A Midsummer Night's Dream Act II Scene ii
Act II Scene ii
Titania and her fairies enter the bower, the queen assigns her fairies their duties and asks them to sing for her a lullaby. The fairies sing a lullaby to their queen and she soon falls asleep, the fairies leave one sentinel before leaving. Oberon enters the bower, anoints the juice on Titania's closed eyes, and hopes out loud that she see a nasty creature upon waking. Oberon leaves, but Hermia and Lysander soon enter the bower.
They are tired for they have become lost in the woods, and seeing Hermia's fatigue, Lysander suggests that they sleep there and continue on in the morning. Hermia agrees, and lies down on the ground, but stops Lysander from lying so near to her. She wishes that they be physically separated while Lysander attempts to convince her otherwise. Finally, Lysander agrees and sleeps further away from Hermia. Just as they fall asleep, Puck finds his way to the bower. He has been looking everywhere for the Athenian youth that his lord had bid him find. He then happens to see Lysander sleeping nearby, noting his Athenian garb and Hermia lying nearby concludes him to be the youth that Oberon had spoken of. Puck uses the magical flower's juice on the sleeping Lysander and leaves.
Helena and Demetrius soon enter the bower, Helena tells Demetrius to stop even if he does so to kill her, but Demetrius carries on and leaves Helena in the dark forest. Helena has become tired of chasing after Demetrius, she curses her fate and talks aloud of how even beasts run away at the sight of her. She suddenly notices Lysander lying nearby and so wakes him up. Lysander is immediately smitten with Helena, and so expresses his desire to kill Demetrius. Helena mistakes his anger towards Demetrius to be caused by Demetrius's love for Hermia. At Hermia's name, Lysander confesses that he doesn't love Hermia but rather Helena. He had been a fool earlier but had now become wiser and could clearly see that Helena was far fairer than Hermia. However, Helena mistakes this confession to be some sort of joke and leaves in anger.
Lysander notes that Hermia is still asleep, he hopes that she remains so for a long time, and then leaves intending to find and woo Helena. Hermia wakes in fright, she had been having a nightmare in which a snake ate her heart and Lysander just watched. She notes that Lysander is gone and begins to call for him, she worries for him and sets out to find him.
Analysis
Shakespeare makes use of a unique form of foreshadowing near the conclusion of this scene and embellishes it with dramatic irony where the reader is more aware of the situation than the characters in the play. Hermia wakes from a nightmare in which Lysander stands by and watches Hermia's heart being consumed by a snake. This foreshadows the difficulty she is to encounter in dealing with Lysander who has been affected by the love potion. This is an interesting use of foreshadowing for the audience is already aware that Lysander will reject Hermia but she isn't.
This scene also introduces the concept of the love potion, which serves as the tool for restoring balance to the out-of-balance love theme that runs throughout the play. Shakespeare pokes fun at tragic love stories very much like his own Romeo and Juliet by having the characters of the play shift their love so quickly and deeply.
Like many other comedic plays, the humor in the play arises from a confusing set of circumstances, for instance, Oberon had been unaware of a second couple that walked through the forests. The application of the love potion onto the eyes of Lysander further worsens balance of love in the group.
The sentinel that guards the bower of the queen is never mentioned again, and in the theatrical enactments, Oberon subdues the fairy in order to apply the love potion on the queen.
