A Midsummer Night's Dream
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A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Act One, Scene 1A: In this scene, we meet the characters who live in the Greek city of Athens –called Athenians— a – THEE—nians: [th = as in thick] Court people: Theseus, the Duke of Athens (a Duke is a ruler) -- THEE -sius Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons, and Theseus’s fiancée – Hi – POL- ita Philostrate, Theseus’s Master of the Revels (head of entertainment) – FILL – uh - strate Athenian citizens: Egeus, an important Athenian citizen, and the father of Hermia – Eh—GEE –us Hermia, a young Athenian woman who is in love with Lysander – HER – mia Lysander, a young Athenian man who is in love with Hermia – Lie – SAN – der Demetrius, a young Athenian man whom Egeus wants Hermia to marry – Duh –MEE—trius Helena, a young Athenian woman who is in love with Demetrius -- HEH –le – na Note: Demetrius and Helena used to be engaged to each other, before Demetrius switched his affections to Hermia. More information about Theseus and Hippolyta: Theseus: • Plutarch -- a Greek man, born around 45 C.E., wrote a well -known book about the lives of famous Greeks and Romans. Centuries later, in 1579, an Englishman called Thomas North translated Plutarch’s Lives into English. We know that Shakespeare read North’s book. • Plutarch writes about Theseus. He says that Theseus was the founder of Athenian democracy and the first ruler to give up absolute kingly power to establish a government in which the three classes of people—the nobles, the farmers, and the artisans-- were “equal in voice.” • The only powers that Plutarch says that Theseus retained for himself were the conduct of war and the administration of justice (the laws).1 1 It has not been proved that Theseus was a real historical person, as opposed to a myth. But he may have been a real person, and if he was, he lived a long time ago – in 700 or 800 B.C.E. 1 Hippolyta: • Queen of the Amazons (and supposedly the daughter of the Greek god of war, Ares). • The Amazons were a nation of fierce female warriors. • Theseus and the Athenians and Hippolyta and the Amazons were at war. • According to Plutarch (in his The Life of Theseus), it was Hippolyta who ended the four- month long war between Athens and the Amazons with a peace treaty, resulting in the marriage between Theseus and Hippolyta. • Below is a 19th century (1800’s) work of art in which the artist imagines Hippolyta and her Amazon women warriors fighting Theseus and his Athenians. 2 .