A Midsummer Night’s Dream Text

This page contains the originalA Midsummer Night’s Dream text. Shakespeare’s original A Midsummer Night’s Dream text is extremely long, so we’ve split the text into one scene per page. All Acts and Scenes are linked to from the bottom of this page.

The language used in Shakespeare’s day is slightly different to today’s modern English, which is reflected in the text. Our article on Shakespeare & early modern English, or our Shakespeare dictionary, will help you to understand the language as you read through the original text.

Another thing to bear in mind as you read the A Midsummer Night’s Dream text are Shakespeare’s stage directions, which are italicised. Stage directions are instructions and direction to the actors, and not spoken lines. Some stage directions can be a little confusing, so have a read of our understanding Shakespeare’s stage directions article.

The text of A Midsummer Night’s Dream is very long, so we have separated the play into it’s original Acts and Scenes. Click on the appropriate links below to read Shakespeare’s original A Midsummer Night’s Dream script, or a simple, modern English translation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream:

Read all of Shakespeare’s plays translated to modern English >>