A Midsummer Night's Dream

A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare (c. 1595)

"Lord, what fools these mortals be!" Four young lovers flee Athens into an enchanted forest, where fairy king Oberon and the mischievous Puck use a magical flower to create romantic chaos — and Bottom the weaver gets a donkey's head.

Historical Significance:
Written around 1595-96, A Midsummer Night's Dream is Shakespeare's most magical and joyous play — a celebration of love, imagination, and theater itself. The fairy world of Oberon, Titania, and Puck drew on English folklore and classical mythology. The "play within a play" — the hilariously bad "Pyramus and Thisbe" performed by Bottom and his friends — is both a parody of bad theater and a defense of theater's transformative power. Mendelssohn's incidental music (1842), Britten's opera (1960), and countless film adaptations have kept the play in popular culture. It remains the most frequently performed Shakespeare comedy.

This public domain classic was originally written c. 1595. Free to read and share.