where was a midsummer night's dream written
A Midsummer Night's Dream It is unknown exactly when A Midsummer Night's Dream was written or first performed, but on the basis of topical references and an allusion to Edmund Spenser's Epithalamion, it is usually dated 1595 or early 1596. Some have theorised that the play might have been written for an aristocratic wedding (for example that of Elizabeth Carey, Lady Berkeley), while others suggest that it was written for the Queen to celebrate the feast day of St. John, but no evidence exists to support this theory. In any case, it would have been performed at The Theatre and, later, The Globe. Though it is not a translation or adaptation of an earlier work, various sources such as Ovid's Metamorphoses and Chaucer's "The Knight's Tale" served as inspiration.[1] According to John Twyning, the play's plot of four lovers undergoing a trial in the woods was intended as a "riff" on Der Busant, a Middle High German poem.[2]
Helena (A Midsummer Night's Dream) She is the daughter of Nedar, a member of Theseus court and the Athenian aristocracy, and a friend of Hermia, with whom she is often compared. Prior to the play's beginning, she is betrothed to the nobleman Demetrius but is jilted when his affections turn to Hermia instead. Despite this, Helena's abiding love for Demetrius remains consistent throughout the play. Hermia and her lover, Lysander, confide in Helena that they plan to elope. In the hopes that she will gain back some of his respect, Helena tells Demetrius of Hermia and Lysander's escape and, that night, the two follow the lovers into the forest.