rule in A Midsummer Night's Dream mirrors exactly what was occurring in the age of Elizabeth I.

====Religious====
Patricia Parker, professor of English at Stanford University and the editor of the New Arden edition of this play has argued that it contains a religious allegory.  It has been well established for two centuries that Puck and Robin Goodfellow are both names for the devil from English folklore. Parker argues that the character of 'Wall' acted by Snout represents the partition that exists between Earth and Heaven and that comes down on the day of Apocalypse. Pyramus and Thisbe are a late Renaissance allegory for Jesus and the Church,  and that the source of the names Peter (petros, Greek for a stone),  and Quince (quoin, a term for a wedge shaped cornerstone) suggests his identity as St Peter.          ( P.Parker 'Murals and Morals; A Midsummer Night's Dream'  in (ed) Glenn W.Most, ''Aporemata;Kritische Studien zur Philologiegeschichte'', 1998 pgs 190-218).  The play-within-the play therefore appears to be a religious satire. The allegorical dimension was extended  to the other characters and demonstrated in performance by the Dark Lady Players in a New York production in March 2007 (Ted Merwin ‘The Dark Lady as a Bright Literary Light’ ''The Jewish Week'', 23 March 2007 pgs 56-7).

==Performance history==
===17th and 18th centuries===

During the years  of the Interregnum when the theatres were closed (1642-60), the comic subplot of Bottom and his compatriots was performed as a "droll." Drolls were comical playlets, often adapted from the subplots of Shakespearean and other plays, that could be attached to the acts of acrobats and jugglers and other allowed performances, thus circumventing the ban against drama.

When the theatres re-opened in 1660, ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' was acted in adapted form, like many other Shakespearean plays. Samuel Pepys saw it on Sept. 29, 1662, and thought it "the most insipid, ridiculous play that ever I saw...."<ref>F. E. Halliday, ''A Shakespeare Companion 1564-1964,'' Baltimore, Penguin, 1964; pp. 142-3 and 316-17.</ref> 

After the Jacobean/Caroline era, ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' was never performed in its entirety until the 1840s. Instead, it was heavily adapted in forms like Henry Purcell's musical masque/play ''The Fairy Queen'' (1692), which was not revived after its initial performance at the Dorset Garden Theatre. Richard Leveridge turned the Pyramus and Thisbe scenes into an Italian opera burlesque, acted at Lincoln's Inn Fields in 1716. John Frederick Lampe elaborated upon Leveridge's version in 1745. Charles Johnson had used the Pyramus and Thisbe material in the finale of ''Love in a Forest'', his 1723 adaptation of ''As You Like It.''  In 1755, David Garrick did the opposite of what had been done a century earlier: he extracted Bottom and his companions and acted the rest, in an adaptation called ''The Fairies.'' Frederic Reynolds produced an operatic version in 1816.<ref>Halliday, pp. 255, 271, 278, 316-17, 410.</ref>

===The Victorian stage===

In 1840, Madame Vestris at Puck would always be played by women. After the success of Vestris' production, nineteenth century theatre continued to treat the ''Dream'' as an opportunity for huge spectacle, often with a cast numbering nearly one hundred. Huge, detailed sets were created for the palace and the forest, and the fairies tended to be envisaged as gossamer-winged ballerinas. The much-loved overture by Felix Mendelssohn was always used throughout this period, with the text often being cut to provide greater space for music and dance. Augustin Daly's production opened in 1895 in London and ran for 21 performances. The special effects were constructed by the famous Martinka Magic Company, which was later owned by Houdini. Herbert Beerbohm Tree staged a 1911 production with live rabbits.

===Twentieth Century===

In the early twentieth century, a reaction against this huge spectacle emerged. Innovative director Harley Granville-Barker introduced in 1914 the modern way of staging the ''Dream'': he removed the huge casts and Mendelssohn, using instead Elizabethan folk music. He replaced the huge sets with a simple system of patterned curtains. He used a completely original vision of the fairies, seeing them as golden robotic insectoid creatures based on Cambodian idols. This increased simplicity and emphasis on directorial imagination has dominated subsequent ''Dreams'' on the stage.

Max Reinhardt staged ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' thirteen times between 1905 and 1934, introducing a revolving set. After he fled Germany he devised a more spectacular outdoor version at the Hollywood Bowl, in September 1934. The shell was removed and replaced by a "forest" planted in tons of dirt hauled in especially for the event, and a trestle was constructed from the hills to the stage. The wedding procession inserted between Acts IV and V crossed a trestle with torches down the hillside. The cast included John Davis Lodge, William Farnum, Sterling Holloway, Butterfly McQueen, Olivia de Havilland, and Mickey Rooney, with Erich Wolfgang Korngold's orchestrations of Mendelssohn. (The young Austrian composer would go on to make a Hollywood career.) On the strength of this production, Warner Brothers signed Reinhardt to direct a filmed version, Hollywood's first Shakespeare event since Douglas Fairbanks Sr. and Mary Pickford's ''Taming of the Shrew'' (1929). Rooney (Puck) and De Havilland (Hermia) were the only hold-overs from the cast.

Another landmark production was that of circus tricks such as trapeze artistry. Brook also introduced the subsequently popular idea of doubling Theseus/Oberon and Hippolyta/Titania, as if to suggest that the world of the fairies is a mirror version of the world of the mortals.

Since Brook's production, directors have felt free to use their imaginations freely to decide for themselves what the play's story means, and to represent that visually on stage. In particular, there has been an increased amount of sexuality on stage, as many directors see the 'palace' as a symbol of restraint and repression, while the 'wood' can be a symbol of wild, unrestrained sexuality, which is both liberating and terrifying.  A number of noted British actors played various roles in Brook's acclaimed production, including Patrick Stewart, Ben Kingsley, as well as noted stage actors John Kane (Puck) and Jennie Stoller (Helena).

''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' has enjoyed myriad productions in New York, including several by the New York Shakespeare Festival at the Delacorte Theatre in Central Park, and a notable production by the Theatre for a New Audience, produced by Joseph Papp at the Public Theatre.  In 1978, the Riverside Shakespeare Company produced a popular tour outdoor tour starring Eric Hoffmann as Puck, with Karen Hurley as Titania and Eric Conger as Oberon, directed by company founder, Gloria Skurski.

==Adaptations and cultural references==
====Literary====
characters and motifs from ''A Midsummer Night's Dream''. 
St. John's Eve written in 1853 by Henrik Ibsen relies heavily on the Shakespearean play.
''The Thyme of the Season'', written in 2006 by Duncan Pflaster is a sequel to Shakespeare's play, set on Halloween.