SCENE I. Athens. The palace of THESEUS. A Midsummer Night's Dream  Shakespeare homepage  |  Midsummer Night's Dream  | Act 5, Scene 1 

 Previous scene  SCENE I. Athens. The palace of THESEUS. 

 Enter THESEUS, HIPPOLYTA, PHILOSTRATE, Lords and Attendants  HIPPOLYTA  'Tis strange my Theseus, that these 

 lovers speak of. 

 THESEUS  More strange than true: I never may believe 

 These antique fables, nor these fairy toys. 

 Lovers and madmen have such seething brains, 

 Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend 

 More than cool reason ever comprehends. 

 The lunatic, the lover and the poet 

 Are 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 forth 

 The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen 

 Turns them to shapes and gives to airy nothing 

 A local habitation and a name. 

 Such tricks hath strong imagination, 

 That if it would but apprehend some joy, 

 It comprehends some bringer of that joy; 

 Or in the night, imagining some fear, 

 How easy is a bush supposed a bear! 

 HIPPOLYTA  But all the story of the night told over, 

 And all their minds transfigured so together, 

 More witnesseth than fancy's images 

 And grows to something of great constancy; 

 But, howsoever, strange and admirable. 

 THESEUS  Here come the lovers, full of joy and mirth. 



 Enter LYSANDER, DEMETRIUS, HERMIA, and HELENA  Joy, gentle friends! joy and fresh days of love 

 Accompany your hearts! 

 LYSANDER  More than to us 

 Wait in your royal walks, your board, your bed! 

 THESEUS  Come now; what masques, what dances shall we have, 

 To wear away this long age of three hours 

 Between our after-supper and bed-time? 

 Where is our usual manager of mirth? 

 What revels are in hand? Is there no play, 

 To ease the anguish of a torturing hour? 

 Call Philostrate. 

 PHILOSTRATE  Here, mighty Theseus. 

 THESEUS  Say, what abridgement have you for this evening? 

 What masque? what music? How shall we beguile 

 The lazy time, if not with some delight? 

 PHILOSTRATE  There is a brief how many sports are ripe: 

 Make choice of which your highness will see first. 



 Giving a paper  THESEUS  [Reads]  'The battle with the Centaurs, to be sung 

 By an Athenian eunuch to the harp.' 

 We'll none of that: that have I told my love, 

 In glory of my kinsman Hercules. 



 Reads  'The riot of the tipsy Bacchanals, 

 Tearing the Thracian singer in their rage.' 

 That is an old device; and it was play'd 

 When I from Thebes came last a conqueror. 



 Reads  'The thrice three Muses mourning for the death 

 Of Learning, late deceased in beggary.' 

 That is some satire, keen and critical, 

 Not sorting with a nuptial ceremony. 



 Reads  'A tedious brief scene of young Pyramus 

 And his love Thisbe; very tragical mirth.' 

 Merry and tragical! tedious and brief! 

 That is, hot ice and wondrous strange snow. 

 How shall we find the concord of this discord? 

 PHILOSTRATE  A play there is, my lord, some ten words long, 

 Which is as brief as I have known a play; 

 But by ten words, my lord, it is too long, 

 Which makes it tedious; for in all the play 

 There is not one word apt, one player fitted: 

 And tragical, my noble lord, it is; 

 For Pyramus therein doth kill himself. 

 Which, when I saw rehearsed, I must confess, 

 Made mine eyes water; but more merry tears 

 The passion of loud laughter never shed. 

 THESEUS  What are they that do play it? 

 PHILOSTRATE  Hard-handed men that work in Athens here, 

 Which never labour'd in their minds till now, 

 And now have toil'd their unbreathed memories 

 With this same play, against your nuptial. 

 THESEUS  And we will hear it. 

 PHILOSTRATE  No, my noble lord; 

 It is not for you: I have heard it over, 

 And it is nothing, nothing in the world; 

 Unless you can find sport in their intents, 

 Extremely stretch'd and conn'd with cruel pain, 

 To do you service. 

 THESEUS  I will hear that play; 

 For never anything can be amiss, 

 When simpleness and duty tender it. 

 Go, bring them in: and take your places, ladies. 



 Exit PHILOSTRATE  HIPPOLYTA  I love not to see wretchedness o'er charged 

 And duty in his service perishing. 

 THESEUS  Why, gentle sweet, you shall see no such thing. 

 HIPPOLYTA  He says they can do nothing in this kind. 

 THESEUS  The kinder we, to give them thanks for nothing. 

 Our sport shall be to take what they mistake: 

 And what poor duty cannot do, noble respect 

 Takes it in might, not merit. 

 Where I have come, great clerks have purposed 

 To greet me with premeditated welcomes; 

 Where I have seen them shiver and look pale, 

 Make periods in the midst of sentences, 

 Throttle their practised accent in their fears 

 And in conclusion dumbly have broke off, 

 Not paying me a welcome. Trust me, sweet, 

 Out of this silence yet I pick'd a welcome; 

 And in the modesty of fearful duty 

 I read as much as from the rattling tongue 

 Of saucy and audacious eloquence. 

 Love, therefore, and tongue-tied simplicity 

 In least speak most, to my capacity. 



 Re-enter PHILOSTRATE  PHILOSTRATE  So please your grace, the Prologue is address'd. 

 THESEUS  Let him approach. 



 Flourish of trumpets 

 Enter QUINCE for the Prologue  Prologue  If we offend, it is with our good will. 

 That you should think, we come not to offend, 

 But with good will. To show our simple skill, 

 That is the true beginning of our end. 

 Consider then we come but in despite. 

 We do not come as minding to contest you, 

 Our true intent is. All for your delight 

 We are not here. That you should here repent you, 

 The actors are at hand and by their show 

 You shall know all that you are like to know. 

 THESEUS  This fellow doth not stand upon points. 

 LYSANDER  He hath rid his prologue like a rough colt; he knows 

 not the stop. A good moral, my lord: it is not 

 enough to speak, but to speak true. 

 HIPPOLYTA  Indeed he hath played on his prologue like a child 

 on a recorder; a sound, but not in government. 

 THESEUS  His speech, was like a tangled chain; nothing 

 impaired, but all disordered. Who is next? 



 Enter Pyramus and Thisbe, Wall, Moonshine, and Lion  Prologue  Gentles, perchance you wonder at this show; 

 But wonder on, till truth make all things plain. 

 This man is Pyramus, if you would know; 

 This beauteous lady Thisby is certain. 

 This man, with lime and rough-cast, doth present 

 Wall, that vile Wall which did these lovers sunder; 

 And through Wall's chink, poor souls, they are content 

 To whisper. At the which let no man wonder. 

 This man, with lanthorn, dog, and bush of thorn, 

 Presenteth Moonshine; for, if you will know, 

 By moonshine did these lovers think no scorn 

 To meet at Ninus' tomb, there, there to woo. 

 This grisly beast, which Lion hight by name, 

 The trusty Thisby, coming first by night, 

 Did scare away, or rather did affright; 

 And, as she fled, her mantle she did fall, 

 Which Lion vile with bloody mouth did stain. 

 Anon comes Pyramus, sweet youth and tall, 

 And finds his trusty Thisby's mantle slain: 

 Whereat, with blade, with bloody blameful blade, 

 He bravely broach'd is boiling bloody breast; 

 And Thisby, tarrying in mulberry shade, 

 His dagger drew, and died. For all the rest, 

 Let Lion, Moonshine, Wall, and lovers twain 

 At large discourse, while here they do remain. 



 Exeunt Prologue, Thisbe, Lion, and Moonshine  THESEUS  I wonder if the lion be to speak. 

 DEMETRIUS  No wonder, my lord: one lion may, when many asses do. 

 Wall  In this same interlude it doth befall 

 That I, one Snout by name, present a wall; 

 And such a wall, as I would have you think, 

 That had in it a crannied hole or chink, 

 Through which the lovers, Pyramus and Thisby, 

 Did whisper often very secretly. 

 This loam, this rough-cast and this stone doth show 

 That I am that same wall; the truth is so: 

 And this the cranny is, right and sinister, 

 Through which the fearful lovers are to whisper. 

 THESEUS  Would you desire lime and hair to speak better? 

 DEMETRIUS  It is the wittiest partition that ever I heard 

 discourse, my lord. 



 Enter Pyramus  THESEUS  Pyramus draws near the wall: silence! 

 Pyramus  O grim-look'd night! O night with hue so black! 

 O night, which ever art when day is not! 

 O night, O night! alack, alack, alack, 

 I fear my Thisby's promise is forgot! 

 And thou, O wall, O sweet, O lovely wall, 

 That stand'st between her father's ground and mine! 

 Thou wall, O wall, O sweet and lovely wall, 

 Show me thy chink, to blink through with mine eyne! 



 Wall holds up his fingers  Thanks, courteous wall: Jove shield thee well for this! 

 But what see I? No Thisby do I see. 

 O wicked wall, through whom I see no bliss! 

 Cursed be thy stones for thus deceiving me! 

 THESEUS  The wall, methinks, being sensible, should curse again. 

 Pyramus  No, in truth, sir, he should not. 'Deceiving me' 

 is Thisby's cue: she is to enter now, and I am to 

 spy her through the wall. You shall see, it will 

 fall pat as I told you. Yonder she comes. 



 Enter Thisbe  Thisbe  O wall, full often hast thou heard my moans, 

 For parting my fair Pyramus and me! 

 My cherry lips have often kiss'd thy stones, 

 Thy stones with lime and hair knit up in thee. 

 Pyramus  I see a voice: now will I to the chink, 

 To spy an I can hear my Thisby's face. Thisby! 

 Thisbe  My love thou art, my love I think. 

 Pyramus  Think what thou wilt, I am thy lover's grace; 

 And, like Limander, am I trusty still. 

 Thisbe  And I like Helen, till the Fates me kill. 

 Pyramus  Not Shafalus to Procrus was so true. 

 Thisbe  As Shafalus to Procrus, I to you. 

 Pyramus  O kiss me through the hole of this vile wall! 

 Thisbe  I kiss the wall's hole, not your lips at all. 

 Pyramus  Wilt thou at Ninny's tomb meet me straightway? 

 Thisbe  'Tide life, 'tide death, I come without delay. 



 Exeunt Pyramus and Thisbe  Wall  Thus have I, Wall, my part discharged so; 

 And, being done, thus Wall away doth go. 



 Exit  THESEUS  Now is the mural down between the two neighbours. 

 DEMETRIUS  No remedy, my lord, when walls are so wilful to hear 

 without warning. 

 HIPPOLYTA  This is the silliest stuff that ever I heard. 

 THESEUS  The best in this kind are but shadows; and the worst 

 are no worse, if imagination amend them. 

 HIPPOLYTA  It must be your imagination then, and not theirs. 

 THESEUS  If we imagine no worse of them than they of 

 themselves, they may pass for excellent men. Here 

 come two noble beasts in, a man and a lion. 



 Enter Lion and Moonshine  Lion  You, ladies, you, whose gentle hearts do fear 

 The smallest monstrous mouse that creeps on floor, 

 May now perchance both quake and tremble here, 

 When lion rough in wildest rage doth roar. 

 Then know that I, one Snug the joiner, am 

 A lion-fell, nor else no lion's dam; 

 For, if I should as lion come in strife 

 Into this place, 'twere pity on my life. 

 THESEUS  A very gentle beast, of a good conscience. 

 DEMETRIUS  The very best at a beast, my lord, that e'er I saw. 

 LYSANDER  This lion is a very fox for his valour. 

 THESEUS  True; and a goose for his discretion. 

 DEMETRIUS  Not so, my lord; for his valour cannot carry his 

 discretion; and the fox carries the goose. 

 THESEUS  His discretion, I am sure, cannot carry his valour; 

 for the goose carries not the fox. It is well: 

 leave it to his discretion, and let us listen to the moon. 

 Moonshine  This lanthorn doth the horned moon present;-- 

 DEMETRIUS  He should have worn the horns on his head. 

 THESEUS  He is no crescent, and his horns are 

 invisible within the circumference. 

 Moonshine  This lanthorn doth the horned moon present; 

 Myself the man i' the moon do seem to be. 

 THESEUS  This is the greatest error of all the rest: the man 

 should be put into the lanthorn. How is it else the 

 man i' the moon? 

 DEMETRIUS  He dares not come there for the candle; for, you 

 see, it is already in snuff. 

 HIPPOLYTA  I am aweary of this moon: would he would change! 

 THESEUS  It appears, by his small light of discretion, that 

 he is in the wane; but yet, in courtesy, in all 

 reason, we must stay the time. 

 LYSANDER  Proceed, Moon. 

 Moonshine  All that I have to say, is, to tell you that the 

 lanthorn is the moon; I, the man in the moon; this 

 thorn-bush, my thorn-bush; and this dog, my dog. 

 DEMETRIUS  Why, all these should be in the lanthorn; for all 

 these are in the moon. But, silence! here comes Thisbe. 



 Enter Thisbe  Thisbe  This is old Ninny's tomb. Where is my love? 

 Lion  [Roaring]  Oh-- 



 Thisbe runs off  DEMETRIUS  Well roared, Lion. 

 THESEUS  Well run, Thisbe. 

 HIPPOLYTA  Well shone, Moon. Truly, the moon shines with a 

 good grace. 



 The Lion shakes Thisbe's mantle, and exit  THESEUS  Well moused, Lion. 

 LYSANDER  And so the lion vanished. 

 DEMETRIUS  And then came Pyramus. 



 Enter Pyramus  Pyramus  Sweet Moon, I thank thee for thy sunny beams; 

 I thank thee, Moon, for shining now so bright; 

 For, by thy gracious, golden, glittering gleams, 

 I trust to take of truest Thisby sight. 

 But stay, O spite! 

 But mark, poor knight, 

 What dreadful dole is here! 

 Eyes, do you see? 

 How can it be? 

 O dainty duck! O dear! 

 Thy mantle good, 

 What, stain'd with blood! 

 Approach, ye Furies fell! 

 O Fates, come, come, 

 Cut thread and thrum; 

 Quail, crush, conclude, and quell! 

 THESEUS  This passion, and the death of a dear friend, would 

 go near to make a man look sad. 

 HIPPOLYTA  Beshrew my heart, but I pity the man. 

 Pyramus  O wherefore, Nature, didst thou lions frame? 

 Since lion vile hath here deflower'd my dear: 

 Which is--no, no--which was the fairest dame 

 That lived, that loved, that liked, that look'd 

 with cheer. 

 Come, tears, confound; 

 Out, sword, and wound 

 The pap of Pyramus; 

 Ay, that left pap, 

 Where heart doth hop: 



 Stabs himself  Thus die I, thus, thus, thus. 

 Now am I dead, 

 Now am I fled; 

 My soul is in the sky: 

 Tongue, lose thy light; 

 Moon take thy flight: 



 Exit Moonshine  Now die, die, die, die, die. 



 Dies  DEMETRIUS  No die, but an ace, for him; for he is but one. 

 LYSANDER  Less than an ace, man; for he is dead; he is nothing. 

 THESEUS  With the help of a surgeon he might yet recover, and 

 prove an ass. 

 HIPPOLYTA  How chance Moonshine is gone before Thisbe comes 

 back and finds her lover? 

 THESEUS  She will find him by starlight. Here she comes; and 

 her passion ends the play. 



 Re-enter Thisbe  HIPPOLYTA  Methinks she should not use a long one for such a 

 Pyramus: I hope she will be brief. 

 DEMETRIUS  A mote will turn the balance, which Pyramus, which 

 Thisbe, is the better; he for a man, God warrant us; 

 she for a woman, God bless us. 

 LYSANDER  She hath spied him already with those sweet eyes. 

 DEMETRIUS  And thus she means, videlicet:-- 

 Thisbe  Asleep, my love? 

 What, dead, my dove? 

 O Pyramus, arise! 

 Speak, speak. Quite dumb? 

 Dead, dead? A tomb 

 Must cover thy sweet eyes. 

 These My lips, 

 This cherry nose, 

 These yellow cowslip cheeks, 

 Are gone, are gone: 

 Lovers, make moan: 

 His eyes were green as leeks. 

 O Sisters Three, 

 Come, come to me, 

 With hands as pale as milk; 

 Lay them in gore, 

 Since you have shore 

 With shears his thread of silk. 

 Tongue, not a word: 

 Come, trusty sword; 

 Come, blade, my breast imbrue: 



 Stabs herself  And, farewell, friends; 

 Thus Thisby ends: 

 Adieu, adieu, adieu. 



 Dies  THESEUS  Moonshine and Lion are left to bury the dead. 

 DEMETRIUS  Ay, and Wall too. 

 BOTTOM  [Starting up]  No assure you; the wall is down that 

 parted their fathers. Will it please you to see the 

 epilogue, or to hear a Bergomask dance between two 

 of our company? 

 THESEUS  No epilogue, I pray you; for your play needs no 

 excuse. Never excuse; for when the players are all 

 dead, there needs none to be blamed. Marry, if he 

 that writ it had played Pyramus and hanged himself 

 in Thisbe's garter, it would have been a fine 

 tragedy: and so it is, truly; and very notably 

 discharged. But come, your Bergomask: let your 

 epilogue alone. 



 A dance  The iron tongue of midnight hath told twelve: 

 Lovers, to bed; 'tis almost fairy time. 

 I fear we shall out-sleep the coming morn 

 As much as we this night have overwatch'd. 

 This palpable-gross play hath well beguiled 

 The heavy gait of night. Sweet friends, to bed. 

 A fortnight hold we this solemnity, 

 In nightly revels and new jollity. 



 Exeunt 

 Enter PUCK  PUCK  Now the hungry lion roars, 

 And the wolf behowls the moon; 

 Whilst the heavy ploughman snores, 

 All with weary task fordone. 

 Now the wasted brands do glow, 

 Whilst the screech-owl, screeching loud, 

 Puts the wretch that lies in woe 

 In remembrance of a shroud. 

 Now it is the time of night 

 That the graves all gaping wide, 

 Every one lets forth his sprite, 

 In the church-way paths to glide: 

 And we fairies, that do run 

 By the triple Hecate's team, 

 From the presence of the sun, 

 Following darkness like a dream, 

 Now are frolic: not a mouse 

 Shall disturb this hallow'd house: 

 I am sent with broom before, 

 To sweep the dust behind the door. 



 Enter OBERON and TITANIA with their train  OBERON  Through the house give gathering light, 

 By the dead and drowsy fire: 

 Every elf and fairy sprite 

 Hop as light as bird from brier; 

 And this ditty, after me, 

 Sing, and dance it trippingly. 

 TITANIA  First, rehearse your song by rote 

 To each word a warbling note: 

 Hand in hand, with fairy grace, 

 Will we sing, and bless this place. 



 Song and dance  OBERON  Now, until the break of day, 

 Through this house each fairy stray. 

 To the best bride-bed will we, 

 Which by us shall blessed be; 

 And the issue there create 

 Ever shall be fortunate. 

 So shall all the couples three 

 Ever true in loving be; 

 And the blots of Nature's hand 

 Shall not in their issue stand; 

 Never mole, hare lip, nor scar, 

 Nor mark prodigious, such as are 

 Despised in nativity, 

 Shall upon their children be. 

 With this field-dew consecrate, 

 Every fairy take his gait; 

 And each several chamber bless, 

 Through this palace, with sweet peace; 

 And the owner of it blest 

 Ever shall in safety rest. 

 Trip away; make no stay; 

 Meet me all by break of day. 



 Exeunt OBERON, TITANIA, and train  PUCK  If we shadows have offended, 

 Think but this, and all is mended, 

 That you have but slumber'd here 

 While 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 luck 

 Now 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. 

