question:  What fictional character from Shakespeare's play, "A Midsummer Night's Dream"  is engaged and loved by a young Athenian man?
answer: Hermia
context: Title: Philostrate
  Passage: Philostrate (meaning "lover of battle") is a fictional character in a number of literary works, including William Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (1596).  In that play, he is the Master of Revels at Theseus' court, meaning he is in charge of his lord's entertainments, making recommendations to Theseus, as well as altering the text of some of the plays performed in his court.  Shakespeare may have used this character to poke fun at play censorship in London at the time.  In early performances of the play, the actor who played this character probably also played the part of Egeus, Hermia's strict father.  There is only one scene in Act V where both Egeus and Philostrate are present, and in this scene Egeus' character would have taken all of Philostrate's lines as his own.
  Title: The Donkey Show (musical)
  Passage: The Donkey Show: A Midsummer Night's Disco is a theatrical adaptation of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream".  The production, created in a disco-era style, was written by Diane Paulus and her husband Randy Weiner and the members of Project 400, Emily Hellstrom, Jordin Ruderman, Rachel Murdy and Anna Wilson.  It first appeared Off-Broadway, opening August 18, 1999.  The show subsequently ran for six years including venues in England, Scotland, France and Spain.  After a successful run at the Edinburgh Festival the Donkey Show show came to London for a 8 month run in Londons West End (Hanover Grand).  The London show was produced by David Babani and Graham Kentsley.  Rob Goodmonson (NYC) played the part of the DJ in the UK production.  In 2009, the show was revived by the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for which Paulus is Artistic Director.  The club/theater space used in Cambridge is called OBERON, after the king of the fairies in "A Midsummer Night's Dream".
  Title: Demetrius (Shakespeare)
  Passage: Demetrius is one of the iconic lovers in William Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream.  He is a young Athenian man who is engaged to a young Athenian girl, Hermia.  He claims to love but really just appears this way to gain Duke Theseus' and Egeus' support(in one interpretation).  However, Hermia does not love Demetrius, but instead she loves a man called Lysander.  Demetrius follows Hermia and Lysander into the woods once they have fled Athens whilst Helena follows him.  Helena craves Demetrius' love but he doesn't return her love and instead finds her annoying and a nuisance as she persists to win his heart.  Eventually Demetrius does fall in love with Helena due to Oberon and Puck putting the love juice on his eyes.  The storyline is complex and it shows the difficulties of true love through comedy.
  Title: Le songe d'une nuit d'été
  Passage: Le songe d'une nuit d'été ("A Midsummer Night's Dream") is an opéra-comique in three acts composed by Ambroise Thomas to a French libretto by Joseph-Bernard Rosier and Adolphe de Leuven.  Although it shares the French title for Shakespeare's play, "A Midsummer Night's Dream", its plot is not based on the play.  Shakespeare himself is a character in the opera as are Elizabeth I and Falstaff.
  Title: Hermia
  Passage: Hermia is a fictional character from Shakespeare's play, "A Midsummer Night's Dream".  Hermia is caught in a romantic accident where she loves one man, Lysander, but is loved by Demetrius, whose feelings she does not return.
  Title: A Midsummer Night's Dream
  Passage: A Midsummer Night's Dream is a comedy written by William Shakespeare in 1595/96.  It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of Theseus, the Duke of Athens, to Hippolyta, the former queen of the Amazons.  These include the adventures of four young Athenian lovers and a group of six amateur actors (the mechanicals) who are controlled and manipulated by the fairies who inhabit the forest in which most of the play is set.  The play is one of Shakespeare's most popular works for the stage and is widely performed across the world.
  Title: Midsummer Dream
  Passage: Midsummer Dream (Spanish: El Sueño de una noche de San Juan , meaning "A Dream of a Night of Saint John", the feast of Saint John, celebrated on the night of June 23, being the traditional midsummer feast in Spain and Portugal) is a 2005 computer-animated film from Dygra Films, the creators of "The Living Forest".  Made in Spain and Portugal, the film is loosely based on William Shakespeare's play "A Midsummer Night's Dream".
  Title: A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935 film)
  Passage: A Midsummer Night's Dream is a 1935 American romance fantasy film of William Shakespeare's play, directed by Max Reinhardt and William Dieterle, and starring James Cagney, Mickey Rooney, Olivia de Havilland, Jean Muir, Joe E. Brown, Dick Powell, Ross Alexander Anita Louise, Victor Jory and Ian Hunter.  Produced by Henry Blanke and Hal Wallis for Warner Brothers, and adapted by Charles Kenyon and Mary C. McCall Jr. from Reinhardt's Hollywood Bowl production of the previous year, the film is about the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta.  These include the adventures of four young Athenian lovers and a group of six amateur actors, who are controlled and manipulated by the fairies who inhabit the forest in which most of the story is set.  The play, which is categorized as a comedy, is one of Shakespeare's most popular works for the stage and is widely performed across the world.  Felix Mendelssohn's music was extensively used, as re-orchestrated by Erich Wolfgang Korngold.  The ballet sequences featuring the fairies were choreographed by Bronislava Nijinska.
  Title: A Midsummer Night's Dream (1999 film)
  Passage: A Midsummer Night's Dream is a 1999 romantic comedy fantasy film based on the play "A Midsummer Night's Dream" by William Shakespeare.  It was directed by Michael Hoffman.  The ensemble cast features Kevin Kline as Bottom, Michelle Pfeiffer and Rupert Everett as Titania and Oberon, Stanley Tucci as Puck, and Calista Flockhart, Anna Friel, Christian Bale, and Dominic West as the four lovers.
  Title: A Midsummer Night's Dream (ballet)
  Passage: A Midsummer Night's Dream is a two-act ballet choreographed by George Balanchine to Felix Mendelssohn's music to Shakespeare's play of the same name.  In addition to the incidental music, Balanchine incorporated other Mendelssohn works into the ballet, including the Overtures to "Athalie", "Son and Stranger", and "The Fair Melusine", the "String Symphony No. 9 in C minor" and "The First Walpurgis Night".  "A Midsummer Night's Dream", Balanchine's first completely original full-length ballet, premiered at New York City Ballet on 17 January 1962, with Edward Villella in the role of Oberon, Melissa Hayden in the role of Titania, and Arthur Mitchell in the role of Puck.  The ballet employs a large children's corps de ballet.  Act I tells Shakespeare's familiar story of lovers and fairies while Act II presents a strictly classical dance wedding celebration.  The ballet dispenses with Shakespeare's play-within-a-play finale.  "A Midsummer Night's Dream" opened The New York City Ballet's first season at the New York State Theater in April, 1964.
citations: Hermia Demetrius (Shakespeare)