| How does Act 1, Scene 1 begin to establish the conflict between power(control and superiority) and desire(wanting something)? | Many characters want something they can’t haveHermia=wants LysanderHelena=wants Demetrius Lysander=wants HermiaDemetrius=wants HermiaEgeus=wants Hermia to marry DemetriusTheseus= wants Hermia to obey Egeus |
| Power Play for Egeus | Power:he has power over Hermia since he is Hermia’s father, he decides who she can marryDesire: Hermia to marry DemetriusPower Play:go to Theseus for a decision |
| Power Play for Lysander | Power:love of HermiaDesire:Marry HermiaPower Play:run away to his wealthy aunt-away from Athens |
| Power Play for Helena | Power: informationDesire: marry DemetriusPower Play:will divulge Hermia and Lysander(she will tell Demetrius that Hermia and Lysander will run away, hoping that she can talk to Demetrius and win him over) |
| After Shakespeare establishes the conflict in act 1.scene 1, he introduces the tradesmen in scene 2. How does this scene help to establish the genre(comedy)? | The tradesmen are planning a play to perform at Theseus’s wedding. Bottom wants to play all the parts. Language malapropisms occur. Parts are given out by Quince. |
| How does the female/male character dynamic occur in A Midsummer Night’s Dream? | Hermia can’t marry Lysander because her father has power over her.The society in the play is that of a patriarchal(controlled by men)”To you your father should be as a god;One that composed your beauties, yea, and oneTo whom you are but as a form in waxBy him imprinted and within his powerTo leave the figure or disfigure it.” |
| What is iambic pentameter? | type of verseIambic meter=one unstressed and stressed syllable(da DUM)Iambic Pentameter is a line of poetry which has 5 iambs |
| What are sonnets? | sonnets are poemsthey are made up of fourteen lines written in iambic pentameter |
| What has been the impact of the struggle between Oberon and Titania? | sheep are dying from murrain, an infectious disease rheumatic diseasesfloodingbad weatherchanging seasonscrops are getting destroyed by floodsriver banks floodcold or flufogs |
| What is the conflict between Oberon and Titania? | Oberon wants the Indian boy. but Titania refuses to give it up |
| How does Oberon intend to claim the Indian boy from Titania? | Oberon is going to apply some of the flowers magic nectar to Titania’s eyeswhen Titania wakes up, she will fall in love with the next creature she sees.So she will not care about the Indian boy. |
| How does the conflict between power and desire drive the rising action(build up to the climax) of the comedy? | Oberon wants the Indian boy. Titania refuses to give it up. Oberon intends to use the nectar of the flower to bewitch Titania into falling in love with the first creature she sees.Oberon witnessed the interaction between Helena and Demetrius.Oberon feels bad for Helena, this will lead to Robin putting the magic nectar on Lysander instead of Demetrius.Demetrius even wants to kill Lysander. |
| Why does Bottom say “reason and love keep little company together nowadays”.?Why is this such an apt statement at this point in the play? | Bottom is confused because he does not know why Titania, the queen of the fairies, is talking like that to a weaver.Bottom says that Titania should have a reason for the things she is saying Lysander will fall in love with Helena |
| What is a pun? | a play in the sounds and double-meaning of wordsplay-on words |
| What is the intention of using a pun? | cheap humor(unsophisticated) |
| How does Shakespeare use word play,characterization, and plot to establish mood? | He uses pun to establish the genre of comedy. He also puts in a character who creates humor[Bottom].The wacky hijinks help to drive the plot forward . |
| “What do you see? you see a [donkey-head] of your own, do you?…I see their knavery: this is to make an [—] of me;to fright me, if they could.” What do these lines reveal about Bottom’s awareness of his transformation? | Bottom is not aware that he has transformed into a head of a donkey.He is clueless about his transformation. |
| What is aside? | a dramatic device to indicate that not all the characters can hear the lines |
| How will the problem of Pyramus’s suicide scaring the ladies be solved? | Write a (ridiculous) prologue to tell the audience that they are just actors and no one really dies |
| How will the problem of the lion scaring the ladies be solved? | Write another prologue to tell the audience that the lion is not real, he is played by Snug, the joiner. |
| How will the problem of the wall in the play of Pyramus and Thisbe be solved? | “Some man or other must present Wall”One of the tradesmen will play and will be covered in building materialsPyramus and Thisbe speak through a hole in the wall |
| How will the problem of the lovers meeting by moonlight be solved? | According to the almanac, there is a full moon, and they are going to leave a casement window open Problem-Are they sure that the moon will be on the same side as the casement? |
| How do the “wacky hijinks” that result from the interaction of the fairy world and the mortal world help drive the rising action of the comedy? | wacky hijinks-silly events/circumstances that occurLysander now loves HelenaTitania is in love with Bottom who has a head of a donkeyOberon can have the Indian boy the wacky hijinks help move the plot along and helps to ease tension |
| What is a recipe for a successful romantic comedy? | Love trianglesomeone who creates problemsJealousyInstigator or antagonistHumor-wacky hijinksdenial of interest/affection”strange” coincidences |
| How does the confusion created by the setting help to build tension toward the climax? | the darkness of the wood,in part, contributed to Robin putting the magic nectar on the wrong person which leads to the climax. The wacky hijinks helps to build the rising action and tension towards the climax. The woods are often portrayed as an escape from everyday life in literature. |
| What statement does A Midsummer Night’s Dream seem to make about romantic love? | “A Midsummer Night’s Dream is about love[author’s message].It proposes that love is a dream, or perhaps a vision that it is absurd,irrational[ridiculous], a delusion,or perhaps, on the other hand, a transfiguration;that it is doomed to be momentary[temporary].So quick bright things come to confusion(1.1.151), and that it constitutes at the same time the proper foundation for lifelong marriage”(Belsey 182) ~”dream”=love |
| Why does Shakespeare choose this point in the play{end of the play} to have Theseus lift the ancient law of Athens in the lover’s favor? | He chooses this point because everything is fine and all the lovers are happy.Path to resolution, conflict is ended. |
| How does the fairy blessing return balance to the world? | everything is fine and there is a happy and humorous atmosphere in Act 5. The play within a play creates the humorous/comedy aspect of the play. |
A Midsummer Night’s Dream Review
July 12, 2019