A Midsummer Night's Dream — Act 1, Scene 2

original text and modern English, side by side

The Same. A Room in a Cottage · Quince, Bottom, Flute, Starveling

Six Athenian tradesmen — Peter Quince the carpenter, Nick Bottom the weaver, Flute, Snout, Snug and Starveling — meet to cast a play, "Pyramus and Thisbe," which they hope to perform at Duke Theseus's wedding. Bottom, wildly overconfident, tries to claim every role in turn: the lover, the lady, and the lion. Quince keeps him to Pyramus and sends the company off to rehearse in the wood outside Athens by moonlight, setting up their collision with the fairies.

Enter Quince, Snug, Bottom, Flute, Snout and Starveling.

Quince

Is all our company here?

Is our whole company here?

Bottom

You were best to call them generally, man by man, according to the

scrip.

You'd best call them out generally, one man at a time, off the script.

Quince

Here is the scroll of every man’s name, which is thought fit through

all Athens, to play in our interlude before the Duke and Duchess, on

his wedding-day at night.

Here's the list of every man judged suitable in all of Athens to act in our little play before the Duke and Duchess on the night of his wedding day.

Bottom

First, good Peter Quince, say what the play treats on; then read the

names of the actors; and so grow to a point.

First, good Peter Quince, tell us what the play is about, then read out the names of the actors, and so work your way to the point.

Quince

Marry, our play is _The most lamentable comedy and most cruel death of

Pyramus and Thisbe_.

Right then — our play is called The Most Lamentable Comedy and Most Cruel Death of Pyramus and Thisbe.

Bottom

A very good piece of work, I assure you, and a merry.

An excellent piece of work, I promise you, and a funny one.

Now, good Peter

Quince, call forth your actors by the scroll.

Now, good Peter Quince, call your actors from the list.

Masters, spread

yourselves.

Gentlemen, spread out.

Quince

Answer, as I call you.

Answer when I call your name.

Nick Bottom, the weaver.

Bottom

Ready.

Present.

Name what part I am for, and proceed.

Tell me what part I'm down for, and carry on.

Quince

You, Nick Bottom, are set down for Pyramus.

You, Nick Bottom, are cast as Pyramus.

Bottom

What is Pyramus—a lover, or a tyrant?

What sort is Pyramus — a lover or a tyrant?

Quince

A lover, that kills himself most gallantly for love.

A lover, who kills himself very nobly for love.

Bottom

That will ask some tears in the true performing of it.

That'll take a few tears to do properly.

If I do it, let

the audience look to their eyes.

If I play it, the audience had better guard their eyes.

I will move storms;

I'll stir up storms;

I will condole in

some measure.

I'll do a fair bit of grieving.

To the rest—yet my chief humour is for a tyrant.

On to the others — though what I'm really in the mood for is a tyrant.

I could

play Ercles rarely, or a part to tear a cat in, to make all split.

I could play Hercules brilliantly, or some part where you tear up the scenery and bring the house down.

The raging rocks

And shivering shocks

Shall break the locks

Of prison gates,

And Phibbus’ car

Shall shine from far,

And make and mar

The foolish Fates.

The raging rocks / And shivering shocks / Shall break the locks / Of prison gates, / And Phoebus's chariot / Shall shine from far, / And make and ruin / The foolish Fates.

This was lofty.

Now that was lofty.

Now name the rest of the players.

Go on, name the rest of the cast.

This is Ercles’ vein,

a tyrant’s vein;

That was the Hercules style, the tyrant style.

a lover is more condoling.

A lover is more the mournful sort.

Quince

Francis Flute, the bellows-mender.

Flute

Here, Peter Quince.

Quince

Flute, you must take Thisbe on you.

Flute, you'll have to take on Thisbe.

Flute

What is Thisbe?

What's a Thisbe?

A wandering knight?

A knight errant?

Quince

It is the lady that Pyramus must love.

She's the lady Pyramus is in love with.

Flute

Nay, faith, let not me play a woman.

Oh no, honestly, don't make me play a woman.

I have a beard coming.

I've got a beard coming in.

Quince

That’s all one.

Doesn't matter.

You shall play it in a mask, and you may speak as small

as you will.

You'll play it in a mask, and you can pitch your voice as high as you like.

Bottom

And I may hide my face, let me play Thisbe too.

If I can cover my face, let me play Thisbe as well.

I’ll speak in a

monstrous little voice;

I'll do a monstrous little voice —

‘Thisne, Thisne!’

"Thisne, Thisne!"

—‘Ah, Pyramus, my lover dear!

thy Thisbe dear! and lady dear!’

— "Ah, Pyramus, my dearest lover! Your dear Thisbe! Your dear lady!"

Quince

No, no, you must play Pyramus;

No, no — you have to play Pyramus.

and, Flute, you Thisbe.

And Flute, you're Thisbe.

Bottom

Well, proceed.

Fine. Carry on.

Quince

Robin Starveling, the tailor.

Starveling

Here, Peter Quince.

Quince

Robin Starveling, you must play Thisbe’s mother.

Robin Starveling, you'll play Thisbe's mother.

Tom Snout, the tinker.

SNOUT

Here, Peter Quince.

SNOUT: Here, Peter Quince.

Quince

You, Pyramus’ father;

You're Pyramus's father.

myself, Thisbe’s father;

I'll play Thisbe's father.

Snug, the joiner, you, the lion’s part.

Snug the joiner, you're the lion.

And, I hope here is a play

fitted.

And I hope that's the play properly cast.

SNUG

Have you the lion’s part written?

SNUG: Is the lion's part written out?

Pray you, if it be, give it me, for I

am slow of study.

If it is, please give it to me now — I'm a slow learner.

Quince

You may do it extempore, for it is nothing but roaring.

You can make it up as you go, since it's nothing but roaring.

Bottom

Let me play the lion too.

I will roar that I will do any man’s heart

good to hear me.

I'll roar in a way that does every man's heart good to hear.

I will roar that I will make the Duke say ‘Let him

roar again, let him roar again.’

I'll roar so well the Duke will say, "Let him roar again! Let him roar again!"

Quince

If you should do it too terribly, you would fright the Duchess and the

ladies, that they would shriek; and that were enough to hang us all.

If you did it too frighteningly you'd terrify the Duchess and the ladies into screaming, and that alone would be enough to get us all hanged.

ALL

That would hang us every mother’s son.

ALL: That would hang every last one of us.

Bottom

I grant you, friends, if you should fright the ladies out of their

wits, they would have no more discretion but to hang us.

I grant you that, friends — if you scared the ladies out of their senses, they'd have no more sense than to hang us.

But I will

aggravate my voice so, that I will roar you as gently as any sucking

dove;

But I'll aggravate my voice so much that I'll roar for you as gently as a nursing dove.

I will roar you an ’twere any nightingale.

I'll roar for you like a nightingale.

Quince

You can play no part but Pyramus, for Pyramus is a sweet-faced man; a

proper man as one shall see in a summer’s day; a most lovely

gentleman-like man.

You can't play any part but Pyramus, because Pyramus is a sweet-faced man, a fine-looking man of the sort you'd see on a summer's day, a thoroughly lovely, gentlemanly man.

Therefore you must needs play Pyramus.

So Pyramus is the part you have to play.

Bottom

Well, I will undertake it.

All right, I'll take it on.

What beard were I best to play it in?

What colour beard would be best for it?

Quince

Why, what you will.

Oh, whichever you like.

Bottom

I will discharge it in either your straw-colour beard, your

orange-tawny beard, your purple-in-grain beard, or your

French-crown-colour beard, your perfect yellow.

I'll perform it in your straw-coloured beard, or your orange-tan beard, or your deep-dyed purple beard, or your French-crown-coloured beard — your perfect yellow.

Quince

Some of your French crowns have no hair at all, and then you will play

bare-faced.

Some of your French crowns have no hair on them at all, so you'd be playing it bare-faced.

But, masters, here are your parts, and I am to entreat you,

request you, and desire you, to con them by tomorrow night;

But, gentlemen, here are your parts, and I have to beg you, request you and implore you to have them learned by tomorrow night.

and meet me

in the palace wood, a mile without the town, by moonlight;

Meet me in the palace wood, a mile outside town, by moonlight.

there will

we rehearse, for if we meet in the city, we shall be dogg’d with

company, and our devices known.

We'll rehearse there — because if we meet in the city we'll be trailed by a crowd and our plans will get out.

In the meantime I will draw a bill of

properties, such as our play wants.

Meanwhile I'll draw up a list of the props the play needs.

I pray you fail me not.

Please don't let me down.

Bottom

We will meet, and there we may rehearse most obscenely and

courageously.

We'll be there, and we can rehearse most obscenely and courageously.

Take pains, be perfect;

Work hard, be word-perfect.

adieu.

Farewell.

Quince

At the Duke’s oak we meet.

We meet at the Duke's oak.

Bottom

Enough.

Enough said.

Hold, or cut bow-strings.

Be there or be damned.

Exeunt.

A Midsummer Night's Dream Act 1, Scene 2 summary

Who appears in this scene

Quince, Bottom, Flute, Starveling — The Same. A Room in a Cottage.

Famous lines in A Midsummer Night's Dream Act 1, Scene 2, explained

“I will roar you as gently as any sucking / dove; I will roar you an ’twere any nightingale.” (line 68): Bottom is promising to tone down his lion so the ladies in the audience won't be frightened, and he mangles the promise twice over: he says "aggravate" when he means moderate, and he offers a roar as gentle as a dove or a nightingale, which is not a roar at all. The joke is that Bottom cannot imagine a performance that isn't enormous, so even his restraint comes out as boasting. It is the clearest early sign of the mechanicals' comic method — total sincerity, zero self-awareness.
“Marry, our play is _The most lamentable comedy and most cruel death of / Pyramus and Thisbe_.” (line 9): Quince announces the title of the play-within-the-play, and it contradicts itself: a comedy cannot be lamentable, and a cruel death is not comic material. Shakespeare is signalling that these amateurs have no idea what genre they are in — which is exactly what makes their eventual performance in Act 5 so funny. It also quietly comments on the main plot, where a story that could easily have ended in Hermia's death is being steered toward marriage instead.

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About this translation: the original text follows the public-domain Project Gutenberg Globe edition; the modern English translation was written in-house for Polytranslator and is reviewed on an ongoing basis (last revised August 2026). Free to print and photocopy for classroom use. Cite as: “A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act 1, Scene 2. Polytranslator side-by-side translation, polytranslator.com/shakespeare/midsummer-nights-dream/act-1-scene-2.”

Studying the language itself? Our Shakespearean English course teaches thou/thee, the verbs, and the meter — free through Unit 2. Or try the Shakespearean English translator.