| The Fairies | Supernatural characters that represent the almost magical power of love, and their meddling helps drive the action of the play. |
| The Rude Mechanicals | The laborers/acting troupe in the play. These characters represent comic relief (slapstick comedy) |
| The Athenians | Contains Athenian Nobles. These characters represent order and structure. |
| The Lovers | Sometimes grouped with the Athenians. These characters represent love’s difficulty. |
| Theseus | Duke of Athens. Engaged to Hippolyta. |
| Hippolyta | Queen of the Amazons. Engaged to Theseus. |
| Egeus | Hermia’s Father. Has given Demetrius permission to marry Hermia. |
| Philostrate | Master of revels (parties), planning entertainment for Theseus and Hippolyta’s wedding. |
| Demetrius | Initially loves Hermia, but falls in love with Helena. |
| Hermia | Daughter of Egeus. Hermia loves Lysander. She is short and dark-haired. |
| Lysander | Loves Hermia. Plans to run away with her. |
| Helena | Loves Demetrius. Best friends with Hermia. She is tall and fair-haired. |
| Quince | Carpenter. Directs and plays the Prologue in Pyramus and Thisbe. |
| Bottom | Self confident weaver. Plays Pyramus in Pyramus and Thisbe. Gets turned into a donkey in the forest. |
| Flute | Bellows mender. Plays Thisbe in Pyramus and Thisbe. |
| Snout | The tinker. Plays the Wall in Pyramus and Thisbe. |
| Snug | the Joiner. Plays the Lion in Pyramus and Thisbe. |
| Starveling | The tailor. Plays the moon in Pyramus and Thisbe. |
| Oberon | King of the fairies. He wants the boy Titania cares for and his potions begins all the troubles. |
| Puck | aka Robin Goodfellow. Serves Oberon. Loves to play pranks on mortals and mixes up the lovers. |
| Titania | Queen of the fairies. Briefly falls in love with Bottom while under a spell |
| Athens | city that is the play’s setting (along with the woods outside the city of course) |
| alliteration (poetry term) | repetition of initial consonant sounds in neighboring words |
| assonance (poetry term) | repetition of vowel sounds in neighboring words |
| apostrophe (poetry term) | direct address to an absent or imaginary person or thing as though it were present and could respond |
| hyperbole (poetry term) | exaggeration used for emphasis |
| allusion (poetry term) | a reference to a historical or literary figure or event |
| metaphor (poetry term) | a figurative comparison between to objects or ideas that does not include “like” or “as” |
| simile (poetry term) | a figurative comparison between to objects or ideas that does include “like” or “as” |
| personification (poetry term) | figurative language that gives human traits to nonhuman things |
| example of alliteration | “dainty duck dear” |
| example of assonance | “one shAde the more, one rAy the less / had half impaired the nAmeless grAce” |
| example of metaphor | “lily lips” |
| example of apostrophe | “Hello, It’s Me” (Adele song) |
| example of personification | The storm was like Mother Earth shaking her fist at us. |
| example of hyperbole | “Hello from the other side / I must have called 1000 times” (Adele song) |
| Act 1, scene 1 | Theseus and Hippolyta discuss their upcoming wedding day; Egeus brings his complaint about his daughter Hermia to Theseus; Lysander & Hermia to escape Athens and tell Helena their plan |
| Act 1, scene 2 | the Rude Mechanicals gather to begin rehearsals for “Pyramus and Thisbe,” a play they hope to perform at the Duke’s wedding |
| Act 2, scene 1 | Robin Goodfellow (Puck) is introduced; we learn of Oberon and Titania’s fight over a changeling boy and how Oberon plans to resolve it by tricking her with a love spell |
| Act 2, scene 2 | Puck mistakes Lysander for Demetrius and applies the love potion; Helena chases Demetrius to the spot where Lysander and Hermia lie sleeping, but he leaves her there; she wakes Lysander who (under the spell) immediately falls in love with her and chases her into the forest; Hermia wakes alone from a nightmare |
| Act 3, scene 1 | the Mechanicals rehearse and Puck puts an ass’s head on Bottom; his singing wakes Titania who (under the spell) immediately falls in love with him |
| Act 3, scene 2 | play’s longest scene: Oberon realizes Puck screwed up the potion and now applies it to Demetrius who immediately falls in love with Helena; both men pursue her though she thinks they are mocking her and that Hermia put them up to it; Oberon & Puck devise a plan to fix it for good |
| Act 4, scene 1 | Titania gives Oberon the boy and he releases her from the spell; Theseus, Hippolya, and Egeus come upon the 4 lovers in the woods and find order restored and Hermia is pardoned; Bottom awakes |
| Act 4, scene 2 | Bottom re-joins the Mechanicals and tells them their play is preferred for the Duke’s wedding. |
| Act 5, scene 1 | Theseus & Hippolyta discuss the lovers’ story about their night in the wood; the Rude Mechanicals get to perform their play! |
Midsummer Night’s Dream
July 16, 2019