A Midsummer Night's Dream is a comedy written by William Shakespeare c. 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta.
The play consists of five interconnecting plots, connected by a celebration of the wedding of Duke Theseus of Athens and the Amazon queen, Hippolyta, which are set simultaneously in the woodland and in the realm of Fairyland, under the light of the moon.
The play opens with Theseus and Hyppolyta who were four days away from their wedding. Theseus was not happy about how long he had to wait while Hyppolyta thinks it's a dream. Theseus is confronted by Egeus and his daughter Hermia, who is in love with Lysander, resistant to her father's demand that she marries Demetrius, whom he has arranged for her to marry. Enraged, Egeus invokes an ancient Athenian law before Duke Theseus, whereby a daughter needs to marry a suitor chosen by her father, or else face death. Theseus offers her another option: lifelong chastity as a nun worshipping the goddess Diana, but they both deny his choice and make a secret plan to escape into the forest for Lysander's Aunt's house, in order to run away from Theseus. Hermia tells their plans to Helena, her best friend, who pines unrequitedly for Demetrius, who broke up with her to be with Hermia. Desperate to reclaim Demetrius's love, Helena tells Demetrius about the plan and he follows them in hopes of finding Hermia.
