A Midsummer Night’s Dream Group

Question:

diana13
diana13
Student
High School - 12th Grade

In A Midsummer Night's Dream, what does Theseus think of the lovers' adventures?

Why does Hippolyta initially seen hesitant to watch the play?

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Posted by diana13 on Sunday February 22, 2009 at 4:26 PM and tagged with a midsummer night’s dream, characters, hippolyta, theseus.

Answers:


  1. robertwilliam

    eNotes Editor

    Theseus doesn't believe them, and thinks that their imaginations have quite a lot to do with it. Theseus contradicts Hippolyta's opinion that the lovers' stories are "strange", by telling her

    More strange than true....

    Moreover, talking of the imagination, he suggests that the mind,

    ...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?

    They have, Theseus thinks, seen what they wanted to see.

    Hippolyta is hesitant to watch the play, quite simply, because she fears that the mechanicals aren't up to the job:

     I love not to see wretchedness o'er-charged,
    And duty in his service perishing.

    "They can do nothing in this kind", she thinks - the mechanicals won't be able to act, and pull off the play. She's worried she might be about to witness a theatrical disaster.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/midsummer-text/act-v-scene-i

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    Posted by robertwilliam on Sunday February 22, 2009 at 5:19 PM