A Midsummer Night's Dream (Annotated by Henry N. Hudson with an Introduction by Charles Harold Herford)

One of Shakespeares most frequently performed plays and regarded as maybe his best comedy A Midsummer Nights Dream is the story of the events surrounding the wedding of Theseus Duke and Athens and the Amazonian queen Hippolyta. At the outset of the play we find Hermia who is in love with Lysander but is betrothed by her fathers arrangement to Demetrius. Meanwhile Helena laments her unrequited love of Demetrius. Several parallel and interconnecting plot lines complicate the narrative. One of which is the planning of a play Pyramus and Thisbe to be performed at the wedding. Secondly an element of fantasy is introduced through the story of Oberon King of the fairies and his Queen Titania whom he conspires against through the use of a magical love potion. The use of this love potion alters the varying affections of the characters of the play resulting in a series of comedic mishaps. Unlike many of Shakespeares works A Midsummer Nights Dream does not drawn upon any historical or previous literary work making it one of his most original compositions. This edition is printed on premium acid-free paper is annotated by Henry N. Hudson and includes an introduction by Charles Harold Herford.