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Conjure
Context and Language Videos
Act 3,
Scene 2
Lines 158-

The word "conjure" discussed in Act 3, Scene 2 of myShakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.

myShakespeare | A Midsummer Night's Dream 3.2.158 Word Nerd: Conjure

Video Transcript: 

The word "conjure" derives from the Latin con- (with) and iutare (an oath), and originally meant to accomplish something by uttering a sacred oath. But by Shakespeare’s time the word conjure had taken on a very specific meaning: to make a devil or spirit appear by summoning it with a sacred name. The example with which you may be familiar is a seance [pause] which is where a group sits around a table attempting to conjure up the spirit of someone who’s passed away. Belief in seances was surprisingly common up to the beginning of the 20th century. Even the wife of the U.S. president, Abraham Lincoln, organized seances in the White House in an attempt to communicate with a deceased son. Here, Helena is using conjure in a figurative sense. She’s saying that the mocking she’s receiving has brought tears to her eyes, as if they were conjured up by Demetrius and Lysander.