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THINKING ABOUT A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM

The Reconciliation of Titania and Oberon, Joseph Noel Paton, 1847

Introduction

Notes on the Text

Sources

Quizzes

Quotations

Characters

Themes

Audio Recordings

Links to YouTube Videos

Essays and Projects

A Midsummer Night's Dream – Introduction• It is unknown when MND was first

written or performed, but it is usually dated between 1594 – 1596.

• May have been written for an aristocratic wedding or to celebrate the Feast of St. John

• Midsummer Eve, or St. John’s Eve, was celebrated on June 23.

• Categorized as a comedy, it is one of Shakespeare’s most popular works.

Titania Embracing Bottom, Henry Fuseli (1793)Main Menu

A Midsummer Night's Dream – The Text• First quarto edition published in 1600

by Thomas Fisher.

• Second quarto edition published in 1619 by William Jaggard, as part of “False Folio.”

• Included in First Folio of 1623.

• First documented performance occurred at Court on Jan. 1, 1605.

Title page of first quarto, 1600Main Menu

A Midsummer Night's Dream – Sources

• MND has no single source.

• Unlike many of Shakespeare’s plays, it’s not an adaptation of another work.

• Pyramus and Thisbe comes from Ovid’s The Metamorphosis.

• Wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta comes from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.

• Other aspects of the play are derived from Roman comedic tradition and English folk tales.

Main MenuThisbe, John Waterhouse (1909)

A Midsummer Night's Dream - Quizzes

Act I

Act II

Act III

Act IV

Act V

Main MenuA Midsummer Night’s Dream, Edwin Landseer (1848)

MND: Act I Quiz Click the for an answer.

1. Explain why Egeus has come to Theseus to complain about his daughter, Hermia.

2. Why do Hermia and Lysander plan to visit his aunt who lives outside of Athens?

3. Who is Helena, and why does she decide to tell Demetrius about Hermia and Lysander’s plan?

4. What part will Bottom play in “Pyramus and Thisbe,” and how does Peter Quince convince Bottom to accept the part?

5. Why are the tradesmen worried about the lion’s part in their production?

Quizzes Main Menu

1. Explain why Egeus has come to Theseus to complain about his daughter, Hermia. Click anywhere for the answer.

Next Question

Egeus has promised Hermia in marriage to Demetrius, who is in love with her.

However, Hermia has fallen in love with Lysander and refuses to obey her father.

Egeus demands that Hermia be punished if she refuses to obey his order to marry Demetrius.

Quizzes Main Menu

A Midsummer Night's Dream - Quotations

Act I

Act II

Act III

Act IV

Act V

Titania Awakening, Henry Fuseli (1785-89)Main Menu

1. 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.

2. Full of vexation come I, with complaintAgainst my child, my daughter…

3. The course of true love never did run smooth;

4. I will roar you as gently as any sucking dove; I will roar you, as 'twere any nightingale.

Quotations

MND: ACT I QUOTATIONS CLICK THE FOR AN ANSWER.

Main Menu

1. 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. Click anywhere for the answer.

Next Question

Theseus explains that although he won Hippolyta’s love by conquering her in battle, their marriage will have a different tone, one of lavish celebration.

Quotations Main Menu

A Midsummer Night's Dream - Characters

Theseus

Hippolyta

Demetrius

Hermia

Lysander

Helena

Puck

Titania, Henry Meynell Rheam, date unknown

Oberon

Titania

Egeus

Nick BottomThe TradesmenThe Fairies

Changelings

Main Menu

Puck - 1• Also known as Robin Goodfellow, based

on a figure from English mythology.

• A mischievous fairy or spirit who delights in causing trouble for humans.

• With Bottom, the only character in the play involved in all three plots.

• Oberon’s servant, sent to obtain the magic flower struck by Cupid’s arrows.

• Mistakenly doses the sleeping Lysander, instead of Demetrius, causing the comic confusion among the four Athenian lovers.

Characters Next

Vince Cardinale as Puck from the Carmel Shakespeare Festival production of A

Midsummer Night's Dream, Sept., 2000

Main Menu

Puck - 2• Changes Bottom’s head to that of a

donkey, causing Titania to fall in love with a beast and allowing Oberon to take the changeling boy from her.

• Puck later separates Demetrius and Lysander by imitating their voices, and corrects his earlier mistake by causing Lysander to fall back in love with Hermia.

• The four lovers awake believing the events of the previous night were a dream.

• Puck ends the play suggesting that if the audience was offended, they should just pretend it was all a dream.

Characters Back

Puck, Joshua Reynolds, 1789

Main Menu

The Fairies• Fairies in medieval and Renaissance

folklore were often described as having human form and magical powers.• Fairies have also been depicted in

folklore as tall angels, short wizened trolls, tiny figures with wings or even small children.

• Many stories revolve around humans protecting themselves from their malicious pranks or magic potions by avoiding locations they are known to inhabit.

• Fairies were thought to disguise their appearance in the presence of humans.

Characters

Lily Fairy, Luis Ricardo Falero, 1888

Main Menu

A Midsummer Night's Dream - Themes

Dreams

Gender Relationships

Love

Magic

Order and Disorder

The Power of Theatre

A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act IV Scene I, Henry Fuseli, 1796 Main Menu

Love - 1• Love is the central theme of the play.

• Shakespeare examines many aspects of love by showing the behavior of six pairs of lovers:

Themes Next

• Theseus and Hippolyta• Helena and Demetrius• Hermia and Lysander

• Oberon and Titania• Titania and Bottom• Pyramus and Thisbe

• Although the Athenian lovers and Titania are under Puck’s magic spell, Shakespeare is making fun of the way lovers act in real life.

• Lovers are shown to be fickle and foolish.• Passionate love is brief and often based on appearances.• These themes have also been treated by Shakespeare in tragedies,

such as Romeo and Juliet.

Main Menu

Love - 2• Lysander’s oft-quoted comment in the opening scene sets the

tone for the lovers’ struggles:• The course of true love never did run smooth;

• Although the play focuses on the foolishness of lovers, the tone is lighthearted, as is appropriate for comedy.

• Even the tragic story of the lovers, Pyramus and Thisbe, as performed by the tradesmen, is a source of humor and entertainment.

• The theme is resolved by the reconciliation of Oberon and Titania and by the triple wedding at the end of the play.

Themes Back Main Menu

A Midsummer Night's Dream – Audio Recordings

Main Menu

Act I

Act II

Act III

Act IV

Act V

Click a Sound icon to play the entire act. Click into the bar to advance the recording.

CastAll audio files are downloaded from LibriVox.org and are in the public domain. More info.

Audio Files are not available in the preview version.

A Midsummer Night's Dream – You Tube Videos

Main Menu

Links to YouTube videos are not available in the preview version of this presentation.

To purchase, visit www.ShakespeareHelp.com.

A Midsummer Night's Dream – Essays & Projects

Main Menu

Essays and Projects are not available in the preview version of this presentation.

To purchase, visit www.ShakespeareHelp.com.