The Sources and Analogues of 'A Midsummer-night's Dream'

) nine passages from North's Plutarch's Life of Theseus, of which Shakespeare appears to have made direct use. For example, Oberon's references to "Perigenia," "Aegles," "Ariad

e daughter of Pittheus, and Alcmena (the mother of Hercules) was the daughter of Lysidice,

Theseus and Hercules we

zon queen

st the Amazons, and that to honour his valiantness, Hercules gave him Antiopa the Amazon. But the more part of the other Historiographers .

was sent by her father to carry it off by force. The queen of the Amazons was Hippolyta, and she had a sister named Antiopa. One story says that Hercules slew Hippolyta; another that Hippolyta was enticed on board his ship by Theseus; a third, as we have seen, that Theseus married Antiopa. It is not easy to choose incidents from these conflicting accounts so as to make a reasonable

ies the dramatist with all he requires in the opening of T

olde stori

ke that hight

e was lord a

tyme swich

as ther noon u

che contree h

wisdom and h

al the regne[

was y-cleped

e the quen

r hoom with hi

lorie and gre

r yonge su

victorie and

oble duke to

ost, in armes

it nere[5] to

told yow ful

was the reg

and by his

ete bataille

then?s and

seged[6] w

rdy quene of

father to Hermia, is in the classical legend Aegeus, fat

rns to court in disguise, to become first "page of the chamber" to Emelye, and thereafter chief squire to Theseus. It

The name of Hermia, who corresponds with Emilia or Emily of The Knightes Tale, as being the lady on whom the affections of the two young men are set, may have been tak

as taken, as much of Boccaccio's writing must have been taken, from tradition. Palaemon is a classical name,[8] and Arcite might be a corruption of Archytas. Boccaccio's Teseide (the story of Theseus) wh

Women (which is presumably earlier than the Can

love of Palam

h the story is

Trolius and Crheyde; and (iii) six stanzas in The Parlement of Foules, where the description of the Temple of Love is borrowed almost word for word from Boccaccio's Teseide.[12] Finally, Chaucer used Palamon and Arcite as the basis of T

CHAUCER'S

ew near to Athens, a company of ladies met him in the way, and laid before him their complaint, to the effect that, their husbands having fallen at the siege of Thebes, Creon the tyrant of Thebes would not let the bodies be buried or burned, but cast them o

recognised, from the cognisances on their armour, as of blood-royal, and born of two sisters. Theseu

h adjoined the garden-wall, Palamon by leave of his gaoler was pacing to and fro and bewailing his lot, when he cast his eyes through the thick-barred window, and beheld Emilia in the garden below; whereat he blenched, and cried out as though struck to the heart. Arcite

Palamon was

t as muche as

ther in love; nay, as a knight Arcite was bound to help him in his amour. But Arcite replied that love knows no law; decrees of man are every day broken for love; moreover

heseus to let him go free out of prison, which Theseus did. And Arcite was set free without ransom, bu

n, who might still blissfully abide in prison-nay, not in prison, in Paradise, where sometimes he might see her whom both loved. And on his pa

axe I now t

worse, Arcite

that his sufferings had so changed him that he might live in Athens unknown. So he clad himself as a labourer, and went with one squire to Athens, and offered his service at the court, where for a year or two he was

s story say) that, aided by a friend, he broke prison, having given his gaoler to drink of drugged wine, and so fled t

thou, faire

I som gren

be slain by the eyes of Emilia. Whereat Palamon started up, and reproached him, and challenged him to fight; and Arcite answered

r to arm, and then fell a-fighting, Palamon like a wild lion, an

d them both to death; but when the queen Hippolyta and Emilia and the ladies of their train pleaded for them, he relented, bethinking himself of what love is, for he himself had been a servant [lover] in his time; wherefore, at the request of the queen and Emilia, he forgave them, if they would swear

lightly now

h up for joy

ir knees, they took the

ere marble gates, whereon were built temples of Venus and Mars, while in a turret on the north wall was a

ched, and Palamon and Arcite retu

for a lad

usty sighte

ith Arcite was Emetreas, the king of India, each a gia

ign that the boon he asked was granted. Emilia meanwhile went to the temple of Diana, and prayed to the goddess, that she might remain a virgin, and that the hearts of Palamon and Arcite might be turned from her; or, if

emple clattered, and the fires blazed up on the altar, while the hauberk on the god's st

wel is of the

hat Jupiter himself was troubled to quell it; till Saturn (the father of Ve

t that they might rise early to see the great fight. And on the morrow there were lords and knights a

temple of Venus, Palamon with a white banner. And the names of the two companies were recited, the heralds left pricking up and down, the trumpet and clarion sounded, and the just began. Sore was the fight, and many were wounded and by the duke's proclamation removed from the fight; and many a time fought Palamon and Arcite together. But everything must have an end; E

s fell down into the lists; yet Saturn pro

ell a fury, that started from the ground in front of Arcite's horse, which shied and threw his rider; and Arcite pitched

tourney, and then all of them went their several ways.

, ther nature

k! go ber the

lia to his side, and bade farewell to his

rld right now

o ben loved

yow, and wol

ever ye sh

alamon, the

out of him: but he still kept his eyes fixed on

May. And when by process of time the grief and mourning for Arcite had ceased, Theseus sent for Palamon and Emilia; and with wise w

th Palamon

all this fa

e play of "Palamon and Arcite" four times recorded-in for different spellings-by Henslowe in his Diary[14] is Edwardes' play, but as the lat

ded by dramatic form; for instance, the Kinsmen, when discovered fighting, are dismissed for a month to find three knights, instead of being given a year to find one hundred. Chaucer's hint, that Palamon was assisted to escape from prison by a friend, is developed by the dramatists to make the

r days before the marriage. Secondly, the wedding-day is the first of May, and there are two references to that "observance of May"[16] which is given by Chaucer as the reason both for Emilia's walking in the garden and for Arcite's seeking of the grove where Palamon lay hid.[17] Thirdly, it can hardly be doubted that Shakespeare took the name of Philostrate from Chaucer; Egeus he would find also in North's Plutarch as the name of the father of Theseus; and it is possible

aracteristic of his early work; with a happy ending in view, the characters must fall into pairs, whereas with Palamon, Arcite, and Emilia, one of the men must be removed. There is nothing to prevent the supposition that Shakespeare was acquainted from boyhood with Chaucer's story-either in Chauceria

M AND THE ASS'S HEAD: WITH THE

am a man n

elle of texte

o my tale.