This lesson contains 42 slides, with interactive quizzes, text slides and 1 video.
Lesson duration is: 45 min
Items in this lesson
A Midsummer night's dream
Slide 1 - Slide
Shakespeare's Comedies
Comic reversal (omkering): the characters are placed in circumstances where they have to reverse social roles.
All characters have (minor) faults.
Prominent themes: love, sex relationships between man and wife.
They usually end in a wedding.
Best known comedy: A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Slide 2 - Slide
Let's familiarise with the plot and its characters by watching a summary of the play.
Slide 3 - Slide
While you watch:
Write down the names of the characters.
Athens:
Forest:
Actors:
Slide 4 - Slide
Plot summary
Slide 5 - Slide
Slide 6 - Video
Characters
Slide 7 - Mind map
Athens
Theseus, duke of Athens
Hippolyta, the Amazon queen
Hermia and Lysander are in love.
Demetrius: Hermia’s father wants Hermia to marry him.
Helena is in love with Demetrius
Slide 8 - Slide
Forest - fairies
Oberon, the king of the fairies + Titania his queen servant Puck
Forest: a group of artisans are rehearsing an entertainment for the duke’s wedding.
Nick Bottom: The overconfident weaver chosen to play Pyramus in the craftsmen’s play for Theseus’s marriage celebration
Slide 9 - Slide
Slide 10 - Slide
00:20
The course of true love never did run smooth =
A
love is a journey
B
love is not easy
Slide 11 - Quiz
00:20
Fill in the missing word: “The course of true ... never did smooth”
Slide 12 - Open question
Which character from A Midsummer Night's Dream are you?
Slide 13 - Slide
www.folger.edu
Slide 14 - Link
Which character from A Midsummer Night's Dream are you?
Slide 15 - Open question
The Many Plots of A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Slide 16 - Slide
The Many Plots of A Midsummer Night’s Dream - Teaching Tips
All you need is love
Note: This activity can be completed individually or in pairs.
There are four main plots that makeup the A Midsummer Night’s Dream—and there is one emotion that connects them all: love. Instruct students to watch the five videos in this media gallery.
Then distribute the Love and Plot in A Midsummer Night’s Dream handout and tell your students to watch the videos again. As they watch, they should record how love impacts each plot (e.g., Athenian court, the lovers, the fairies, and the rude mechanicals).
Order or Chaos?
Ask students to compare the order of the Athenian court to the chaos of the forest. Encourage students to use examples from the video and the play.
Then tell students to write an argumentative essay about which society they would prefer to live in. Instruct students to use evidence from the videos and play to support their argument.
Slide 17 - Slide
The Many Plots of A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Resource 1
In the Overview video (resource 1), host Hugh Bonneville describes the many plots in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
What are they?
Follow the link (next slide) and watch resource 1.
After watching, return to this LessonUp lesson and fill in your answer.
Slide 18 - Slide
www.pbslearningmedia.org
Slide 19 - Link
In the Overview video (resource 1), host 1. Hugh Bonneville describes the many plots in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. What are they?
Slide 20 - Open question
The Many Plots of A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Resource 2
Why does the host Hugh Bonneville say “a worrying beginning for a comedy” in the Lovers, Part I: The Athenian Court video? What’s worrying? What do Shakespeare’s comedies do for female characters?
Slide 21 - Slide
www.pbslearningmedia.org
Slide 22 - Link
Why does the host Hugh Bonneville say “a worrying beginning for a comedy” in the Lovers, Part I: The Athenian Court video? What’s worrying? What do Shakespeare’s comedies do for female characters?
Slide 23 - Open question
The Many Plots of A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Resource 3
In the Lovers, Part II: The Plan video, how do the scenes (and text) examine what’s happening between Hermia and Helena?
Slide 24 - Slide
www.pbslearningmedia.org
Slide 25 - Link
In the Lovers, Part II: The Plan video, how do the scenes (and text) examine what’s happening between Hermia and Helena?
Slide 26 - Open question
The Many Plots of A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Resource 4
In the Fairies video, Diane Purkiss says that Shakespeare's fairies serve a darker purpose. What type of mischief does she say they get into?
Slide 27 - Slide
www.pbslearningmedia.org
Slide 28 - Link
In the Fairies video, Diane Purkiss says that Shakespeare's fairies serve a darker purpose. What type of mischief does she say they get into?
Slide 29 - Open question
The Many Plots of A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Resource 5
What does Gail Paster say that Shakespeare was trying to show in the scenes with the Rude Mechanicals?
Slide 30 - Slide
www.pbslearningmedia.org
Slide 31 - Link
What does Gail Paster say that Shakespeare was trying to show in the scenes with the Rude Mechanicals?
Slide 32 - Open question
PUCK
Slide 33 - Slide
Meet Puck Activity
· Students analyze the character Puck from A Midsummer Night’s Dream and how he’s introduced in the play.
· In the “Puck” video from Shakespeare Uncovered, Julie Taymor discusses how she added a visual prologue to her 2013 production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Some interpret the entire play as Puck’s dream while others interpret Puck as being the one who starts all of the dreaming. While Taymor’s interpretation is unique, Shakespeare provided plenty of clues in the play’s text to describe Puck’s mischievous personality and how the character should be performed on stage.
· Today, the students are going to examine an excerpt from Act 2.1 where they are first introduced to Puck. This lesson will include speaking the language out loud, doing a textual analysis, and performing various interpretations of Puck using different types of voice and physical movement. Students will begin with an oral reading of the lines.
Slide 34 - Slide
view.officeapps.live.com
Slide 35 - Link
Puck - Discussion Questions
According to this video (next slide), Puck is a character that has many levels. What does this mean exactly and what are the levels?
What does the narrator Hugh Bonneville allude to when he says "But before the characters can see anything more clearly, the magic of Puck and Oberon is going to distort everything"?
Slide 36 - Slide
www.pbslearningmedia.org
Slide 37 - Link
According to this video (next slide), Puck is a character that has many levels. What does this mean exactly and what are the levels?
They can be the object of mischief (ellende) or they can sometimes be helpful
At the beginning of the play, Titania and Oberon are fighting over a changeling boy. This might remind you of stories about fairies kidnapping babies
Fairy folk and woodland creatures exist in many stories around the world.
Slide 39 - Slide
Act 3.2 The Four Lovers
In the video "How the Love Potion Impacts the Lovers and their Dialogue," host Hugh Bonneville talks about the rhymed poetry used in Act 3, scene 2 when the four lovers fight in the forest. Distribute the Act 3.2: The Four Lovers handout to your students and instruct them to identify the dialogue that’s in rhyming and blank verse. Students can work alone or in pairs. Encourage students to share their findings with the class. Conclude this activity with students acting out the scene.