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All Site ContentMidsummer Night's DreamAct 2Scene 1
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"their bed"
Language
Act 2,
Scene 1
Lines 60-73

An explanation of the “their bed” metonymy in Act 2, Scene 1 of myShakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Oberon

Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania.

Titania

What, jealous Oberon? — Fairies, skip hence,
I have forsworn his bed and company.

Oberon

Tarry, rash wanton. Am not I thy lord?

Titania

Then I must be thy lady. But I know
When thou hast stol’n away from fairyland,
And in the shape of Corin sat all day
Playing on pipes of corn and versing love
To amorous Phillida. Why art thou here,
Come from the farthest step of India,
But that, forsooth, the bouncing Amazon,
Your buskined mistress and your warrior love,
To Theseus must be wedded, and you come
To give their bed joy and prosperity?

This is an example of a literary device called metonymy. Instead of naming what you’re talking about, you name an object closely related to it. When Titania says that Oberon has come to bring joy to Theseus and Hippolyta’s bed, she obviously means that he has come to bring joy to their marriage — not to a piece of furniture.