In Shakespeare's time, the summer solstice was called Midsummer's Eve and it was a night of celebration and the Elizabethan people also believed it was a time of mystery and magic when young people would meet the person they were supposed to marry. How does Shakespeare's choice of a title, A Midsummer Night's Dream, reflect the commonly held beliefs about Midsummer's Eve?

Shakespeare’s choice of title for “A Middummer Night’s Dream” reflects the commonly held beliefs about Midsummers Eve in many ways. The first thing people living during Shakespeare’s time believed was that Midsummer’s Eve was a night of celebration. This is a very fitting belief in this play as Act I begins with the audience finding out that there is to be a marriage and four days of celebration leading to the marriage. The next belief people had was that this night was filledwith magic. This is a very obvious choice as throughout the play, fairies play a major role. During the Elizabethan time, many people had strong beliefs in fairies. Incorporating fairies in any of his plays, let alone one entitled “A Midsummer‘s Night “ really brings home these beliefs that were around at this time. Finally, there is the aspect of mystery. This is presented as a twofold. One, in the word dream. Many times dreams present a very mysterious aspect as a lot of the time they leave the dreamer in a mysterious state. The second part that helps magnify the idea of mysteries is the setting Within the magical forest And the aspect of time created throughout the play. There are s lot of questions that the reader is left with about the magic of the fairies as well as the idea of time presented within the scenes. Overall, the title “A Midsummer’s Night Dream” is the perfect title for this play. It really encompasses all of the beliefs that the the people living during the Elizabethan time had about Midsummers Eve.

Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream seems ostensibly to be set in May, as May Day is mentioned in the play, but the themes of the play, along with its title, indicate that Midsummer's Eve is really what is being referred to. It has long been believed that during the time of the solstice, the boundaries between the human world and the world of the fairies was particularly thin. At the solstice, when the two worlds meet, fairies can meddle in the lives of humans, particularly when those humans wander into what might be considered the fairies' domain. This played into the Elizabethan concept that midsummer was a time of romance, when the turn of the season and the influence of the fairies could magically influence the lives of humans. We certainly see this idea utilized in A Midsummer Night's Dream, a comedy within which the power of the fairies influences the human characters by manipulating their dreams.
At Midsummer, people in the Elizabethan age would expect to spend long nights outside, celebrating with bonfires and other celebrations thought to be remnants of England's pagan past. Moreover, the belief in fairies—in the sense of the Celtic fey people, dangerous and mysterious residents of Otherworld—was strong in the British Isles until the nineteenth century. Shakespeare's audience would not have interpreted the fairy court in this play as simple figures of whimsy. The power of fairies, and their capacity to involve themselves in human lives and human fates, would have been at the forefront of their minds. Any interaction with fairies could have the potential to go badly wrong, as it threatens to do for Bottom. Ultimately, however, this play ends happily with several romances having been successfully brought to fruition, in keeping with the concept of midsummer as a time of fertility and lovemaking—and a touch of magic.