Act 3 of A Midsummer Night’s Dream is the night at its wildest: Puck gives Bottom the head of an ass, the fairy queen falls in love with him, and both young men turn on Hermia to court Helena, until the four lovers are at each other’s throats.
This summary takes Act 3 scene by scene. Each scene covers what happens, the key lines, and why it matters for the rest of the play. For the whole story, see our full guide to A Midsummer Night’s Dream. For what came before, see our Act 2 summary, and for everyone who appears here, see our guide to the A Midsummer Night’s Dream characters.
At a Glance
Here is Act 3 of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in brief.
Act 3, Scene 1: Bottom Translated
The craftsmen meet to rehearse in the wood, a few steps from where Titania lies asleep.
Quince is delighted with the spot: “This green plot shall be our stage, this hawthorn-brake our tiring-house.” But Bottom has spotted problems. Pyramus must draw a sword and kill himself, “which the ladies cannot abide.” Starveling suggests leaving the killing out. Bottom has a better idea: a prologue explaining that no one really gets hurt, and that Pyramus is really Bottom the weaver. The Lion is next: “Will not the ladies be afeard of the lion?” asks Snout. Bottom decides that Snug must show half his face through the lion’s neck and tell the ladies who he really is. Then they puzzle over how to bring moonlight into the room where they will perform, and Bottom calls for an almanac: “find out moonshine, find out moonshine.” As for the wall the lovers whisper through, “Some man or other must present Wall,” holding up his fingers for the cranny.
Puck, passing by, stops to watch. When Bottom steps offstage during the rehearsal, Puck follows him, and he comes back with the head of an ass. His friends take one look and flee. “O Bottom, thou art changed!” cries Snout. “Bless thee, Bottom! bless thee! thou art translated,” cries Quince, and runs.
Bottom, who cannot see his own head, is sure it is a joke: “I see their knavery: this is to make an ass of me; to fright me, if they could.” To show he is not afraid, he walks up and down and sings. His song wakes Titania, and the first thing she sees is Bottom. “What angel wakes me from my flowery bed?” she asks, and declares her love on the spot.
Bottom takes it calmly. She has little reason to love him, he points out, “and yet, to say the truth, reason and love keep little company together now-a-days.” When she calls him wise as well as beautiful, he disagrees: if he were wise enough to get out of this wood, that would be enough for him. Titania will not allow it: “Out of this wood do not desire to go.” She calls four fairies, Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Moth, and Mustardseed, to wait on him, and leads him to her bower.
Act 3, Scene 2: The Lovers’ Quarrel
Puck reports to Oberon with delight: “My mistress with a monster is in love.” He describes how he gave one of the “rude mechanicals” an ass’s head, and how Titania woke and fell for him. Oberon is pleased.
Oberon Discovers the Mistake
Then Demetrius enters, still pursuing Hermia, and Oberon realizes Puck has anointed the wrong Athenian. Hermia is frantic. She believes Demetrius has killed Lysander in his sleep, since Lysander would never have left her. Demetrius denies it, and she storms off. Exhausted, Demetrius lies down and sleeps.
Oberon anoints Demetrius’s eyes himself and sends Puck to bring Helena. Puck returns with Helena close behind, Lysander still pleading his love to her. Watching the lovers approach, Puck can hardly contain himself: “Lord, what fools these mortals be!”
Two Men, One Woman
Demetrius wakes and sees Helena: “O Helen, goddess, nymph, perfect, divine!” Now both men love her, and Helena is sure it is a cruel joke: “O spite! O hell! I see you all are bent / To set against me for your merriment.” They both loved Hermia, and now they have joined together to mock her.
Hermia arrives, overjoyed to find Lysander, until he tells her he hates her. Helena decides that Hermia is in on the joke too: “Lo, she is one of this confederacy!” She reminds her old friend of their childhood, when they grew together “Like to a double cherry, seeming parted, / But yet an union in partition.” How can Hermia join men in scorning her?
The Fight
Hermia cannot understand what has happened. When Lysander shakes her off, “Hang off, thou cat, thou burr!”, she turns on Helena, convinced she has stolen Lysander with her height. Helena calls her “you puppet”; Hermia calls Helena a “painted maypole” and threatens to scratch out her eyes. Helena, terrified, begs the men to protect her: “O, when she’s angry, she is keen and shrewd! / She was a vixen when she went to school; / And though she be but little, she is fierce.” The two men go off to fight for Helena, and the women run from each other.
Oberon Sets Things Right
Oberon orders Puck to cover the night with a fog “as black as Acheron” and lead the rivals astray so they never meet. Puck imitates each man’s voice in turn, calling the other on through the dark, until both collapse and sleep. Helena and Hermia, worn out, fall asleep nearby.
Then Puck squeezes the antidote into Lysander’s eyes. When he wakes, he will love Hermia again. Puck promises that everything will come right in the end: “Jack shall have Jill; / Nought shall go ill; / The man shall have his mare again, and all shall be well.”
A Closer Reading: The Man with the Ass’s Head Keeps His Head
Act 3 transforms two groups of people in opposite ways. Bottom is changed on the outside and stays exactly himself inside. The lovers look exactly the same, and lose their minds.
Bottom is the only character in the play whose body is changed. His friends see a monster and run. Yet everything he says in the scene is sensible. He suspects a trick, and he is right: “this is to make an ass of me.” He refuses to be frightened and sings to prove it. When the queen of the fairies declares her love, he does not lose his head over it. He simply observes, reasonably, that she has little reason to love him, and that reason and love rarely go together these days. When she praises his wisdom, all he wants is enough of it to find his way home.
The lovers are his mirror image. Nothing about them has changed that anyone can see. But inside, love has made them unrecognizable. Lysander, who risked his life to run away with Hermia, calls her a cat and a burr and tells her he hates her. Demetrius, who called Helena a nuisance a few hours ago, calls her a goddess. Two women who grew up like a double cherry are trading insults about each other’s height, and two men who came into the wood as rivals for Hermia are off in the dark looking for a place to fight over Helena.
Puck’s famous line, “Lord, what fools these mortals be!”, is spoken about the lovers, not about Bottom. That is the joke at the center of the act. The only person in the wood wearing the head of an ass is the one who has not made an ass of himself. Our guide to the themes in A Midsummer Night’s Dream follows love’s madness and transformation through the whole play.
Common Questions
The questions readers ask most often about Act 3 of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, answered briefly.
What Happens in Act 3 of A Midsummer Night’s Dream?
Puck gives Bottom an ass’s head during the craftsmen’s rehearsal, and Titania, enchanted, falls in love with him. Oberon anoints Demetrius’s eyes to fix Puck’s mistake, so both young men now love Helena. The four lovers quarrel bitterly, and Oberon has Puck lead them apart until they fall asleep, then undo the spell on Lysander.
Why Does Helena Think Everyone Is Mocking Her?
Both men loved Hermia and ignored or scorned Helena. When they suddenly both declare their love for her, she cannot believe it is real, and assumes they, and then Hermia, have plotted a cruel joke.
Why Do Hermia and Helena Fight?
Hermia believes Helena has stolen Lysander, and decides she must have won him with her height. Helena believes Hermia has joined the men in mocking her. Their long friendship collapses into insults about each other’s size.
How Does Oberon Stop the Fight?
He has Puck darken the night with fog and imitate each man’s voice, leading them apart until they collapse with exhaustion. Puck then puts the antidote on Lysander’s eyes so he will love Hermia again when he wakes.
Who Says “Lord, What Fools These Mortals Be”?
Puck, in Act 3, scene 2, as he and Oberon watch the enchanted lovers approach.
Related Reading
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