Midsummer stuff Act 1
Lysander: Dear Helena, we will tell you our plans. Tomorrow we will plan to run away To sneak to the city gate
And steal into the woods, beyond the city's wall. We plan to meet upon that spot where we, as girls, would walk, and laugh, and bare our souls. And then to turn our eyes from Athens gate. To seek new friends and stranger companies. Goodbye, my friends, remember us and pray, And mat good luck give you Demetrius. Lysander, we must go. We must not see each other until we meet tomorrow at midnight.
Helena: you call me fair? You should retract those words. It's you that captivates Demetrius. Your eyes are stars, your voice as light as air, More beautiful than a larks song to a Shepard's ear, when wheat is green , when hawthorn buds appear. I wish I were more like you Hermia; My ear could catch your voice, my eye your eye, My tongue could catch your tongues sweet melody. If that were true perhaps Demetrius would notice me. What I wouldn't give to be you. Please teach me how you do it, with what art, You sway the motion of Demetrius heart.
I sneer at him, yet he still loves me dear
Theseus: In himself he is; But in this kind, you must respect your father, The other must be held the worthier.
I wish my father looked but with my eyes
Lysander: Or else misgrafted in respect of years
O Spite! Too old to love someone so young
Lysander: Ay me! In all that I have ever read, in legends, tales, and stories I have heard, The course of true love never heard, The course of true love never did run smooth; But either it was the difference in blood
O cross! Too high to love someone so low
Lysander: Or else their friends divided them apart
O hell! To choose love by another's eye
Helena: Except your beauty, would that fault were mine
Take comfort, he no more shall see my face; Lysander and myself will flee this place. Before the time I did Lysander see, Athens seemed like a paradise to me. Oh, then what graces in my love do dwell. that he has turned this heaven into hell.
Helena: Oh, that my prayers could such affection move
The more I hate, the more he follows me
Lysander: How now, my love, why is your cheek so pale! It seems the roses there have faded quickly
They wither for the lack of water, but floods of tears are sure to bring them back
Theseus: Rather your eyes must with his judgment look
Your grace, I beg you, please forgive my boldness. I know I am a fool to speak like this, but what is the worst offense that could befall me if I refuse to wed Demetrius
Lysander: Let us keep our vow. Look, here comes fair Helena
Hermia: Good day, fair Helena. Where are you going
Helena: The more I love, the more he hateth me.
His foolishness is not a fault of mine!
Helena: I wish my smile enchanted like your sneer
I curse at him, yet he stills gives me love
Lysander: Or then if nothing else stood in the way, war, death, sickness, laid its hands on them, so their love was a fleeting as a sound, swift as a shadow, short as any dream, Brief as the lightning in the blackened light That, in a second, lights up Heaven and earth, And ere a man has time to say "behold!" The jaws of darkness swallow up the sight, So quick bright things come to confusion
If destiny has always doomed true love, Then let us bear our trials with patience
Lysander: Listen to me Hermia, I have a thought. An aunt of mine, a woman of great wealth, who lives not far from Athens, has no child, She thinks of me as if I were her son. There gentle Hermia, may I marry you. And to the place, the sharp Athenian law cannot pursue us. If you love me, sneak from your father's house tomorrow night And meet me in the woods outside of town. You know the spot, that clearing where we met. one morning back in the spring to watch the rising sun. There I will wait for you dear Hermia
My good Lysander, I swear to you, by Cupids strongest bow, By his best arrow with the golden head; By the simplicity of Venus' doves. By that which knits souls and prospers loves. And by that fire which burned the Carthage queen, When the false Trojan under sail was seen, By all the vows that may ever been broke, In number more than ever women spoke, That very spot that you direct me to Tomorrow, truly I will meet with you
Theseus: Well now sweet Hermia? Remember that obedience is holy And you should treat your father as god, The one who made your form and gave our life. Demetrius is a worthy man.
So is Lysander!
Theseus: To death of to a convent you'll be sent, To live out your life as a nun, alone, to live a barren sister all your life, Singing faint hymns to a cold fruitless moon
So will I live, and so I'll die before i give up my virginity to a man I am forced to marry against my will
