A Midsummer Night’s Dream

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

This is a play about dreams--and nightmares.

It is also a feel-good play:As Bottom, who dreams of being a

great actor, says, “I will roar, that it will do any man’s heart good to hear me (1.2.71)

This is a play about dreams--and nightmares.

It is also a feel-good play:As Bottom, who dreams of being a

great actor, says, “I will roar, that it will do any man’s heart good to hear me (1.2.71)

DreamsDreams

NightmaresDreams of wealth, sex, prestigeResolution of waking anxietiesA replay of the day’s events by a

drunken, untalented film directorHelplessness, unprepared, naked

NightmaresDreams of wealth, sex, prestigeResolution of waking anxietiesA replay of the day’s events by a

drunken, untalented film directorHelplessness, unprepared, naked

Moon imageryMoon imagery

Theseus says the “old moon wanes” slowly but Hippolyta counters that time flies and the new moon will arrive fast (as an arrow?), : bent “like to a silver bow” 1.1.1-10

The moon controls tides; Titania floodsMoonshine = lunacy < luna = moon

Theseus says the “old moon wanes” slowly but Hippolyta counters that time flies and the new moon will arrive fast (as an arrow?), : bent “like to a silver bow” 1.1.1-10

The moon controls tides; Titania floodsMoonshine = lunacy < luna = moon

Note the different social classes (intro. p. 98)

Note the different social classes (intro. p. 98)

martial elders: Theseus and Hippolyta, young loversRobin the lone prankster spiritKing and Queen of fairiesflower fairies: Peaseblossom, Bobweb,

Moth, MustardseedAthenian workmen: Quince, Flute, Snout,

Snug, Starveling, Bottom (the real hero of the play?)

martial elders: Theseus and Hippolyta, young loversRobin the lone prankster spiritKing and Queen of fairiesflower fairies: Peaseblossom, Bobweb,

Moth, MustardseedAthenian workmen: Quince, Flute, Snout,

Snug, Starveling, Bottom (the real hero of the play?)

Key passagesKey passages

What are the elements of Egeus’s belief in witchcraft? (1.1.27-40)? (rhymes, songs, and verses; tokens and “impressions”; “prevailment”)

Contrast Egeus’s reading of the law (obedience or death, 1.1.42044) to that of Theseus (he adds chaste confinement, 1.1.65, 73-75)

Why does Theseus feel the need to cheer up Hippolyta (1.1.122)? (He hasn’t exactly saved Hermia from her father’s brutality).

What are the elements of Egeus’s belief in witchcraft? (1.1.27-40)? (rhymes, songs, and verses; tokens and “impressions”; “prevailment”)

Contrast Egeus’s reading of the law (obedience or death, 1.1.42044) to that of Theseus (he adds chaste confinement, 1.1.65, 73-75)

Why does Theseus feel the need to cheer up Hippolyta (1.1.122)? (He hasn’t exactly saved Hermia from her father’s brutality).

1.11.1

What does Theseus want to talk to Demetrius and Egeus (the idiot) about? What is the effect of his calling them aside?

For what reasons is it that “the course of true love never did run smooth” (1.1.134)? (class differences, age, friends’ opinions, etc.)

Hermia advises patience (as will King Lear), but Lysander suggests they elope to the forest, and Hermia swears she will (note that all oaths in Shakespeare are taken by a higher power: here there are several, including Cupid’s bow).

What does Theseus want to talk to Demetrius and Egeus (the idiot) about? What is the effect of his calling them aside?

For what reasons is it that “the course of true love never did run smooth” (1.1.134)? (class differences, age, friends’ opinions, etc.)

Hermia advises patience (as will King Lear), but Lysander suggests they elope to the forest, and Hermia swears she will (note that all oaths in Shakespeare are taken by a higher power: here there are several, including Cupid’s bow).

1.11.1Helena is uncomfortable in her body (she wants

Hermia’s eye, tongue, look, beauty; at 3.2.289, we learn she is tall, or at least taller than Hermia).

Hermia by contrast is a kind of head case (Athens seemed like paradise before she saw Lysander, now she wants to leave)

Lysander (having gotten what he wants, Hermia to elope) becomes very poetic, telling Helena their plan.

Note that Hermia has been to the woods before, with Helena when they were girls (215)

Helena is uncomfortable in her body (she wants Hermia’s eye, tongue, look, beauty; at 3.2.289, we learn she is tall, or at least taller than Hermia).

Hermia by contrast is a kind of head case (Athens seemed like paradise before she saw Lysander, now she wants to leave)

Lysander (having gotten what he wants, Hermia to elope) becomes very poetic, telling Helena their plan.

Note that Hermia has been to the woods before, with Helena when they were girls (215)

1.11.1

Lysander prays that Demetrius will favor Helena ([may] “Demetrius dote on you” 1.1.225, which eventually he does, once properly drugged; the other doter is Bottom, also drugged)

Lysander prays that Demetrius will favor Helena ([may] “Demetrius dote on you” 1.1.225, which eventually he does, once properly drugged; the other doter is Bottom, also drugged)

The power of loveThe power of love

Note how the iconography of Cupid offers Helena ways to think about how love acts, what it is--blind, wings, a child [why?], forsworn [a liar, like Demetrius, who had said he loved her]?), otherwise a very difficult topic (OK, class, take out some paper and write an essay on what love is), since Plato’s Symposium.

Note how the iconography of Cupid offers Helena ways to think about how love acts, what it is--blind, wings, a child [why?], forsworn [a liar, like Demetrius, who had said he loved her]?), otherwise a very difficult topic (OK, class, take out some paper and write an essay on what love is), since Plato’s Symposium.

Helena’s decisionHelena’s decision

Having learned that Hermia and Lysander plan to fly to the forest, Helena in turn plans to tell Demetrius, knowing he will follow Hermia, and thus give her an opportunity merely to see him.

But a decision is not an action. What does Helena do?

Having learned that Hermia and Lysander plan to fly to the forest, Helena in turn plans to tell Demetrius, knowing he will follow Hermia, and thus give her an opportunity merely to see him.

But a decision is not an action. What does Helena do?

Action 1.1Action 1.1

Mortified by Demetrius’s desertion, jealous of Hermia, overlooking the bleakness of Hermia’s flight from her father, and still in love, Helena settles for the chance merely to see Demetrius as he leaves her “and back again” (meaning what? come back with him? return home alone and dream of him some more? follow him?).Or, if we rephrase in terms of the theme of the play:

Abandoned as if in a nightmare (compare Hermia and Bottom later left alone and frightened) Helena day-dreams about Demetrius.

Mortified by Demetrius’s desertion, jealous of Hermia, overlooking the bleakness of Hermia’s flight from her father, and still in love, Helena settles for the chance merely to see Demetrius as he leaves her “and back again” (meaning what? come back with him? return home alone and dream of him some more? follow him?).Or, if we rephrase in terms of the theme of the play:

Abandoned as if in a nightmare (compare Hermia and Bottom later left alone and frightened) Helena day-dreams about Demetrius.

1.2 Action Statement1.2 Action Statement

After Peter Quince orders the players to meet at the “Duke’s oak,” Bottom gets in the last word.

Or, in terms of the theme of the play:Dreaming of being a great actor,

Bottom gets in the last word, reinforcing Peter Quince’s order to the players that they meet in the forest to rehearse, where no one can steal their ideas.

After Peter Quince orders the players to meet at the “Duke’s oak,” Bottom gets in the last word.

Or, in terms of the theme of the play:Dreaming of being a great actor,

Bottom gets in the last word, reinforcing Peter Quince’s order to the players that they meet in the forest to rehearse, where no one can steal their ideas.

2.12.1

Notice the use of short, headless lines to suggest the supernatural:] Over hill, over dale,

] Thorough bush, thorough briar.Compare Macbeth:

] Double, double, toil and trouble

Notice the use of short, headless lines to suggest the supernatural:] Over hill, over dale,

] Thorough bush, thorough briar.Compare Macbeth:

] Double, double, toil and trouble

PuckPuck

Robin Goodfellow (2.1.35, also called Puck, pn. Pook, as in spook) is different from Titania’s flower fairies. “Goodfellow” is a euphemism for a trouble-

maker (like the movie about the Mafia).

What are the examples of Puck’s mischief? (lines 35-52: interferes with household chores,

misleads travelers, spooks horses, makes the ice slip in your drink, collapses your chair)

Robin Goodfellow (2.1.35, also called Puck, pn. Pook, as in spook) is different from Titania’s flower fairies. “Goodfellow” is a euphemism for a trouble-

maker (like the movie about the Mafia).

What are the examples of Puck’s mischief? (lines 35-52: interferes with household chores,

misleads travelers, spooks horses, makes the ice slip in your drink, collapses your chair)

Marital strife of Oberon and Titania

Marital strife of Oberon and Titania

She accuses him of affairs (with Phillida and even Hippolyta!

He accuses her of loving Theseus and stealing him away from many women (Perigouna, Ariadne, Antiopa).

Their strife affects the weather (2.1.81-117): winds, fog, floods, rot in the fields, early frost):

He wants her “changeling” boy (120) but she keeps him in memory of the boy’s mother who was a devotee of the goddess in India (136)

She accuses him of affairs (with Phillida and even Hippolyta!

He accuses her of loving Theseus and stealing him away from many women (Perigouna, Ariadne, Antiopa).

Their strife affects the weather (2.1.81-117): winds, fog, floods, rot in the fields, early frost):

He wants her “changeling” boy (120) but she keeps him in memory of the boy’s mother who was a devotee of the goddess in India (136)

We have laughed to see the sails conceive

And grow big-bellied with the wanton wind

Which she . . . would imitate, and sail upon the land . . .

(2.1.130-132)

We have laughed to see the sails conceive

And grow big-bellied with the wanton wind

Which she . . . would imitate, and sail upon the land . . .

(2.1.130-132)

Marital strife of Oberon and Titania

Marital strife of Oberon and Titania

Furious at her refusal, Oberon sends Puck for the flower “love-in-idleness” (love is only for aristocrats of leisure, not the working classes, who have no time for it).

The “fair vestal throned by the west” (158) is often taken to be Queen Elizabeth, immune to Cupid’s arrows (she never married, and styled herself the virgin Queen, and was flattered when Sir Walter Ralegh named the land she gave him in America Virginia) . Annabel Pattern says, thought, that the one immune to love may also be Titania, who seems not so in love with Oberon (perhaps parallel to Hippolyta, wary of Theseus).

The herb will make Titania love the next thing she sees (180), and Oberon will demand the child in exchange for curing her (and he gets want he wants by the end of the play).

Furious at her refusal, Oberon sends Puck for the flower “love-in-idleness” (love is only for aristocrats of leisure, not the working classes, who have no time for it).

The “fair vestal throned by the west” (158) is often taken to be Queen Elizabeth, immune to Cupid’s arrows (she never married, and styled herself the virgin Queen, and was flattered when Sir Walter Ralegh named the land she gave him in America Virginia) . Annabel Pattern says, thought, that the one immune to love may also be Titania, who seems not so in love with Oberon (perhaps parallel to Hippolyta, wary of Theseus).

The herb will make Titania love the next thing she sees (180), and Oberon will demand the child in exchange for curing her (and he gets want he wants by the end of the play).

Meanwhile, Helena enters in pursuit of Demetrius

Meanwhile, Helena enters in pursuit of Demetrius

Not exactly what she planned: she is not dreaming of him, but begging, fawning like a spaniel.

She complains that men should pursue women, as Apollo chased Daphne (231)--in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, also the source of

Pyramus and Thisby, and all Shakespeare’s classical myths. He also wrote a poem called The Art of Love, which said idleness was necessary, leave town on her birthday to save expenses, offer her a soft pillow at the games, and girls, “do not let the goats graze under your arms.”

Not exactly what she planned: she is not dreaming of him, but begging, fawning like a spaniel.

She complains that men should pursue women, as Apollo chased Daphne (231)--in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, also the source of

Pyramus and Thisby, and all Shakespeare’s classical myths. He also wrote a poem called The Art of Love, which said idleness was necessary, leave town on her birthday to save expenses, offer her a soft pillow at the games, and girls, “do not let the goats graze under your arms.”

Bernini’s “Daphne and Apollo”

Villa d’Este, Rome

Bernini’s “Daphne and Apollo”

Villa d’Este, Rome

Plots joinPlots join

Interfering Oberon sees the need for the love juice to make Demetrius love Helena.

Oberon gives the job to Puck, while he heads for “a bank where the wild thyme grows” (flowers, party “time” pun?) to find Titania and juice her.(note that the love potion can be use

for good or ill).

Interfering Oberon sees the need for the love juice to make Demetrius love Helena.

Oberon gives the job to Puck, while he heads for “a bank where the wild thyme grows” (flowers, party “time” pun?) to find Titania and juice her.(note that the love potion can be use

for good or ill).

2.1 Action Statement2.1 Action Statement

Perhaps blinded by his own need for vengeance--his dream of controlling his wife Titania--but also something of a do-gooder and so not wholly unredeemed, Oberon trusts Puck (mistakenly, as it turns out), the prankster, to administer properly the potent love potion.

Perhaps blinded by his own need for vengeance--his dream of controlling his wife Titania--but also something of a do-gooder and so not wholly unredeemed, Oberon trusts Puck (mistakenly, as it turns out), the prankster, to administer properly the potent love potion.

2.2 Fairies2.2 Fairies

Titania, sleepy, asks the fairies to sing for her, and their lullaby raises the horrors of insects so deadly to tiny flower fairies

Shakespeare shrunk the fairies, who were traditionally supernatural, lusty beings like Oberon and Titania: Walt Disney is the result.)

Titania, sleepy, asks the fairies to sing for her, and their lullaby raises the horrors of insects so deadly to tiny flower fairies

Shakespeare shrunk the fairies, who were traditionally supernatural, lusty beings like Oberon and Titania: Walt Disney is the result.)

2.2 More adventures at the bank of the wild thyme

2.2 More adventures at the bank of the wild thymeOberon leaves after completing his task.Weary Hermia and Lysander sleep apart,

appalling Puck, who figures Lysander must be the one who needs the love juice (“this lack-love,” 83).

Enter Helena and Demetrius. He leaves; she stays.

Lysander, juiced, wakes, sees Helena, proclaims he will run through fire for her, and chasing Helena, deserts Hermia (the moral action?).

Oberon leaves after completing his task.Weary Hermia and Lysander sleep apart,

appalling Puck, who figures Lysander must be the one who needs the love juice (“this lack-love,” 83).

Enter Helena and Demetrius. He leaves; she stays.

Lysander, juiced, wakes, sees Helena, proclaims he will run through fire for her, and chasing Helena, deserts Hermia (the moral action?).

Some Shakespeare Vocabulary

Some Shakespeare Vocabulary

blows means blooms (where the wild thyme blows)

owe means ownsfond always means foolish

blows means blooms (where the wild thyme blows)

owe means ownsfond always means foolish

More 2.2More 2.2

Well, Demetrius can’t help it, so it’s not really an action following a decision.

After Lysander leaves, Hermia wakes, having dreamed of a serpent--obviously that rat (rather, snake) Lysander, who deserted her, and chases after Lysander, afraid to stay alone. Her action parallels Helena’s in 1.1, sort of

chasing a dream, or a man.

Well, Demetrius can’t help it, so it’s not really an action following a decision.

After Lysander leaves, Hermia wakes, having dreamed of a serpent--obviously that rat (rather, snake) Lysander, who deserted her, and chases after Lysander, afraid to stay alone. Her action parallels Helena’s in 1.1, sort of

chasing a dream, or a man.

3.13.1

Puck turns Bottom into an ass (as if he wasn’t one already)

Bottom, also afraid to be alone (like Hermia), sings to dispel fear (117).

Titania wakes and is enchanted by his song (recall the magic Egeus worried about).

Puck turns Bottom into an ass (as if he wasn’t one already)

Bottom, also afraid to be alone (like Hermia), sings to dispel fear (117).

Titania wakes and is enchanted by his song (recall the magic Egeus worried about).

3.1 Bottom among the fairies

3.1 Bottom among the fairies

Bottom turns out to be a great guy, perfectly at home in any company: he shakes hands with the little fairies.

Titania proves to be a true dream for Bottom, a despiser of chastity (190).

Action: Titania orders her fairies to keep Bottom silent (reversing roles, since men usually wanted women silent).

Bottom turns out to be a great guy, perfectly at home in any company: he shakes hands with the little fairies.

Titania proves to be a true dream for Bottom, a despiser of chastity (190).

Action: Titania orders her fairies to keep Bottom silent (reversing roles, since men usually wanted women silent).

3.2 Chasing around the forest

3.2 Chasing around the forest

Oberon praises Puck for making the thing Titania must love an ass-headed actor trying to play Pyramus (35).

Hermia rejects Demetrius, who lies down to sleep. gets juiced, and wakes to fall for “Helen, goddess, nymph, perfect, divine” (137).

Helena thinks he’s making fun of her. Lysander and Demetrius bicker over her and

retreat for a duel (249-255) Hermia thinks Helena insults her shortness

(“puppet” line 289). Oberon stirs up the chase (360), even telling

Robin they are spirits that don’t have to quit at dawn (388), so on it goes..

Oberon praises Puck for making the thing Titania must love an ass-headed actor trying to play Pyramus (35).

Hermia rejects Demetrius, who lies down to sleep. gets juiced, and wakes to fall for “Helen, goddess, nymph, perfect, divine” (137).

Helena thinks he’s making fun of her. Lysander and Demetrius bicker over her and

retreat for a duel (249-255) Hermia thinks Helena insults her shortness

(“puppet” line 289). Oberon stirs up the chase (360), even telling

Robin they are spirits that don’t have to quit at dawn (388), so on it goes..

3.23.2

Puck ends the pursuit by anointing Lysander’s eyes--not a moral action, since that’s his job.

Puck moralizes, that he is restoring order [harmony, the theme of comedy,]

Puck ends the pursuit by anointing Lysander’s eyes--not a moral action, since that’s his job.

Puck moralizes, that he is restoring order [harmony, the theme of comedy,]

4.1 Out Hunting4.1 Out Hunting

Oberon restores Titania and Bottom after he gets what he wants, before Theseus, enters to boast about “the music of my hounds” (105), which he admits is a “musical confusion” (109).

Hippolyta says she has seen better hounds (the worst insult), those of Hercules (111), putting Theseus on the defensive (“My hounds are bred of the Spartan kind” 118, with big ears and dewlaps), but the argument dwindles and is set aside (182) when they stumble across the lovers. Like a comedy, where harmony emerges despite the ridiculous,

Theseus hears music in the discordant howling of the hounds, tuned like bells, each under each. The musical baying of the hounds is the Central image for the whole play.

Oberon restores Titania and Bottom after he gets what he wants, before Theseus, enters to boast about “the music of my hounds” (105), which he admits is a “musical confusion” (109).

Hippolyta says she has seen better hounds (the worst insult), those of Hercules (111), putting Theseus on the defensive (“My hounds are bred of the Spartan kind” 118, with big ears and dewlaps), but the argument dwindles and is set aside (182) when they stumble across the lovers. Like a comedy, where harmony emerges despite the ridiculous,

Theseus hears music in the discordant howling of the hounds, tuned like bells, each under each. The musical baying of the hounds is the Central image for the whole play.

Bottom’s DreamBottom’s Dream

When the court party leaves, Bottom wakes up.He has glimpsed the other world, but as in Plato’s

allegory of the cave, how can he explain it to anyone? Also a vague overtone of seeing through a glass darkly, or Corinthians 2-9-10: “the eye hath not seen”

The actors are bewailing Bottom’s death or translation when he enters with joy, the theme of the play: “Where are these lads, where are these hearts?” (24).(Shakespeare likes to add rebirth after death to

heighten the joy of his comedies, along with lots of harmony in the form of dance and music)

When the court party leaves, Bottom wakes up.He has glimpsed the other world, but as in Plato’s

allegory of the cave, how can he explain it to anyone? Also a vague overtone of seeing through a glass darkly, or Corinthians 2-9-10: “the eye hath not seen”

The actors are bewailing Bottom’s death or translation when he enters with joy, the theme of the play: “Where are these lads, where are these hearts?” (24).(Shakespeare likes to add rebirth after death to

heighten the joy of his comedies, along with lots of harmony in the form of dance and music)

5.15.1Rationale Theseus tries to explain the lovers’ story

(3-22, lovers are like madmen or poets, famous speech: read it carefully), but Hippolyta insists on truth, since their stories don’t contradict.

The play of Pyramus and Thisby is a comic tragedy, showing that art less important than mirth.

The fairies bless the house.Note the sequencing, the varying moods of the

long fifth act: hilarious, touching, feel good, does your heart good. No source for this plot; Shakespeare invented it. It’s all show biz.

Rationale Theseus tries to explain the lovers’ story (3-22, lovers are like madmen or poets, famous speech: read it carefully), but Hippolyta insists on truth, since their stories don’t contradict.

The play of Pyramus and Thisby is a comic tragedy, showing that art less important than mirth.

The fairies bless the house.Note the sequencing, the varying moods of the

long fifth act: hilarious, touching, feel good, does your heart good. No source for this plot; Shakespeare invented it. It’s all show biz.

GenreGenre

Tragedy is a dramatic form that shows happens when1) a virtue becomes a vice2) civilization falls apart

Comedy is about the establishment of social harmony.Both are dramatic terms of art: thus “tragedy” is not the

same as “horrible” and comedies can be bittersweet as well as funny.

Tragedy is a dramatic form that shows happens when1) a virtue becomes a vice2) civilization falls apart

Comedy is about the establishment of social harmony.Both are dramatic terms of art: thus “tragedy” is not the

same as “horrible” and comedies can be bittersweet as well as funny.

ComedyComedy

From Shakespeare: Script, Stage, Screen, pp. 73-75 Impossible to define Definite kinds, low to high Reformation of a (ridiculous) character Holiday spirit Ritual element (marriage) Comic diction

From Shakespeare: Script, Stage, Screen, pp. 73-75 Impossible to define Definite kinds, low to high Reformation of a (ridiculous) character Holiday spirit Ritual element (marriage) Comic diction

RitualRitual

Drama is not life, but ritual.Thus Shakespeare ends comedies (and

romances) in weddings as a sign, not a proof, of social stability: 3 weddings in MSND; 2 in Much Ado

(What happens after, who knows? Cf. the marital problems of Oberon and Titania: but you need hope.

Thus in tragedies, people tend to die (but not necessarily).

Drama is not life, but ritual.Thus Shakespeare ends comedies (and

romances) in weddings as a sign, not a proof, of social stability: 3 weddings in MSND; 2 in Much Ado

(What happens after, who knows? Cf. the marital problems of Oberon and Titania: but you need hope.

Thus in tragedies, people tend to die (but not necessarily).

End of Monty Python and the Meaning of Life

End of Monty Python and the Meaning of Life

Sense of moral uplift for vile humans “Montage” of death Dinner party as image of social communion Outsider/scapegoat to remove evil Hint of heaven Rebirth after death Music and harmony Message: be kind to others

Sense of moral uplift for vile humans “Montage” of death Dinner party as image of social communion Outsider/scapegoat to remove evil Hint of heaven Rebirth after death Music and harmony Message: be kind to others