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A Midsummer Night’s Dream, a la Shmoop. Based on the title, some of you may think

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A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a walk in the park. But we haven’t seen this much trouble

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in Athens since the ides of March.

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Laws being broken, forbidden love, fighting over a kidnapped kid, mishandled drugs, and

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someone being an… ass. No, he really did get turned into a donkey.

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Someone must be to blame for all this trouble, right? Let's take a good look at the suspects.

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First on the scene is Duke Theseus. He just pillaged a foreign country and kidnapped a

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hot girl to marry.

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Way to rule a kingdom, buddy. Next possible perpetrator? Egeus.

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He's an angry dad who likes things the way they’ve always been and doesn’t like people

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marrying who they want to marry. Namely… his daughter Hermia.

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But instead of his usual routine of calling into Dr. Laura’s radio show, he decides

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to ask the duke to kill his daughter for punishment.

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The duke, feeling that her father’s reaction is a bit extreme, offers Hermia the alternative

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of becoming a nun for the rest of her life.

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Are we surprised his daughter runs away? Not convinced it's either of those guys? Well,

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how about the lovers?

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Sure, they look innocent, but these hooligans break the law in the name of love, and can’t

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even decide who they’re in love with!

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Exhibit A is a chart of their love. “Hermia loves Lysander but not Demetrius,

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who loves Hermia.

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Helena loves Detemtrius who doesn’t love her. Then he does… so does Lysander, which

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makes Hermia furious with Helena.

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Finally Hermia gets with Lysander and Helena with Demetrius and everyone’s in love.”

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Could the trouble have been caused by these criminals who were hitting the love potion

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a little too hard? Our fourth suspect is the fairy king Oberon.

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He really wants to fight his ex-lover Titania for an Indian child they somehow acquired.

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He’s so jealous that he makes her fall in love with a donkey. And he uses his minion

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Puck to make the lovers fall in love with the wrong people. For fun.

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Sounds like someone’s not comfortable with their masculinity.

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We’re still wondering why nobody is concerned that he kidnapped a little kid? Could he be

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the one to blame? Last on the list is Puck: professional trickster.

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When the mob rejected his application, he went to work for Oberon.

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Unfortunately, he’s not very good at following directions. Or shaving his legs.

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Could he be the culprit… sneaking love potions into unsuspecting lovers and turning men into

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donkeys? There are a lot of choices, but it’s hard

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to nail this mess on just one criminal…

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