It may be true that “the course of true love never did run smooth,” but love’s course in A Midsummer Night’s Dream is unusually meandering. It touches on territories that we would now call “queer,” in the multiple senses of that word. This talk delves beneath the magical, whimsical surface of A Midsummer Night’s Dream—qualities that make it a favorite play for school performances—and investigates the sexual currents beneath. Attention will be directed toward ideas about gender and sexuality in Shakespeare’s time as well as what the legal record tells us about how people acted on their sexual desires.

Bruce R. Smith, Dean’s Professor of English at the University of Southern California and former president of the Shakespeare Association of America, is the author of nine books on Shakespeare and early modern culture