The Athenian exposition explains to the audience that Hermia wants to marry Lysander, but her father wants her to marry Demetrius. Helena is in love with Demetrius. Theseus, the Duke of Athens, announces that Hermia must either marry Demetrius, be executed, or else join a cloistered religious order the next morning.

In William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream the climax occurs in the argument between the four lovers, especially between Hermia and Helena, when both of Hermia’s suitors turn towards Helena. Thus, the tension reaches its peak as Helena and Hermia start fighting and accusing each other.

The climax provided in Act 3 occurs when Bottom’s head is replaced with that of an ass, and the anointed lovers gather together, argue, and fall asleep. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is broken up into two subplots that have a scene in Act 3.

The dominant theme in A Midsummer Night’s Dream is love, a subject to which Shakespeare returns constantly in his comedies. Shakespeare explores how people tend to fall in love with those who appear beautiful to them.

Egeus is the main antagonist of the 1596 Shakespeare comedy play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He is the exceedingly cruel father of the play’s protagonist, Hermia, who wants her to marry a man named Demetrius instead of another named Lysander (whom she loves), and who will have her executed if she defies him.

Although Puck is usually played by a male actor, it’s worth noting that nowhere in the play is the audience told the character’s gender, and there are no gendered pronouns used to reference Puck. Even the character’s alternate name, Robin Goodfellow, is androgynous.