Original: [Awaking] When my cue comes, call me, and I will answer: my next is, ‘Most fair Pyramus.’
Modern: [Waking up] When it’s my turn to speak, call me, and I’ll respond: my next line is, ‘Most beautiful Pyramus.’

Original: Heigh-ho! Peter Quince! Flute, the bellows-mender! Snout, the tinker! Starveling!
Modern: Hey! Peter Quince! Flute, the guy who fixes bellows! Snout, the pot-mender! Starveling!

Original: God’s my life, stolen hence, and left me asleep!
Modern: Good Lord, they’ve snuck away and left me sleeping here!

Original: I have had a most rare vision.
Modern: I’ve had the most amazing vision.

Original: I have had a dream, past the wit of man to say what dream it was: man is but an ass, if he go about to expound this dream.
Modern: I’ve had a dream that’s beyond human understanding to describe: anyone would be a fool if they tried to explain this dream.

Original: Methought I was–there is no man can tell what.
Modern: I thought I was–no person can say what.

Original: Methought I was, and methought I had, but man is but a patched fool, if he will offer to say what methought I had.
Modern: I thought I was something, and I thought I had something, but anyone would be a complete idiot if they tried to say what I thought I had.

Original: The eye of man hath not heard, the ear of man hath not seen, man’s hand is not able to taste, his tongue to conceive, nor his heart to report, what my dream was.
Modern: Human eyes have never heard, human ears have never seen, human hands cannot taste, the human tongue cannot understand, nor can the human heart describe what my dream was.

Original: I will get Peter Quince to write a ballad of this dream: it shall be called Bottom’s Dream, because it hath no bottom; and I will sing it in the latter end of a play, before the duke:
Modern: I’ll get Peter Quince to write a song about this dream: it will be called Bottom’s Dream, because it’s bottomless; and I’ll sing it at the end of a play, in front of the duke:

Original: peradventure, to make it the more gracious, I shall sing it at her death.
Modern: perhaps, to make it even more touching, I’ll sing it when she dies.

In Act IV, Scene i of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” the scene opens in the forest where Bottom sleeps with the fairy queen Titania beside him, still under the spell that makes her love him despite his ass’s head. Oberon enters and, having obtained the Indian boy he desired from Titania, decides to release her from the love charm. He instructs Puck to remove Bottom’s ass head while he awakens Titania with an antidote. When Titania wakes, she is horrified by her recent infatuation and reconciles with Oberon, and together they bless the sleeping lovers before departing.

Theseus, Hippolyta, and Egeus arrive in the forest for the morning hunt and discover the four young Athenians - Lysander, Demetrius, Hermia, and Helena - sleeping nearby. When awakened by the hunting horns, the lovers find that the magical confusion of the night has resolved: Demetrius now truly loves Helena, while Lysander’s affections have returned to Hermia. Despite Egeus’s continued objections to Lysander, Theseus decides that both couples should be married alongside his own wedding to Hippolyta. After the nobles depart, Bottom awakens alone, believing his transformation and adventures with the fairies were merely a vivid dream, and he resolves to turn his experience into a ballad.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream follows multiple interconnected plots that unfold over the course of a single midsummer night in Athens and the nearby enchanted forest. The play opens with Duke Theseus of Athens preparing to marry Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons. Meanwhile, Egeus brings his daughter Hermia before Theseus, demanding she marry Demetrius according to his wishes. Hermia refuses because she loves Lysander, and Theseus gives her until his wedding day to decide between marrying Demetrius, becoming a nun, or facing death. Hermia and Lysander plan to elope by meeting in the forest, and they confide in Hermia’s friend Helena, who is desperately in love with Demetrius despite his rejection of her.

In the forest, the fairy king Oberon and queen Titania are feuding over custody of a changeling boy. Oberon instructs his mischievous servant Puck to fetch a magical flower whose juice, when applied to sleeping eyes, makes the person fall in love with the first creature they see upon waking. Oberon plans to use this on Titania to humiliate her into giving up the boy, and he also orders Puck to help Helena by making Demetrius fall in love with her. However, Puck mistakenly applies the juice to Lysander’s eyes instead, causing him to fall in love with Helena when he awakens. Meanwhile, a group of Athenian craftsmen rehearsing a play in the forest becomes entangled in the magical chaos when Puck transforms their leader Bottom’s head into that of a donkey, and the enchanted Titania falls in love with him.

The romantic confusion deepens when Oberon discovers Puck’s error and applies the love juice to Demetrius’s eyes as well, causing both young men to pursue Helena, who believes they are mocking her. Hermia becomes confused and angry when Lysander rejects her for Helena. Oberon orders Puck to separate the four lovers and fix the situation. After obtaining the changeling boy from the distracted Titania, Oberon releases her from the spell and restores Bottom to his normal form. Puck leads the exhausted lovers through the forest until they fall asleep, then applies an antidote to Lysander’s eyes so he will love Hermia again upon waking. Theseus discovers the four lovers in the forest the next morning, and since Demetrius now truly loves Helena, the duke overrules Egeus and declares a triple wedding. The play concludes with the three couples’ wedding celebration, where the craftsmen perform their comically inept play, followed by the fairies blessing the palace and its inhabitants.