THESEUS        Such tricks hath strong imagination

That if it would but apprehend some joy,

It comprehends some bringer of that joy;

Or in the night, imagining some fear,

How easy is a bush supposed a bear!

HIPPOLYTA   But all the story of the night told over,

And all their minds transfigured so together,

More witnesseth than fancy’s images

And grows to something of great constancy,

But howsoever strange and admirable.      (5.1.18-27)

Fantasies can take on a life of their own, suggests Theseus: such tricks hath strong imagination that if it would but apprehend some joy, it comprehends some bringer of that joy—this is a compliment to Hippolyta, it seems, and another expression of their apparently happy union. I’m happy, and it’s you that’s made me happy. Dreams can come true. Or in the night, imagining some fear, how easy is a bush supposed a bear! It’s easy to get confused in the dark, isn’t it, to get spooked by the most ordinary things? And to be frightened silly by something that turns out to be nothing? Theseus is speaking generally, and he’s not just speaking about dreams; Hippolyta, however, is still fascinated by the lovers’ story. But all the story of the night told over, and all their minds transfigured so together—that they’re all sharing the same delusion, at the same time?—that more witnesseth than fancy’s images and grows to something of great constancy, but howsoever strange and admirable. It’s the fact that they’re all telling the same story, that they seem to have undergone this wild experience together: that makes it more believable? Surely? I know it seems impossible but, in the circumstances, I think we have to believe their account of their crazy midsummer night, no matter how extraordinary and preposterous it seems!