TPTT A Midsummer Night's Dream: ACT II
Introduction
ACT I
ACT II
SCENE I. A wood near Athens.
SCENE II. Another part of the wood.
ACT III
ACT IV
ACT V
About the Play
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SCENE II. Another part of the wood.
Enter TITANIA, with her train
TITANIA
      Come, now a roundel and a fairy song;
      Then, for the third part of a minute, hence;
      Some to kill cankers in the musk-rose buds,
      Some war with rere-mice for their leathern wings,
5     To make my small elves coats, and some keep back
      The clamorous owl that nightly hoots and wonders
      At our quaint spirits. Sing me now asleep;
      Then to your offices and let me rest.

The Fairies sing

      You spotted snakes with double tongue,
10    Thorny hedgehogs, be not seen;
      Newts and blind-worms, do no wrong,
      Come not near our fairy queen.
      Philomel, with melody
      Sing in our sweet lullaby;
15    Lulla, lulla, lullaby, lulla, lulla, lullaby:
      Never harm,
      Nor spell nor charm,
      Come our lovely lady nigh;
      So, good night, with lullaby.
20    Weaving spiders, come not here;
      Hence, you long-legg'd spinners, hence!
      Beetles black, approach not near;
      Worm nor snail, do no offence.
      Philomel, with melody, &c.
Fairy
25    Hence, away! now all is well:
      One aloof stand sentinel.
Exeunt Fairies. TITANIA sleeps
Enter OBERON and squeezes the flower on TITANIA's eyelids
OBERON
      What thou seest when thou dost wake,
      Do it for thy true-love take,
      Love and languish for his sake:
30    Be it ounce, or cat, or bear,
      Pard, or boar with bristled hair,
      In thy eye that shall appear
      When thou wakest, it is thy dear:
      Wake when some vile thing is near.
Exit
Enter LYSANDER and HERMIA
LYSANDER
35    Fair love, you faint with wandering in the wood;
      And to speak troth, I have forgot our way:
      We'll rest us, Hermia, if you think it good,
      And tarry for the comfort of the day.
HERMIA
      Be it so, Lysander: find you out a bed;
40    For I upon this bank will rest my head.
LYSANDER
      One turf shall serve as pillow for us both;
      One heart, one bed, two bosoms and one troth.
HERMIA
      Nay, good Lysander; for my sake, my dear,
      Lie further off yet, do not lie so near.
LYSANDER
45    O, take the sense, sweet, of my innocence!
      Love takes the meaning in love's conference.
      I mean, that my heart unto yours is knit
      So that but one heart we can make of it;
      Two bosoms interchained with an oath;
50    So then two bosoms and a single troth.
      Then by your side no bed-room me deny;
      For lying so, Hermia, I do not lie.
HERMIA
      Lysander riddles very prettily:
      Now much beshrew my manners and my pride,
55    If Hermia meant to say Lysander lied.
      But, gentle friend, for love and courtesy
      Lie further off; in human modesty,
      Such separation as may well be said
      Becomes a virtuous bachelor and a maid,
60    So far be distant; and, good night, sweet friend:
      Thy love ne'er alter till thy sweet life end!
LYSANDER
      Amen, amen, to that fair prayer, say I;
      And then end life when I end loyalty!
      Here is my bed: sleep give thee all his rest!
HERMIA
65    With half that wish the wisher's eyes be press'd!
They sleep
Enter PUCK
PUCK
      Through the forest have I gone.
      But Athenian found I none,
      On whose eyes I might approve
      This flower's force in stirring love.
70    Night and silence.--Who is here?
      Weeds of Athens he doth wear:
      This is he, my master said,
      Despised the Athenian maid;
      And here the maiden, sleeping sound,
75    On the dank and dirty ground.
      Pretty soul! she durst not lie
      Near this lack-love, this kill-courtesy.
      Churl, upon thy eyes I throw
      All the power this charm doth owe.
80    When thou wakest, let love forbid
      Sleep his seat on thy eyelid:
      So awake when I am gone;
      For I must now to Oberon.
Exit
Enter DEMETRIUS and HELENA, running
HELENA
      Stay, though thou kill me, sweet Demetrius.
DEMETRIUS
85    I charge thee, hence, and do not haunt me thus.
HELENA
      O, wilt thou darkling leave me? do not so.
DEMETRIUS
      Stay, on thy peril: I alone will go.
Exit
HELENA
      O, I am out of breath in this fond chase!
      The more my prayer, the lesser is my grace.
90    Happy is Hermia, wheresoe'er she lies;
      For she hath blessed and attractive eyes.
      How came her eyes so bright? Not with salt tears:
      If so, my eyes are oftener wash'd than hers.
      No, no, I am as ugly as a bear;
95    For beasts that meet me run away for fear:
      Therefore no marvel though Demetrius
      Do, as a monster fly my presence thus.
      What wicked and dissembling glass of mine
      Made me compare with Hermia's sphery eyne?
100   But who is here? Lysander! on the ground!
      Dead? or asleep? I see no blood, no wound.
      Lysander if you live, good sir, awake.
LYSANDER
      (Awaking) And run through fire I will for thy sweet sake.
      Transparent Helena! Nature shows art,
105   That through thy bosom makes me see thy heart.
      Where is Demetrius? O, how fit a word
      Is that vile name to perish on my sword!
HELENA
      Do not say so, Lysander; say not so
      What though he love your Hermia? Lord, what though?
110   Yet Hermia still loves you: then be content.
LYSANDER
      Content with Hermia! No; I do repent
      The tedious minutes I with her have spent.
      Not Hermia but Helena I love:
      Who will not change a raven for a dove?
115   The will of man is by his reason sway'd;
      And reason says you are the worthier maid.
      Things growing are not ripe until their season
      So I, being young, till now ripe not to reason;
      And touching now the point of human skill,
120   Reason becomes the marshal to my will
      And leads me to your eyes, where I o'erlook
      Love's stories written in love's richest book.
HELENA
      Wherefore was I to this keen mockery born?
      When at your hands did I deserve this scorn?
125   Is't not enough, is't not enough, young man,
      That I did never, no, nor never can,
      Deserve a sweet look from Demetrius' eye,
      But you must flout my insufficiency?
      Good troth, you do me wrong, good sooth, you do,
130   In such disdainful manner me to woo.
      But fare you well: perforce I must confess
      I thought you lord of more true gentleness.
      O, that a lady, of one man refused.
      Should of another therefore be abused!
Exit
LYSANDER
135   She sees not Hermia. Hermia, sleep thou there:
      And never mayst thou come Lysander near!
      For as a surfeit of the sweetest things
      The deepest loathing to the stomach brings,
      Or as tie heresies that men do leave
140   Are hated most of those they did deceive,
      So thou, my surfeit and my heresy,
      Of all be hated, but the most of me!
      And, all my powers, address your love and might
      To honour Helen and to be her knight!
Exit
HERMIA
145   (Awaking) Help me, Lysander, help me! do thy best
      To pluck this crawling serpent from my breast!
      Ay me, for pity! what a dream was here!
      Lysander, look how I do quake with fear:
      Methought a serpent eat my heart away,
150   And you sat smiling at his cruel pray.
      Lysander! what, removed? Lysander! lord!
      What, out of hearing? gone? no sound, no word?
      Alack, where are you speak, an if you hear;
      Speak, of all loves! I swoon almost with fear.
155   No? then I well perceive you all not nigh
      Either death or you I'll find immediately.
Exit
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