Show:
Act 1
Act 2
Act 3
Act 4
Act 5
100
Oberon and Titania
What are the names of the King and Queen of the fairies
100
They explain how Oberon is jealous of Titania for having an adopted male child who he wants to train to become a night, but Titania will not let him. This causes them to fight every time they see each other.
What does the reader find out about the current relationship between Oberon, King of the Fairies, and Titania, Queen of the Fairies, from Puck and the first fairy?
100
Hermia accuses Helena of being a 'Thief of love', because now Lysander and Demetrius both love Helena, leaving Hermia on her own and loved by no one.
Of what does Hermia accuse Helena?
100
Because there is a fox hunt, (an English tradition). By including this scene in the play, it shows Shakespeare crossing the line between the 'Athenian' world he created within the play, and his own reality which is the Elizabethan era in England.
Why are Theseus, Hippolyta, Egeus, and the others out in the woods so early in the morning?
100
Philostrate tells Theseus that the actors are just workingmen with no talent. He didn’t want Theseus to see the play because he deemed it too badly written and performed, as it was tedious yet brief and merry in it’s tragedy.
Why does Philostrate try to keep Theseus from seeing the play? What does he say is wrong with it?
200
Diana is the Goddess of the moon
Who is Diana?
200
She had promised the boy's deceased mother, who when she was alive had been Titania's servant as well as a very close friend, that she would protect and take care of her son.
Why won’t Titania give up the changeling to Oberon?
200
Because Helena thinks that Demetruis is only lying and playing games with her, since he didn't have any feelings for her at all before.
Why is Helena upset when Demetrius says he loves her? Isn’t this what she had wanted all along?
200
He will ask Quince to write him a sonnet called 'Bottom's Dream'.
Bottom believes he too has had a dream. How is he going to use that to entertain the Duke?
200
Because it causes the actors to have different emotions. For example, at a certain point, Bottom completelycomes out of character to answer what the audience was saying.
How does Shakespeare use comments from the audience to enhance the humour of the play that they are watching?
300
They were both supposed to obey their father, and once they were married, they were to obey their husband. Theseus' rule is that she must marry Demetrius or she would be killed or sent to a nunnery.
What was the proper role for women/daughters in Athenian society according to Egeus and Theseus? What is Theseus’s ruling concerning Hermia?
300
It badly affected the seasons, causing it to rain constantly,"Small streams have been flooded and over flown there banks," which affected people's farms and all the land, "The fields have been ploughed and planted for no reason because of the rain", and "The park walk-ways are overgrown with vegetation." It also had a negative affect on nature, for example, "Crows have gotten fat eating all the drowned sheep and diseased cattle."
What effect has their quarrel had on nature, on the seasons, on humans?
300
He is saying that when people fall in love, they don't think about why or how it is happening, they just let it happen. He is trying to say that you don't need to think too much, because in a way love can control you instead of yourself having control over the situation.
Bottom says, "…reason and love keep little company together nowadays." Why is this such an apt statement at this point in the play?
300
Initially, they all believe it was certainly a dream which they had. They start to become confused as they realize it was the same dream which they all had. Demetrius is changed permanently because he is now in love with Helena.
How do most of the dreamers respond to the dream experience upon waking? Which character is changed permanently by the dream experience?
300
Within the play, the whole point of the Prologue is to give their audience a summary of the play beforehand, so the ladies will be scared or shocked during the scenes when Pyramis commits suicide or when there is a lion. Shakespeare included this to mock the manner of playwrights who feel the need to give prologues like this, which therefore just insult the audience instead of being appreceated.
What is accomplished by having the Prologue tell the whole story that the actors are then going to enact?
400
The problem is that she is in love with someone, yet she is being forced against her will to marry another man for whom she has no real feelings for. Her only real choices are either to be killed, to marry a man she does not love, or to join a nunnery - so Lysander suggests that the two run away and get married.
Identify Hermia’s basic dilemma. What are the choices outlined for her by Theseus and her father? What other choice does Lysander suggest?
400
So she will forget all about the fight which the two of them had.
Why does Oberon want Titania to wake and fall in love with some vile thing?
400
Because Helena thinks that Demetruis is only lying and playing games with her, since he didn't have any feelings for her at all before.
Why is Helena upset when Demetrius says he loves her? Isn’t this what she had wanted all along?
400
- It is a strange and unrealistic coincidence that they all had the same dream. Therefore, they aren't entirely sure if it was real or not.
Why can’t the young people be sure whether they are awake or dreaming?
400
- He apologizes for the mistakes he made with the love potion and the result which came out of the whole ordeal. He also tells the audience that if they liked it, they can tell their friends, and if they didn’t, they may as well think of it as a dream. Metaphorically and symbolically, this is supposed to mean that if they liked what happened (as in the whole situation of what happened to each character), they can remember it and tell the story, but if not, they can pretend as though it never happened because everything has now been resolved and things are finally how they were meant to be.
What is the purpose of Puck’s final speech
500
Lysander exclaims that Demetrius is an unreliable lover because he left Helena, so he brings up the fact that he may be unreliable with Hermia as well.
How does Lysander’s comment about Demetrius’s previous love affair with Helena complicate things?
500
Because the dream she had was of a serpent trying to eat her heart, which was symbolic of the romantic situation she was in at the time in the novel.
How is Hermia’s dream a reflection of reality?
500
- I believe the message Shakespeare is trying to deliver through this play, is that throughout the early stages of both love and infatuation, they seem almost identical and it is hard to tell them apart and decide which of them you truly feel. Although, once you get past the beginning of your feelings, infatuation will easily fade or break, whereas true love will last through the obstacles. This theory demonstrated in different scenes and situations within the storyline. For example, even after Lysander had despised Hermia and treated her with such disrespect while he was under the spell, Hermia still wished he had been shielded from harm. If all she felt for Lysander was infatuation instead of love, she would most likely not have cared whether or not he had been hurt, after he hurt her.
In this act, several characters look back at prior infatuations with disbelief. What do you think Shakespeare is saying about love and infatuation?
500
Answer with a valid explanation
Should Oberon be punished for his crimes?