A Midsummer Night's Dream: ThemeTracker

The LitCharts ThemeTracker is a mini-version of the entire LitChart. The ThemeTracker provides a quick timeline-style rundown of all the important plot points and allows you to track the themes throughout the work at a glance.

	Back- story	Oberon and Titania get into a fight over the changeling. Demetrius wooes Helena, then leaves her to pursue Hermia. Egeus backs Demetrius to marry Hermia, even though Hermia loves Lysander.
	1.1	In Athens, Theseus and Hippolyta plan for their wedding, which is to be held in four days. Theseus upholds Egeus’s right to decide that Hermia must marry Demetrius. Lysander and Hermia decide to elope, and to meet in the forest outside Athens that night to make their escape. Hermia and Lysander tell the lovesick Helena about their plans because it will give her hope about regaining Demetrius’s love. Helena decides to tell Demetrius about Hermia and Lysander’s plans, thinking that this action might win back Demetrius’ love.
	1.2	The laborers meet to discuss the play, Pyramus and Thisbe, which they hope to perform at Theseus’s wedding. During the meeting, Bottom interrupts constantly with comments that display a complete and ridiculous lack of understanding about how theater works. The laborers agree to rehearse their play the following night in the forest.
	2.1	Titania refuses to hand the changeling over to Oberon. Oberon decides to use love juice to punish Titania for disobeying him, and sends Puck to get the flower from which the juice is made. Just then, Demetrius and Helena enter, and Oberon observes Demetrius insult Helena and demand she leave him alone. When Puck returns, Oberon takes some of the juice and instructs Puck to use the rest on the man wearing “Athenian garments.”
	2.2	As Titania sleeps, Oberon sneaks past her guards and puts the love juice on her eyelids. Lysander and Hermia get lost in the forest and decide to spend the night where they are. They sleep apart to protect Hermia’s honor. Puck mistakes Lysander for Demetrius and puts the love juice on his eyes. Helena chases after Demetrius. Lysander wakes and falls in love with her. Helena thinks he’s mocking her, and runs away. Lysander follows, abandoning Hermia.
	3.1	The laborers unwittingly choose to rehearse in the glade where Titania is sleeping. As the laborers rehearse, Puck turns Bottom’s head into an ass’s head. The other laborers, terrified, run away. Titania wakes, sees Bottom, and falls in love with him.
	3.2	Oberon and Puck observe Hermia and Demetrius arguing. Hermia thinks Demetrius must have hurt Lysander, who is missing. Hermia runs off. Demetrius stays behind and goes to sleep. Oberon realizes Puck’s mistake and sends Puck to find Helena. Meanwhile, he puts the love juice on Demetrius’s eyes. Helena enters, with Lysander trailing after her. Demetrius wakes and falls in love with Helena. Helena thinks they’re both mocking her. Hermia enters. Lysander insults her, and Hermia thinks that Helena has stolen Lysander from her,. Demetrius and Lysander start to duel and run offstage. Hermia chases Helena offstage. Puck uses his magic to keep the lovers apart in the forest. Oberon, meanwhile, goes to get the changeling back from Titania.
	3.3	Puck uses his magic to trick the lovers into all ending up into the same glad and to fall asleep without seeing each other. He uses the love juice on Lysander.
	4.1	Oberon uses the love juice on Titania so she falls back in love with him. Puck removes Bottom’s ass’s head. The lovers wake, and think they dreamed everything, though Demetrius now loves Helena. Theseus decrees that they can all marry at his wedding. Bottom wakes up and thinks that he dreamed everything.
	4.2	At their final rehearsal, the laborers despair because Bottom, their Pyramus, is missing. Just then, Bottom returns.
	5.1	After the weddings, Theseus chooses the laborer’s play to be the entertainment. The laborers perform, making all sorts of ridiculous mistakes based on their fundamental misunderstanding of how theater works. Theseus and the lovers enjoy making fun of the laborers’ performance. After the play, everyone goes to sleep.
	5.2	The fairies bless the marriages. Puck addresses the audience, saying, “If we shadows have offended,” just think of the play as if it was a dream.