A Midsummers Nights Dream is a play (within a play) set in Greece (Athens).
I like this quote:
"Shakespeare can be downright confusing, but that won't stop your teacher from making you read his stuff." from http://www.kidzworld.com/article/4279-kidz-notes-a-midsummers-nights-dream
Personally I found that studying this play gave me a headache, but then its my first Shakespeare so perhaps the headaches will get worse.
I like this quote:
"Shakespeare can be downright confusing, but that won't stop your teacher from making you read his stuff." from http://www.kidzworld.com/article/4279-kidz-notes-a-midsummers-nights-dream
Personally I found that studying this play gave me a headache, but then its my first Shakespeare so perhaps the headaches will get worse.
The play consists of 5 Acts and several scenes. It is classed as a comedy/tragedy.
Summery of the Play
This webpage is very useful and has quotes for each part of their explanation of the play: http://www.shakespearehigh.com/library/surfbard/plays/mnd/mnd_summary.html// This one is called - "All you need to know": http://www.shakespeare4kidz.com/a-midsummer-night-s-dream/a-midsummer-nights-dream-all-you-need-to-know-and-more.html and this one has a synopsis of the play - http://www.shakespeare-literature.com/A_Midsummer_Night's_Dream/0.html
----------------------------------------------------------
Below is what we have put together after reading the story and then looking at a few different sources. We found that some of the sources were not correct in what happened and when it happened, so it is important to read and understand the story yourself:
----------------------------------------------------------
Below is what we have put together after reading the story and then looking at a few different sources. We found that some of the sources were not correct in what happened and when it happened, so it is important to read and understand the story yourself:
Act 1 Scene 1
The storyline of this
play takes
place
in
Athens,
Greece.
The
play
starts
in
the
court
room
of
Duke
Theseus.
He is looking forward to his upcoming wedding to Hippolyta, "Queen of the Amazons".
Hippolyta, however is not looking forward to marrying Theseus. He says to her "Hippolyta, I wooed thee with my sword, and won thy love doing thee injuries; but I will wed thee in another key, with pomp, with triumph, and with revelling."...four happy days bring in another moon -- but O, methinks, how slow this old moon wanes!
A
man
named
Egeus, comes to see him. Egeus
is
having
trouble
with
his
daughter, Hermia,
so
he
brings
her
to
the
duke
for
help.
Full of vexation come I, with complaint against my child, my daughter Hermia.
Hermia
refuses
to
marry
Demetrius
‐
the
man
her
father
has
promised
her to. Instead,
she
wants
to
marry a man called Lysander, who has captured her heart with his ways.
Duke Theseus reminds Hermia that the law allows fathers to make their daughters do anything.
He
tells
her
that
her
only
choices are death or to
become
a
nun
and
never
set her eyes upon another male
person.
person.
Lysander and Hermia decide to run away from Athens.
Act 1 Scene 2
The actors of a play to be performed at the wedding of Duke Theseus and Hippolyta discuss the parts of their play.
Act 2 Scene 1
Oberon,
the
king
of
the fairies,
is
angry
at
his
queen,
Titania.
She
is
taking
care
of
a
little
human
boy
and
Oberon
is
jealous.
He
wants
to
take
the
boy
to
be
his
servant.
Titania
won’t
let
him. So Oberon (Fairy King) tells Puck to find a flower *(Wild Pansy) and to use the flowers juices to enchant Titania (Fairy Queen) so that he can trick her. The flowers juices contains magic, that once put into the eyes of a sleeping person, causes them to fall in love with the first person they see upon waking.
*Flower Quote: "It fell up a little western flower,....and maidens call it Love-in-idlesness"
*Flower Quote: "It fell up a little western flower,....and maidens call it Love-in-idlesness"
NOTE: Love-in-idleness is another name for the wild pansy. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love-in-idleness
Act 2 Scene 2
Lysander
and
Hermia
run
away
from
Athens Helena
In the meantime, Lysander
and
Hermia
have run
into
the
woods
to
make
plans but then they become lost and decide to sleep as they are tired.
Demetrius
chases
after them
while
Helena
follows,
begging
Demetrius to
love
her
back.
Demetrius
swears he
will
never
love
her.
Oberon
sees
this
and
feels
sorry
for
Helena. He
decides
to
help
her
by
using
the
magic
flower on Demitrius.
While they are sleeping, Puck mistakenly comes upon Lysander and thinking that he is Demitrius annoints him with a magical flower. This is supposed to make him fall in love the first person he sees when he awakes i.e. it is supposed to make Demetrius fall in love with Helena, but it mistakenly causes Lysander to fall in love with Helena. Helena has become separated from Demetrius in the woods. She first comes up Lysander as he lies sleeping and she awakens him by talking to him. When he awakes, he comes under the effects of the flower and so falls in love with Helena. Helena is confused by his statements of love for her and flees. He pursues her, leaving Hermia alone.
Act 3 Scene 1
The actors are rehearsing their play called "Pyramus and Thisbe" in the woods nearby to where Titania is sleeping.
They constantly get the lines of the play wrong and mispronounce the words. They, then decide to make the play less realistic. The lion is supposed to announce that he is not a lion, but only a common man. Bottom also decides to tell the audience that he is not really going to die, but will only pretend to do so. Puck sees
Nick
Bottom
and
thinks
it
would
be
funny
to
make
Queen
Titania
fall
in
love
with him.
While
Titania
is
sleeping,
Puck
drops
the
magic
juices
into
her
eyes.
Then
Puck
made a
cruel joke
and lures Bottom away. He then turns Bottoms head into a donkeys head.
All
the other actors
are
scared
when
they
see
Nick
Bottom
with
a
donkey
head, and they
run
away
screaming
and
wake
up
Titania.
She
instantly
sees falls
in
love
with
Nick
Bottom.
Act 3 Scene 2
Oberon tries to remedy things by anointing Demitrius with the flower so he'll fall in love with Helena Helena Helena
Unfortunately Hermia awakes alone (after having a nightmare) and seeks Lysander. She comes upon the three of them and is confused. Helena accuses them of teasing her and also accused Hermia of joining them in their jest.Helena
is
very
confused,
and
Hermia
is
very
mad.
She
thinks
her
best
friend
has
stolen
her
boyfriend.
Helena
is
angry
and
thinks
the
men
are
teasing
her.
Hermia
tries
to
fight
Helena.
Oberon is mad at Puck for making so many mistakes. He makes Puck stay up all night and fix the mess.
Lysander and Demetrius prepare to fight one another for Helena
Oberon is mad at Puck for making so many mistakes. He makes Puck stay up all night and fix the mess.
Act 4 Scene 1
Titania is in love with Bottom and his donkey head. Oberon un-enchants her. Oberon awakes Titania and transforms Bottom back to a human. Oberon and Titania then make up and love each other again. In the woods, Theseus, Hippolyta, and Egeus appear and awake the sleeping couples. When
the
lovers
wake up, things are as they should be -
Lysander
loves
Hermia
and
Demetrius
loves
Helena. Demetrius and Lysander inform the Duke and Egeus of their respective loves. The lords agree to let them marry.
Act 4 Scene 2
Bottom returns to the actors and they get ready for their play.
Act 5 Scene 1
Act 5 Scene 1
At dinner, they all hear Quince's tragical play. In it, Thisby and Pyramus whisper their love through a chink in a wall (played by Snout). They vow to meet at Ninny's tomb, but a lion (played by Snug) attacks Thisby. Pyramus arrives and finds her scarf, assumes she's dead, and kills himself Thisby arrives to find him dead, and kills herself. After the play, at midnight, all go to bed, then the fairies appear and frolic. At the end Puck turns to the audience and thanks them for watching such a daft play. He tells them that it was only a DREAM.
In the play, the audience laugh despite it being a tragic tale as Bottom mixes up his words and it comes across as funny. “I see a voice...I can hear my Thisbe’s face” (http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/msnd/section9.rhtml)
----------------------------
Questions: http://www.bookrags.com/notes/mnd/
http://www.enotes.com/midsummer-nights-dream
http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/msnd
-----------------------
Did you know there are some strange and interesting facts and triva about this play: They are detailed here: http://www.shakespeare4kidz.com/a-midsummer-nights-dream-facts-and-trivia.html
Heres a couple:
British Astronomer William Herschel named the two moons of Uranus he discovered in 1787 after characters in the play, Oberon and Titania.
Theseus was, according to legend, a great adventurer and womaniser, most famous for slaying the Minotaur on the island of Crete
The story of Pyramus and Thisbe is told in Ovid's Metamorphoses and the transformation of Bottom into an ass is descended from Apuleius' The Golden Ass.
Cobweb is given her name because of how fragile a cobweb – reminding us how fragile this fairy is.
Sweet Peaseblossom is given her name because peaseblossom the flower is a symbol of sweetness.
Sweet Peaseblossom is given her name because peaseblossom the flower is a symbol of sweetness.
Mustardseeds are very small so we know how tiny and vulnerable this fairy is.
Moth is given her name because she is as delicate as the moths who flutter about the Athenian woods at dusk.
No comments:
Post a Comment