WEEK #11 / NOVEMBER 23rd – 27th, 2020

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

By William Shakespeare
ACT 5, SCENE 1
Analysing the Text Questions
I. READ ACT 5, SCENE 1 AND ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS.

ACT 5, SCENE 1:
1. Why does Theseus dismiss the stories of the four young people?
He thinks they’re making it up and he thinks they were just dreaming.

2. Why does Theseus choose to see the play about Pyramus and Thisby rather than the other entertainments?
He is curious about it based on the paradoxical description of the play: “how can a play be short and long at
the same time?”

3. Why does Philostrate try to keep Theseus from seeing the play? What does he say is wrong with it?
Because they’re amateurs, and he says they were so bad that he was crying from laughing so hard.

4. What does Theseus mean by the lines, “For never anything can be amiss, when simpleness and duty tender
it”?
That there is nothing wrong with simple people trying hard.

5. What is accomplished by having the Prologue tell the whole story that the actors are then going to enact?
To give the audience a brief summary of the play, explain each actor’s role, and ask forgiveness.

6. How does Shakespeare use the comments from the audience to enhance the humor of the play that they are
watching?
It adds to the humor: you’re watching actors make fun of acting.

7. What is Hippolyta’s reaction to the play?

She feels sorry for them because they’re being made fun of.

8. In what way is Thisby’s final speech humorous?

He starts out trying to deliver the speech in a woman’s voice, but, by the end of it, he is delivering it in a
regular man’s voice.

9. What does Oberon tell the fairies to do?

To bless all the marriages.

10. What is the purpose of Puck’s final speech?

Given the title A Midsummer Night’s Dream, it is no surprise that one of the main themes of the play is
dreams, particularly as they relate to darkness and love. When morning comes, ending the magical night in the
forest, the lovers begin to suspect that their experience in the woods was merely a dream. Theseus suggests as
much to Hippolyta, who finds it strange that all the young lovers would have had the same dream. In the
famous final speech of the play, Puck turns this idea outward, recommending that if audience members did not
enjoy the play, they should assume that they have simply been dreaming throughout. This suggestion captures
perfectly the delicate, insubstantial nature of A Midsummer Night’s Dream: just as the fairies mended their
mischief by sorting out the romantic confusion of the young lovers, Puck accounts for the whimsical nature of
the play by explaining it as a manifestation of the subconscious.

6° LITERATURE Teachers: Danny Delgado, Ronel Villarreal, José Arjona, Jennifer Guerra
 WEEK #11 / NOVEMBER 23rd – 27th, 2020

A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare

ACT 5, SCENE 1

Sequence of Events

ACT 5, SCENE 1
1. Back at Theseus's palace, newlyweds Theseus and Hippolyta discuss the events
reported by the four lovers. Theseus thinks these events were simply imaginings.
Hippolyta, however, points out that the stories of the four have "constancy," or fit
together well, so there might be something true in them.
2. The four lovers—now two newlywed couples—enter with Philostrate, who is in charge
of organizing entertainment for the nobles between the wedding and bedtime. Theseus
is intrigued by the play with Pyramus and Thisbe and decides to see it. Philostrate
cautions him that the play is not good, but Theseus likes the idea of a play performed by
everyday men.
3. The mechanicals enter and perform their play, which is so awful that it is hilarious. The
nobles interject their sarcastic comments throughout but are entertained and applaud
when it is done. As the play ends, the bell strikes midnight. The three couples leave for
bed.
4. After the humans disperse, the fairies return. Puck, armed with a broom, sweeps the
floor.
5. Oberon and Titania, along with their fairy servants, enter to bless the house. Titania
leads the fairies in a song and dance. Oberon instructs the fairies to go throughout the
house and bless each chamber with "sweet peace."
6. After the rest of the fairies leave, Puck tells the audience that if they did not like the
play, they can think of it as just a dream. Then he asks the audience to consider him a
friend and to applaud.

6° LITERATURE Teachers: Danny Delgado, Ronel Villarreal, José Arjona, Jennifer Guerra
 WEEK #11 / NOVEMBER 23rd – 27th, 2020

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

By William Shakespeare

SYNOPSIS

ACT 1, SCENE 1
Theseus and Hippolyta discuss their wedding which is to take place in four days. Theseus sends Philostrate to round
up entertainers to while away the time. Egeus brings his daughter Hermia and her two suitors, Lysander and
Demetrius, to Theseus to settle an argument. Hermia wants to marry Lysander. Eegus wants her to marry Demetrius.
Theseus gives Hermia three choices—marry Demetrius, enter a nunnery, or be put to death for disobedience. Hermia
has until the day of Theseus’s wedding to come to a decision. Lysander and Hermia plan to meet in the woods the
next night and elope.
Helena, who loves Demetrius and is the lovers’ friend, decides she will tell Demetrius of their plans so she can be
with him while he looks for Hermia and Lysander.

ACT 1, SCENE 2
Six artisans meet to discuss what sort of entertainment they will prepare for Theseus’s wedding. They decide to do a
play about Pyramus and Thisby. Parts are assigned.

ACT 2, SCENE 1
A fairy meets Puck in the woods, and they discuss the quarrel between Titania (Queen of the Fairies) and Oberon
(King of the Fairies) over a human child they both want. Oberon and Titania meet and talk about the upcoming
wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta. Titania says the bad weather can be blamed on their quarrels. The human child is
the son of one of her devoted followers who died at childbirth. She refuses to turn him over to Oberon. Oberon sends
Puck to find a special flower whose juice, when placed on the eyelids, causes that individual to fall in love with the
next living creature seen. He plans to put it on Titania’s eyelids to shame her into giving up the boy. Helena and
Demetrius come hunting for Hermia. Despite Demetrius’s insults and threats, Helena says she will follow him
wherever he goes. Oberon tells Puck to put some of the juice on Demetrius’s eyes so he will fall in love with Helena
when he awakens.

ACT 2, SCENE 2
Titania tells the fairies to sing her to sleep. Oberon places some of the juice on her eyelids and hopes she sees
something vile when she wakes up. Lysander and Hermia are tired and lost and decide to sleep awhile. Puck
mistakenly puts the juice on Lysander’s eyes. When Helena finds Lysander she awakens him. He, of course, falls in
love with her instantly. Helena thinks he is making fun of her and runs away. He follows. Hermia awakens, can’t find
Lysander, and goes looking for him.

ACT 3, SCENE 1
Titania is still asleep in the woods, but Bottom and the other actors have gathered nearby to rehearse their play.
Bottom suggests that they write a prologue to the play, which he will personally recite, to let the audience know that
no one will actually be harmed in the performance since he will use a sword to pretend to kill himself. Snout also
worries that the women may be afraid of his performance as the lion, so Bottom suggests that he reveal his identity to
the audience, so they know it is only a man acting as a lion. Then they decide that one of them will have to hold up a
lantern to act as moonlight since Pyramus and Thisbe are supposed to meet under the moon. Also, someone will have
to act as the wall that separates Pyramus and Thisbe during their conversation. Bottom then wanders off rehearsing
his lines. When he returns, he has the head of a donkey, magically given to him by Puck the fairy, who has been
6° LITERATURE Teachers: Danny Delgado, Ronel Villarreal, José Arjona, Jennifer Guerra
watching these men rehearse. Bottom's friends are quite shocked by his new appearance and run away. Bottom is
confused because he doesn't realize what has happened to his face. Bottom thinks they are making fun of him, calling
him names in a teasing way. He then comes upon Titania who wakes up, looks at Bottom, and falls in love with him
due to the potion on her eyes. Titania tells Bottom how beautiful he is and how much she loves him. Once again,
Bottom is confused, but he enjoys the affection from Titania, so he goes along with it. Titania calls some of her fairy
assistants, such as Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Moth, and Mustardseed, to attend to her new friend by bringing him food
and taking care of him. Eventually, Titania grows tired of Bottom's ceaseless talking, so she decides to magically
make him silent then they leave.

ACT 3, SCENE 2
Oberon, in a different part of the woods, meets Puck who tells him how Titania has fallen in love with the donkey-
headed man that he helped create. Puck also verifies that he has put some of the potion on the Athenian man's eyes.
Just then Hermia and Demetrius come by, and Oberon tells Puck that this is the man he meant. Puck agrees it is the
woman he previously saw, but that is not the man that he put the potion onto. Hermia accuses Demetrius of killing her
love, Lysander. Demetrius tells her that he has no idea where Lysander is nor does he care, so Hermia leaves.
Demetrius decides he has grown tired, so he goes to sleep. Oberon then scolds Puck for putting the potion onto the
wrong man's eyes. Oberon wants to fix the situation, so he asks Puck to go find the woman, Helena, whom this man is
supposed to love. Oberon then puts the potion on Demetrius's eyes and Puck brings Helena to him. Lysander follows
soon after trying to pursue Helena. Demetrius then wakes up and falls in love with Helena, so that both men are
telling her how much they love her. After having no one love her earlier in the play, Helena is outraged by this
unexplainable change in their feelings. Then the men try to convince each other to go back to Hermia, whom they
both wanted to marry in act 1. Hermia comes to find Lysander saying that he wants nothing to do with her because he
loves Helena. Incredibly hurt, Hermia does not understand why her love no longer wants to marry her even more
confused by his insults as to her small stature. The men decide they should fight to see who deserves Helena and they
leave. When Hermia is along with Helena, she tries to seek answers from her friend, but Helena trusts no one any
longer and leaves her.
Oberon and Puck witness this debacle, and Oberon knows they need to set things right. He decides to cause a fog to
come so that the four Athenians will lose track of each other. Then he will, once again, make them fall asleep and put
the potion on Lysander's eyes, so that he falls back in love with Hermia. When they wake up, it will all seem like a
crazy dream. In the meantime, he will steal the young boy away from Titania and then remove the charm from her
eyes so that she no longer loves Bottom with the donkey head. Puck imitates the Athenian voices to lead them in
various directions then has them all fall asleep close by one another. Finally, he puts the potion on Lysander's eyes
and leaves.

ACT 4, SCENE 1
Titania still in love with Bottom who is being attended to by the other fairies. Bottom says some uncharacteristic
things about his hairy face and craving peas and oats but still doesn't seem to realize that he has a donkey head.
Finally, he and Titania fall asleep, and the fairies leave. Oberon comes and reveals that he has stolen the boy away
from her, so he is ready to release her from the charm. Titania wakes up thinking she had a dream that she was in love
with a donkey, so Oberon points out her lover. Oberon then orders Puck to remove the donkey head from Bottom, and
they exit.
Egeus enters the woods with Theseus and Hippolyta and brings them to where his daughter is lying asleep near
Lysander, Demetrius, and Helena. Egeus isn't sure how or why they are there, but he needs an answer from his
daughter as to her decision about marrying Demetrius. The four awake as confused as everyone else as to how they
came to be there. Demetrius admits that Helena revealed to him that Lysander and Hermia were planning to run away
together, so he followed them into the woods, but when he did, his love for Hermia melted away, and he no longer
wishes to marry her. Theseus decides that these two new couples will join his wedding, and it will become a triple
wedding. The couples are thrilled. They discuss their strange dreams from the night before as they leave. Bottom also
awakes from what he believes was a dream about having a donkey head. He decides he will ask his friend Peter
Quince to write a song about it that he can sing at the end of the play.

6° LITERATURE Teachers: Danny Delgado, Ronel Villarreal, José Arjona, Jennifer Guerra
ACT 4, SCENE 2
It takes place at Quince's house as the actors prepare for their performance. They are wondering what happened to
Bottom as they have not seen him since the previous night. Snug mentions that he heard two additional couples are
going to be married at the feast with the duke and duchess that evening. Bottom arrives, and the men are relieved.
They want to hear where he's been, but he tells them that they must hurry to the palace for their performance.
Dramatic irony is at play in Bottom's comments about his appearance and food cravings since he is unaware that he
looks like a donkey. The audience is aware that his comments are funny while Bottom is not.

ACT 5, SCENE 1
This act takes place in the palace of Theseus. The three couples are married and are celebrating by feasting and being
entertained. Philostrate brings in a piece of paper with a list of possible performances that they could watch. Theseus
reads the list to the couples to choose which one sounds the most interesting. They are intrigued by the play Pyramus
and Thisbe. Quince enters and reads the prologue to introduce the play. The couples comment on all the questions
they have about the play to come. The prologue introduces the characters and then leads into the action.
The wall, played by Snout, then comes out and points out the hole, which is signified by his fingers, through which
the lovers, Pyramus and Thisbe, whisper. Pyramus, played by Bottom, overacts and peeks through the wall to look for
Thisbe. Thisbe appears and after they talk, they kiss through the wall; then they agree to meet later. When they leave,
the lion appears and tells the audience he is really Snug. The Athenians appreciate his honesty. Thisbe appears under
the moonlight looking to meet her love, but is met by the lion who tears off her cloak before she escapes. Pyramus
enters and finds her bloody cloak, thinks his love is dead, and stabs himself. Thisbe returns to find her lover has died,
so she stabs herself. Bottom jumps up to announce that the wall that parted their families is then removed and asks if
they would like to see the Epilogue as well. Theseus tells them that the play was wonderful, and an epilogue isn't
necessary, but they would love to see them dance.
The scene then jumps to Puck followed soon after by Oberon, Titania, and the other fairies, who are all dancing and
celebrating. Oberon blesses the three couples, wishing them long happy marriages together, many children, peace and
safety. They exit leaving Puck to close out the play with his soliloquy telling the audience that if they were offended
or in any way disliked anything in the play, they should just pretend it was all a dream.
Pyramus and Thisbe, though not a real play, is very much based off of Romeo and Juliet. In its much shorter version
it parallels many of the main actions of the play, including the lovers from feuding families, killing themselves to
always be together. Despite the dramatic ending of this short performance, the play of A Midsummer Night's Dream is
a comedy due to its happy ending with the triple marriage, the reuniting of the fairy king and queen, and the
successful performance of the fake play.

6° LITERATURE Teachers: Danny Delgado, Ronel Villarreal, José Arjona, Jennifer Guerra