Book Anatomy · A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream: Openings and endings
13 lenses on openings and endings for A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare. Count lenses are exact for our text. AI lenses are our reading and cite only quotes that passed a word for word check.
Jump to: F1 F2 F3 F4 F5 F6 F7 F8 F9 F10 F11 F12 F13
F1. First line and first paragraph: what each does. Both
The first full paragraph runs to 29 words and 1 sentences.
Hippolyta, I woo’d thee with my sword, And won thy love doing thee injuries; But I will wed thee in another key, With pomp, with triumph, and with revelling. (Ch 1, para 6)
The first line is a stage direction introducing Theseus and his court. It establishes the setting as Athens and the occasion as a wedding, framing the entire play.
Scenes (numbered through the play): Scene 1
F2. What the first page sets up: voice, world, question. AI
The first page sets up the world as Athens under law, the voice as formal and courtly, and the question as whether Hermia will obey her father or face death.
Scenes (numbered through the play): Scene 1
Either to die the death, or to abjure For ever the society of men. (Ch 1, para 17)
F3. How many words before the lead appears? Count
First dialogue after 0 words. See the full lens on the book page.
F4. How many words before the first line of dialogue? Count
First dialogue after 0 words. See the full lens on the book page.
F5. The hook of chapter one. AI
The hook is Hermia's defiance of her father and Athenian law, and her plan to flee with Lysander to the wood, setting the lovers' journey in motion.
Scenes (numbered through the play): Scene 1
There, gentle Hermia, may I marry thee, And to that place the sharp Athenian law Cannot pursue us. (Ch 1, para 37)
F6. Prologue: its job and its length. Both
No prologue: the book starts in its first chapter.
Not a feature of this book. The play has no prologue; it opens directly with Theseus and the court.
F7. How fast is the main story question posed? AI
The main story question is posed very fast, within the first scene. Hermia must choose between obedience, death, or fleeing with Lysander.
Scenes (numbered through the play): Scene 1
Either to die the death, or to abjure For ever the society of men. (Ch 1, para 17)
There, gentle Hermia, may I marry thee, And to that place the sharp Athenian law Cannot pursue us. (Ch 1, para 37)
F8. Final chapter: which beats resolve what. AI
The final scene resolves the lovers' marriages, the craftsmen's performance, and the fairies' blessing. Puck's epilogue resolves the boundary between dream and reality.
Scenes (numbered through the play): Scene 9
If we shadows have offended, Think but this, and all is mended, That you have but slumber’d here While these visions did appear. (Ch 9, para 133)
F9. Last line: what it leaves in the mind. Both
The last full paragraph runs to 96 words.
Give me your hands, if we be friends, And Robin shall restore amends. (Ch 9, para 133)
The last line asks the audience to forgive the play if it has offended, blurring the line between the fictional world and the real audience, leaving ambiguity about what was real.
Scenes (numbered through the play): Scene 9
If we shadows have offended, Think but this, and all is mended, That you have but slumber’d here While these visions did appear. (Ch 9, para 133)
F10. Loose ends tied and left open. AI
All major plot threads are resolved: the lovers marry, the fairies reconcile, Bottom returns, and the craftsmen perform. The nature of the lovers' experience in the wood remains dreamlike and uncertain.
Scenes (numbered through the play): Scene 7, Scene 9
I have had a most rare vision. I have had a dream, past the wit of man to say what dream it was. (Ch 7, para 67)
If we shadows have offended, Think but this, and all is mended, That you have but slumber’d here While these visions did appear. (Ch 9, para 133)
F11. Epilogue: its job. Both
No chapter called an epilogue. The last chapter is 3,248 words.
Puck's epilogue serves to release the audience from the spell of the play and ask for their forgiveness, collapsing the boundary between fiction and reality.
Scenes (numbered through the play): Scene 9
If we shadows have offended, Think but this, and all is mended, That you have but slumber’d here While these visions did appear. (Ch 9, para 133)
F12. Echoes between the opening and the ending. AI
The opening establishes Theseus's wedding as the frame; the ending returns to the wedding night with the lovers married and the craftsmen performing, completing the cycle.
Scenes (numbered through the play): Scene 1, Scene 9
The iron tongue of midnight hath told twelve. Lovers, to bed; ’tis almost fairy time. (Ch 9, para 123)
F13. Length of the wind down after the climax. Count
After the climax (chapter 7, our reading) the book runs 3,623 more words, 21.1% of the whole.
Ask A Midsummer Night's Dream a question about its craft (free beta)
Answers cite chapter and paragraph, and every quote is checked against the text. (3 free questions a day).
Weekly email: coming soon
One short email a week on new AI tools for authors. Sign up opens soon.