E X T E N S I O N SOURCES 1 AND DATES In A Midsummer Night s Dream Shakespeare offers a glorious celebration of the powers of human imagination. The title refers to the arrival of summer which the English still2 celebrate with music, dances and entertainment. The story-line and some characters 3 come from many different sources: literature, folklore, and personal observation. The legend of the two unhappy lovers, Pyramus and Thisbe, and some other details4, including Titania s name, come from Ovid s Metamorphoses; the rites of May, the story of Theseus and Hippolyta from Chaucer s Canterbury Tales; the transformation of Nick Bottom into a donkey5 from Apuleius The Golden Ass 5. And certainly, the conception of the wood with fairies and elves6 ready to celebrate May day comes from local legends and popular tradition. Shakespeare also reproduces the courtly pageants, forms of entertainment with music and dances used to break the monotony of life of the Queen and her court. Reading and observation gave the initial material, but the creation of characters, scene and atmosphere depended on the power of Shakespeare s unique imagination and his dramatic and poetical abilities. Opinions vary about why the play was composed: to celebrate an aristocratic wedding or as a compliment7 to Queen Elizabeth on the feast of St. John? The date of composition of the play is also uncertain. Critics place it between 1595 and 1596; in 1598 Shakespeare s company, The Lord Chamberlain s Men, registered A Midsummer Night s Dream for publication, after acting8 it at The Theatre and for private entertainment. Two more editions appeared in 1618 and in 1623, the First Folio9 version by John Heminges and Henry Condell. Ovid Apuleius 1. sources: someone or something that provide information for a story. 2. still: to our day. 3. characters: the people in a book, film or play. 4. details: smaller facts. 5. donkey / ass: G. Chaucer 6. fairies and elves: small imaginary creatures with magical powers. 7. compliment: tribute, homage. 8. acting: performing. 9. Folio: so called for the format of the page. 20