Transcript A Midsummer Night`s Dream

A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Why is this a Comedy?
Comedy?
Traditionally, the plays of William
Shakespeare have been grouped into three
categories: tragedies, comedies, and
histories. Some critics have argued for a
fourth category, the romance. "Comedy" in
its Elizabethan usage had a very different
meaning from modern comedy. A
Shakespearean comedy is one that has a
happy ending, usually involving marriage
for all the unmarried characters, and a tone
and style that is more lighthearted than
Shakespeare's other plays.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Shakespearean comedies also tend to have:
A struggle of young lovers to overcome
difficulty that is often presented by elders
Separation and unification
Mistaken identities
A clever servant
Heightened tensions, often within a family
Multiple, intertwining plots
Frequent use of puns
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a
romantic comedy by William Shakespeare
written sometime in the mid-1590s. It
portrays the adventures of four young
Athenian lovers and a group of amateur
actors in a moonlit forest, and their
interactions with the fairies who inhabit it.
Today, the play is one of Shakespeare's
most popular and is widely performed
across the world.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream – plot
continued
Titania is awoken by Bottom's singing,
and she immediately falls in love with
him. She treats him as if he is a
nobleman and lavishes attention upon
him. While in this state of devotion,
she encounters Oberon and casually
gives him the Indian boy.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream – plot
continued
Having
achieved his goals, Oberon releases
Titania and orders Puck to remove the ass's
head from Bottom. The magical enchantment is
removed from Lysander but is allowed to remain
on Demetrius, so that he may reciprocate
Helena's love. The fairies then disappear, and
Theseus and Hippolyta arrive on the scene,
during an early morning hunt. They wake the
lovers and, since Demetrius no longer loves
Hermia, Theseus over-rules Egeus's demands
and arranges a group wedding. The lovers
decide that the night's events must have been a
dream. After they all exit, Bottom awakes, and
he too decides that he must have experienced a
dream "past the wit of man".
A Midsummer Night’s Dream – plot
continued
In Athens, Theseus, Hippolyta and the
lovers watch the mechanicals perform
"Pyramus and Thisbe". It is ridiculous and
badly performed but gives everyone
pleasure regardless, and after the
mechanicals dance a Bergomask (rustic
dance), everyone retires to bed. Finally, as
night falls, Oberon and Titania bless the
house, its occupants, and the future
children of the newlyweds, and Puck
delivers an epilogue to the audience asking
for applause.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
introduction continued- include:
the plot of A Midsummer Night’s
Dream;
how the play fits into the comedy
genre;
the general themes of the play;
the social and historical context of the
play;
where this scene fits into the play as a
whole.