No Fear Shakespeare

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

William Shakespeare

Get this No Fear to go!

Act 4, Scene 1

Original Text

Modern Text

LYSANDER, DEMETRIUS, HELENA, and HERMIA sleep. Enter TITANIA, Queen of the Fairies; and BOTTOM, with the ass’s head; and fairies PEASEBLOSSOM, COBWEB, MOTH, MUSTARDSEED; OBERON the king behind them, unseen
DEMETRIUS, HELENA, HERMIA, and LYSANDER are still sleeping on the stage. TITANIA enters with BOTTOM, who still has a donkey’s head, and the fairies PEASEBLOSSOM, COBWEB, MOTH, and MUSTARDSEED. OBERON enters behind them, unseen by those onstage.




TITANIA
(to BOTTOM) Come, sit thee down upon this flowery bed
While I thy amiable cheeks do coy,
And stick musk roses in thy sleek, smooth head,
And kiss thy fair large ears, my gentle joy.
TITANIA
(to BOTTOM) Come over here and sit down on this flowery bed while I caress those lovable cheeks. I’ll put roses on your silky, smooth head and kiss your big, beautiful ears, my gentle darling.

5
BOTTOM
Where’s Peaseblossom?
BOTTOM
Where’s Peaseblossom?

PEASEBLOSSOM
Ready.
PEASEBLOSSOM
Here.

BOTTOM
Scratch my head, Peaseblossom. Where’s Monsieur Cobweb?
BOTTOM
Scratch my head, Peaseblossom. Where’s Monsieur Cobweb?

COBWEB
Ready.
COBWEB
Here.

BOTTOM
Monsieur Cobweb, good monsieur, get you your weapons in your hand and kill me a red-hipped humble-bee on the top of a thistle. And, good monsieur, bring me the honey bag. Do not fret yourself too much in the action, monsieur. And good monsieur, have a care the honey bag break not. I would be loath to have you overflown with a honey bag, signor.
BOTTOM
Monsieur Cobweb, sir, get out your weapons and kill me a striped bumblebee on a thistle, and bring me its honey. Don’t tire yourself out, monsieur. Oh, and monsieur, be careful not to break the honey-sac. I’d hate to see you drowned in honey, sir.
Exit COBWEB
COBWEB exits.
10
Where’s Monsieur Mustardseed?
Where’s Monsieur Mustardseed?

MUSTARDSEED
Ready.
MUSTARDSEED
Here.

More Help

Watch the Video SparkNote

A quick and easy plot summary of A Midsummer Night's Dream

Read the A Midsummer Night’s Dream SparkNote

Summary, analysis, themes, essay topics, and more

Buy No Fear A Midsummer Night's Dream at BN.com

Get the No Fear Shakespeare you can hold in your hand at BN.com

EVEN MORE HELP! ↓

Take a Study Break

SparkLife

Star Trek gets SEXY

Chris Pine and Zoe Saldana heat up the red carpet!

SparkLife

Are you afraid of relationships?

Auntie SparkNotes can help!

SparkLife

Wanna get JLaw's gorgeous glow?

Click here for simple, sexy makeup tricks!

SparkLife

Sexy starlet style

See every single look from the Met Gala!

SparkLife

Who'd be on your zombie-apocalypse crew?

We already dib'sed Genghis Khan.

Geek out!

The MindHut

Geeky Actors: Then and Now

Travel back in time!

The MindHut

Villains We Want These Actresses to Play

From super cute to super bad!

The MindHut

10 Movies Better Than Their Books

What do you think?

The MindHut

How To Look Like J-Law...

When you don't look like J-Law.

The MindHut

12 Scientific Inaccuracies in Into Darkness

What did Star Trek get wrong?