Chapter Themes of A Midsummer Night’s Dream - Study Guide by William Shakespeare

Hippolyta’s opening reference to "the moon - like to a silver bow" (I.1.9) would suggest to an Elizabethan audience the image of Diana, the goddess of hunting and chastity. Diana was associated with the moon goddess Phoebe (I.1.209) and Oberon later associates them when he speaks of Elizabeth, the Virgin Queen, being defended by "the chaste beams of the watery moon" (II.1.162). The moon’s presence hangs over the play, along with its associations - madness, chastity and fertility. But no judgement is accorded. The characters are left to experience them, the audience left to decide how they might be linked.