A Midsummer Night's Dream: Act 3, scene 3

The color-coded bars in this section make it easy to track the themes throughout the work. Each color corresponds to one of the themes explained in the Themes section of this LitChart. For instance, indicates that all five themes apply to that part of the summary.

Summary Analysis Themes

Through Puck’s trickery and his ability to assume any of their voices, the four lovers all end up back where they started and fall asleep without seeing each other. Puck drops the love potion onto Lysander’s eyes, saying that “when thou wak’st thou tak’st / True delight in the sight / of they former lover’s eye” (3.3.39-41) and that all shall then be well.

Puck uses his magic to fulfill Oberon’s plan to ensure a balanced love between the four lovers. When they wake up, what was a tragedy will be a comedy. And sos as the lovers sleeps their lives have been rewritten by the fairies one more time.