Renaissance lesson 6 Shakespeare's plays + A Midsummer Night's dream

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 5

What do you know about
William Shakespeare?

This lesson

• Shakespeare
• The Globe 
• Comedies
• A Midsummer Night's Dream

Which plays can you name?

Listening/Video activity

• We are going to watch a video
  
• After the video, you'll need to answer some questions 
• take notes in order to answer those questions

! New question form CITO !

True

False

1. Shakespeare's work has had a great influence on the English language. 

2. What we know about Shakespeare is mainly from the time he lived in London. 

3. The Royal Shakespeare Company has some of the best Shakespearian actors in Britain. 

4. Anne and Mariesa learnt a lot about Shakespeare's life at school. 

5. Danny says that Shakespeare moved to London when he was quite old. 

6. Mike says that Shakespeare ran the Globe Theatre when 

he lived in London. 

1

2

3

4

5

6

52

23-04-1564

18

3

37

all types of people

3,000

glove maker

cheap

7

none

daytime

2,000

king and nobles

20

nighttime

Theatres

- Large theatre: up to 3000 people

- Wooden structures

- Open stage, no roof

- Raised stage, pit for watching

- People cheering, booing, throwing

- Dialogue important & costumes

- Little scenery or objects

William Shakespeare

- Born 1564

- Married to Anne Hathaway (not the actress)

- The Lord Chamberlain's Men

- 1599: performing at Globe Theatre

- Performed at Queen Elizabeth I's court 

Globe Theatre

- Opened in 1599

- Staged many of Shakespeare's plays

- Burned down in 1613

- Rebuilt in 1614

- English civil war: theatres broken down 

- Rebuilt again: 1997

Acting Groups

- Shakespeare: "Lord Chamberlain's Men"

- Performed 6 or more times a week

- Travelled around 

- Created their own costumes etc. 

- Very skilled: singing, dancing, acrobatics, play instruments, 

- Women were not allowed

16th Century Acting Group

21st Century Acting Group

Perform 6 plays a week

Perform 1 play a few times a week

Men & Women

Only Men

Create their own costumes

Do not create their own costumes

Which plays can you name?

Theatre

The Globe...

-> Theatre had an unsavoury reputation. (outside of city)

-> Could hold several thousand people, most standing in the open pit before the stage (shouting at actors!)
-> Rich nobles could watch the play from a chair set on the side of the stage itself. 
-> in the afternoon, because, of course, there was no artificial lighting

00:30

How many people could watch a play if they were crowded in?

1. 1500
2. 3000
3. 2000
4. 300

00:41

How was the term 'box office' coined?

01:20

How much money did you have to pay to get a cushion and a chair?

1. 1 penny
2. 2 pennies
3. 3 pennies
4. 4 pennies

03:16

What was the single, most valuable piece of equipment that the players owned?

1. The costumes
2. Props - a chair or bed
3. A beautiful dress
4. The pillars that held the stage up

04:49

Where was the space called 'hell'?

1. At the back of the theatre
2. Just outside the exit doors
3. Up in the box offices
4. Under the stage

Shakespeare's Comedies (p. 30)

• 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. 

Magical creatures

• Trolls, Witches, Fairies - 16th-century lore (overlevering)

• 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.  

Plot summary

The end of the story

• This play is full of couples - and some of them are not very happy.
• However, in the end, with a bit of help from the fairies, everything is sorted out.

• If you are thinking of pretty creatures with wings and magic wands, think again. Shakespeare's fairies argue and fight as much, if not more than human beings - and they are not above playing some nasty tricks. 
• But as Puck says when he apologizes to the audience at the end, it is probably best not to take all this too seriously. Perhaps it was all a dream...
  

Puck changes the actor Bottom's head in that of a:

1. dog
2. cat
3. horse
4. donkey

How does the play end?

1. Everybody loves the right person
2. Everybody loves the wrong person
3. Oberon falls in love with Helena
4. Oberon falls in love with Hermia

A Midsummer Night's Dream is

1. a sonnet
2. a comedy
3. a historical play
4. a tragedy

Alquin questions page 32

Question 1 

You don't have to answer this one because the answer is right here!

Why are the violets described as 'nodding'? 

answer: the nodding violets create a picture of them being disturbed by a gentle summer breeze and thus helps to make the spot sound idyllic.

Question 2: In this short passage Shakespeare appeals to various senses. Which?

3. If you could choose to play a part in this play, which one would it be, and why?

4. Name the three different storylines in the play.

1. The Athenians, the craftsmen, the fairies
2. The musicians, the gods, the lovers
3. The people of Crete, the craftsmen, the magicians
4. The Athenians, the gods, the fairies

Question 4 explained

The three worlds that meet in the wood are: 

• The world of the Athenian aristocracy, involving Theseus, king of Athens, and his courtiers
• The world of the fairies, represented by Oberon, Titania, Puck and the others
• The world of the ordinary working people, in the form of Bottom (the weaver) and his friends rehearsing their play.

5. What is the significance of the setting in terms of facilitating the events portrayed?

6. What is the basis of the three marriages that take place at the end?

1. Lust
2. True love
3. Money
4. Power

The end, thank you for your answers!