Midsummer Night's Dream

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 2

A Midsummer Night's Dream - Test REVISION

What comes to mind when you think of William Shakespeare? Use the internet to find out basic information and then try to answer the questions on the QUIZ slides. If you didn't do well, check the correct answers and take notes on your exercise book.

Look up some information about William Shakespeare:

Who was he married to.

Where was he buried?

 Can you name some of his plays? 

What is a sonnet? 

If you are revising in class:

DO

Take notes

Use your earphones to listen to the film clips and answer the QUIZ slides

DON'T: 

Have the sound function on when you listen to the film clips or answer the QUIZ slides

When was William Shakespeare born?

1. 1498
2. 1564
3. 1895

In which period of English history was Shakespeare alive?

1. Elizabethan
2. Georgian
3. Victorian

Which of these plays was NOT written by Shakespeare?

1. Hamlet
2. Romeo and Juliet
3. The Taming of the Rat
4. Macbeth

Where was Shakespeare born?

1. Stratford Upon Avon
2. Cambridge
3. Oxford

How many children did Shakespeare have?

1. 1
2. 2
3. 3
4. 4

Which type of plays did Shakespeare NOT write?

1. Tragedies
2. Comedies
3. Musicals
4. Historical plays

What’s the name of the “Shakespeare theatre’ in London?

1. The World Theatre
2. The Globe Theatre
3. The Old Shakespeare Theatre

Take some notes about Midsummer Night's Dream:

• What are the three different story lines in the play?
• How many weddings take place before the play-within -a-play?
•  Who suggests that the audience consider whether the entire play has been a dream?

Use the following slides to gain a better insight in to the play

READ THE INTRODUCTION ON SLIDE 13

Take notes on: 

• The three different story lines in the play.
• READ SLIDES 14 TO 17
• The relationships between the Athenians, for example who does Hermia's father want her to marry, who does she want to marry? 
• What about the wedding, where will it take place?

Introduction

William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream is considered Shakespeare's most popular comedy. The play has three main story lines, the Athenians (sparring lovers), the craftsman (the Mechanicals) and the fairies.

The first performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream was known with certainty to be at Court on January 1st 1605.

Originally, the cast had no scenery and only a few props. The audience would have focussed on the costumes, music and language of the play. During these early performances, it was the norm for a group of gifted boy players to take the female roles. 

Act 1 Scene 1

Theseus, Duke of Athens is impatient to marry Hyppolyta, the conquered Queen of the Amazons, but he still has to wait a few more days. 

Egeus comes to the duke to complain that his daughter, Hermia, does not want to obey him and marry Demetrius. Instead, she loves Lysander. 

According to Athenian law, Hermia must either marry her father's choice of husband, be executed or live the life of a nun, away from all men. 

Theseus gives Hermia four days to decide. Seeing that matters are against them, Lysander and Hermia decide to flee to Athens the next night.............

Continued....

However, Helena, Hermia's friend, is dejected because she loves Demetrius who no longer loves her (as he now loves Hermia). Lysander and Hermia tell Helena of their plan to escape, so she will have Demetrius all to herself. Helena decides to betray her friend and to tell Demetrius of Hermia's planned escape in order that she might receive his thanks and be able to kee him company as he seeks out Hermia in the woods (to win his affection)

Ruler of the people we meet in the play. 

as a rule he is law-abiding.

Is a good influence on Theseus

He is the start of all the trouble between the lovers

This character doesn't have much to say and we don't ever get to know what they think of the outcome.

If you need to refresh your memory, read the following slides: 

Take a few notes along the lines of:

• What is it that Oberon wants from Titania
• What role does the flower juice play?

Act 1 Scene 2

Quince, Bottom, Snug, Flute, Snout and Starveling (the so-called "Mechanicals"), all simple craftsmen from Athens, meet to discuss a play they want to perform for the Duke's wedding. Although Quince is their leader, Bottom keeps taking over, he wants to play every part of their chosen play Pyramus and Thisbe, although his role is to be that of Pyramus, an unfortunate lover. The others are to play the lover's parents except Snug who will play the lion. They agree to rehearse next night.

Act 2 scene 1

A fairy and Robin Goodfellow, or "Puck", meet in the woods as both are preparing the arrival of their respective rulers, Titania and Oberon, queen and king of the fairies. Oberon and Titania have fallen out over an Indian boy whom Titania has adopted and whom Oberon wants as a page. Because of their quarrel, nature is in turmoil and all the seasons are muddled up. Titania refuses to give the boy or to rejoin Oberon.  

Act 2 scene 1- continued........

The fairy king decides to make her pay and asks Puck to find a magical flower. When the juice of the flower is dripped into the eyes of someone asleep, it makes them fall in love with the first thing they see when they wake. Oberon plans to use this to make Titania fall in love with some horrible creature. 

While Puck is gone, Helena and Demetrius pass through the woods, searching for Hermia and Lysander. Oberon watches...

Act 2 scene 1 - continued....

Demetrius spurns Helena and makes a promise that Demetrius will love her soon. Puck returns with the magic flower and Oberon tells him to find the Athenian and administer the flower juice while he sleeps, so that he may fall in love with the girl he is with.

Act 2 - scene 2

Titania, surrounded by her fairy court, goes to sleep. While asleep, Oberon puts some of the juice from the flower in her eyes. Hermia and Lysander appear in the woods,

having lost their way. They decide to wait till dawn before proceeding further. Instead of sleeping close together, Hermia asks Lysander to sleep further from her, as modesty requires. While they are asleep, Puck happens upon the two.

He thinks these are the two Athenians Oberon talked about, and he squeezes the juice of the flower into Lysander’s eyes. 

Act 2 - Scene 2 ... coninued

When Helena comes

along, having been abandoned by Demetrius, Lysander wakes to see her and, under the flower's magical power, falls in love with her. Helena thinks Lysander is mocking her and leaves. Lysander

follows, leaving Hermia asleep alone. She wakes and finds she is alone, having had a nightmare in which a snake eats her heart.

Act 3 - Scene 1

The Mechanicals meet in the woods to rehearse their play. They begin by discussing whether their play might frighten the ladies before rehearsing their lines. Puck watches the labourers make a mess of things and decides to have some fun with them. While Bottom is sent “off stage” and away from the others, Puck conjures a donkey’s head onto him. When his fellow workers see him they flee, leaving him alone, singing to keep himself company. His singing wakes Titania, who has been sleeping nearby, and because of the flower juice administered by Oberon, she falls in love with him. She orders her fairies to wait on him and then leads him to her bed.

Act 3 - Scene 2

Puck tells Oberon all that has happened. Oberon is pleased, but when Demetrius and Hermia enter, Oberon realises that Puck has bewitched the wrong man. Hermia believes Demetrius has killed Lysander, but he denies bringing harm to him. She leaves Demetrius, and, exhausted, he lies down to sleep. Oberon applies the flower to his eyes and orders Puck to bring Helena to him. Helena enters, followed by a lovesick Lysander. When Demetrius awakes, he too is now in love with Helena. Helena thinks the two men are mocking her. Hermia then arrives, and Lysander tells her that he no longer loves her. 

Act 3 - Scene 2 ....continued

Helena thinks that Hermia is also out to make fun of her, 

but Hermia accuses her friend of having bewitched

Lysander. Lysander and Demetrius decide to fight over their right to Helena and leave. The two women leave, too (separately). Oberon reprimands Puck and orders him to set things right by dripping the antidote into Lysander’s eye.

Act 3 - Scene 2 ....continued

Puck casts a dense fog over the woods and separates the

 two men, who are trying to find each other so that they might fight. He leads both astray until, exhausted, they separately 

fall asleep. The two women also find their way to the area 

and fall asleep in the woods, exhausted by the night’s events. Puck anoints Lysander’s eyes with the antidote.

Act IV - Scene 1

Titania continues to dote on Bottom with his ass’s head. They fall asleep together. Oberon, who has meanwhile received the changeling boy from Titania, frees her from the spell, and she wakes. She sees Bottom with the donkey’s head and realises what has happened. Titania and Oberon are reconciled and decide to bless Theseus’s wedding together (although we never learn the fate of the changeling boy!).

Act IV - Scene 1 continued.....

A short while later, while out hunting, Theseus, Hippolyta and Egeus stumble upon the four lovers, who are sleeping in close proximity, unbeknownst to them due to the dense fog the previous night. As best they can, they tell the Duke what has happened. Demetrius is now in love with Helena (either genuinely, or possibly due to the juice from the magical flower). 

Act IV - Scene 1 continued....

Although

Egeus still wants Demetrius to marry Hermia, Theseus overrules him and decides that the two happy couples shall marry together with him and Hippolyta.

After all have left, Bottom wakes up as his normal self (with his human head) but at a complete loss to say what has happened.

     Act IV Scene 2

Without Bottom, the Mechanicals despair as they cannot hope to stage the play without their leading actor. All their hopes for fame and honour are dashed. Then, suddenly, Bottom arrives and urges them to prepare for their performance.

Read the following slides

Think about: 

What happens to Pyramus during the craftsmen's play

Act V - Scene 1

Hippolyta and Theseus marvel at the story of the four lovers. When presented with the choice of plays to while away the time until the night, Theseus – despite the protests of his master of revels, Philostrate – chooses the Mechanicals’ play of Pyramus and Thisbe.

During the play, the Athenian youths mock the labourers, who overact and misread their lines. In the play, Pyramus and Thisbe are two lovers whose parents don’t approve of their love. 

Act V - Scene 1 continued.....

They communicate through a chink in the wall and agree to meet outside the town. Thisbe is first there and is surprised by a lion. She runs away, but leaves her scarf in its maw. Pyramus then arrives and, seeing the mauled scarf, thinks Thisbe is dead and kills himself. When Thisbe returns she sees the dead Pyramus and kills herself out of grief.

Act V Scene 1 continued.....

Theseus is pleased with the play, and all retire. The play over, the celebrations ended for the day, and everyone in bed, Oberon, Titania and their fairies fly through the house, blessing it and the couples within it.

Epilogue

Puck remains alone and asks that the audience, if displeased, imagine that what they saw was just a dream. If, however, they are pleased, he asks for their approval through clapping.