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All Site ContentMidsummer Night's DreamAct 1Scene 2
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"wandering knight"
Cultural Background
Act 1,
Scene 2
Lines 38-42

An explanation of the phrase “wandering knight” in Act 1, Scene 2 of myShakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Quince

Flute, you must take Thisbe on you.

Flute

What is Thisbe? A wandering knight?

Quince

It is the lady that Pyramus must love.

Flute

Nay, faith, let not me play a woman. I have a
beard coming.

A knight who wandered the countryside doing good deeds, known as a knight errant, was a stock character in plays and literature.

The Knight Errant by John Everett Millais, c. 1870