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All Site ContentMidsummer Night's DreamAct 5Scene 1
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"Would he would change"
Wordplay
Act 5,
Scene 1
Lines 239-247

An explanation of Hippolyta’s moon-related wordplay in Act 5, Scene 1 of myShakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Starveling (as Moonshine)

This lantern doth the hornèd moon present,
Myself the man i' the moon do seem to be —

Theseus

This is the greatest error of all the rest. The man
should be put into the lantern. How is it else the
"man i' the moon"?

Demetrius

He dares not come there for the candle; for
you see it is already in snuff.

Hippolyta

I am aweary of this moon. Would he would
change.

Not only is Hippolyta the leader of a tribe of female warriors, she’s also a good wit. Here she’s playing on the changing phases of the moon when she wishes that Starveling would “change,” disappear.