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All Site ContentMidsummer Night's DreamAct 4Scene 1
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"Gently entwist"
Cultural Context
Act 4,
Scene 1
Lines 37-44

An explanation of the imagery of twisting vines in Act 4, Scene 1 of myShakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Bottom

But I pray you, let none of your people stir me. I have an
exposition of sleep come upon me.

Titania

Sleep thou, and I will wind thee in my arms.
Fairies, begone, and be always away.
[Exit fairies]
So doth the woodbine the sweet honeysuckle
Gently entwist; the female ivy so
Enrings the barky fingers of the elm.
O how I love thee, how I dote on thee!

Some vines climb clockwise, and others counterclockwise. When these two vines happen to climb the same object, they become hopelessly entangled. Titania is using this phenomenon as a metaphor for how she and Bottom have wrapped their arms around each other.