2. Renaissance A Midsummer Night's Dream

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 5

A Midsummer night's dream

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. 

Let's familiarise with the plot and its characters by watching a summary of the play.

While you watch: 

Write down the names of the characters. 

1. Athens:
2. Forest:
3. Actors:

Plot summary

Characters

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 

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

00:20

The course of true love never did run smooth =

1. love is a journey
2. love is not easy

00:20

Fill in the missing word:
“The course of true ... never did smooth”

Which character from A Midsummer Night's Dream are you?

www.folger.edu

Which character from A Midsummer Night's Dream are you?

The Many Plots of A Midsummer Night’s Dream 

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.

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. 

www.pbslearningmedia.org

In the Overview video (resource 1), host 1. Hugh Bonneville describes the many plots in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
What are they?

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?

www.pbslearningmedia.org

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?

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?

www.pbslearningmedia.org

In the Lovers, Part II: The Plan video, how do the scenes (and text) examine what’s happening between Hermia and Helena?

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?

www.pbslearningmedia.org

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?

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?

www.pbslearningmedia.org

What does Gail Paster say that Shakespeare was trying to show in the scenes with the Rude Mechanicals?

PUCK

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.

view.officeapps.live.com

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"?

www.pbslearningmedia.org

According to this video (next slide), Puck is a character that has many levels. What does this mean exactly and what are the levels?

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.  

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.

cdn2.rsc.org.uk

cdn2.rsc.org.uk