A Midsummer Night’s Dream

An Introduction

StarterWhat were the three ways of thinking about Shakespearean comedy we looked at last lesson?• Northrop Frye can help us to understand Shakespearean

comedy through the concept of “green worlds” in the play, which reinvigorate the old world and allow a new world to emerge

• Barber can help us through the idea of “festive comedy,” and the saturnalian pattern which these comedies follow

• Bahktin offers us the concept of “carnival” – celebration outside the bounds of the conventional culture

It may also help to understand the plays through these opposites:

• Everyday• Stricture• Restraint• Inhibition• Civilisation• Rule• Order• Court• The Urban• Age

• Holiday• Freedom• Liberty• Release• Nature• Misrule• Chaos• Country• The Rural• Youth

Look at the following images, painted in response to A Midsummer Night’s Dream by famous artists..

Thinking about both these paintings and the title of the play:

• What can we guess about the play from these images?

• What is the mood in these paintings?

• What themes or ideas might be raised by the play?

Look at the following cast of characters in the play…

• What might this list suggest about the action, mood, themes or ideas in the play?

Dramatis Personae

Theseus, Duke of AthensHipployta, Queen of the Amazons, betrothed to Theseus

Lysander, a young courtierDemetrius, another young courtier

Hermia, in love with LysanderHelena, in love with Demetrius

Egeus, Hermia's fatherPhilostrate, Master of Revels

Oberon, King of the Fairies

Titania, Queen of the FairiesA fairy, in service to Titania

Puck, or Robin Goodfellow, Oberon's jester and lieutenantPeaseblossom, a fairy in Titania's service

Cobweb, a fairy in Titania's serviceMoth, a fairy in Titania's service

Mustardseed, a fairy in Titania's service

Peter Quince, a carpenterNick Bottom, a weaver

Francis Flute, a bellows-menderTom Snout, a tinker

Snug, a joinerRobin Starveling, a tailor

Other fairies attending on Oberon and Titania

Lords and attendants to Theseus and Hippolyta

Look at the following settings for each scene of the play. What might they tell us about the action or ideas in the play?

Act 1, Scene 1: Athens. The palace of Theseus.Act 1, scene 2: Athens. Quince’s house.

Act 2, scene 1: A wood near Athens. Act 2, scene 2: Another part of the wood.

Act 3, scene 1: The wood. Titania lying asleep.Act 3, scene 2: Another part of the wood.

Act 4, scene 1: The same.Act 4, scene2 : Athens. Quince’s house.

Act 5, scene 1: Athens. The palace of Theseus.

Read the opening speeches of the play:

THESEUS

Now, fair Hippolyta, our nuptial hour

Draws on apace; four happy days bring in

Another moon: but, O, methinks, how slow

This old moon wanes! she lingers my desires,

Like to a step-dame or a dowager

Long withering out a young man revenue.

HIPPOLYTA

Four days will quickly steep themselves in night;

Four nights will quickly dream away the time;

And then the moon, like to a silver bow

New-bent in heaven, shall behold the night

Of our solemnities.

THESEUS

Go, Philostrate,

Stir up the Athenian youth to merriments;

Awake the pert and nimble spirit of mirth;

Turn melancholy forth to funerals;

The pale companion is not for our pomp.

Exit PHILOSTRATE

Hippolyta, I woo'd 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.

• What is happening in four days’ time?

• How does Theseus feel about those four days?

• What kind of imagery does Hippolyta use?

• What mood does it create?

• What does Theseus command Philostrate to do?

• What mood does he want to create throughout Athens?

• What mood does the last line create?

Task:

Thinking about the title of the play, the cast of characters, the settings and the opening speeches, how far do you think A Midsummer Night’s Dream is going to follow the patterns and engage with the ideas about Shakespearean comedy that we looked at last lesson?