A Midsummer Night’s Dream Acts 1 and 2 Quiz

What word is used three times in only the first 20 lines of the play? Based on your knowledge of the times, why is this significant? moonbecause the Elizabethans believed in the power of heavenly bodies, like the moon, to change the course of life
What are Theseus and Hippolyta planning? How many days until their plan comes to fruition? their weddingfour days
How did Theseus and Hippolyta meet? they fell in love when Hippolyta was Theseus’s captive during a war
Why has Egeus come to Theseus? because Hermia is refusing to marry Demetrius because she is in love with Lysander / he wants Theseus to bring the law down on her head
What are Hermia’s three options under Athenian law? How many days does she have to make her decision? to be killed, to become a nun, to marry Demetriusfour days (same as the wedding day)
Lysander sums up the entire play in one line. What is it? “the course of true love never did run smooth”even if it is true love, it is never easy
Lysander and Hermia enumerate the circumstances that may cause problems in a love relationship. List them. class differenceage differencepressure from friends (too involved)death, sickness, war, etc. (life gets in the way)
Hermia and Lysander then make a plan. Describe it. to run away to Lysander’s wealthy aunts house, far away from Athens/Athenian law, and get legally married / they planned to meet in the woods the next night to run off
Helena arrives. Summarize her first exchange with Hermia. Helena has very low self-esteemHelena is upset that Demetrius loves Hermia and not herHelena feels that she is worthless and Hermia is better than her in every wayHelena wants Hermia to teach her how to be exactly like her so that Demetrius will fall in love with herWe learn that Demetrius is superficial (all about the chase and loves a woman that plays hard to get)
Hermia and Lysander tell Helena thier plan, and Helena them makes a plan of her own. Summarize it.What is her rationale for creating this plan? to tell Demetrius about the plan and go with him to the woods the next night to try and stop Hermia and Lysandershe desires thanks from Demetrius (wants him to like her / desperate)
What are some of the big points that Helena makes about love in her soliloquy? love makes thing betterlove helps you overlook flawslove is more about matched personality instead of physical appearanceyou cannot help who you fall in love with (may not make sense)
Define the term malapropism. What type of comedy is malapropism?Provide an example. the intentional misuse of a word for comedic effecthigh comedy”aggrevate” (Line 78)”sucking dove” (Line 79)”most obscenely” (Line 104)
The men, known as the mechanicals, belong to what social class? the working class (low socioeconomic class / manual laborers)
What is unique about the men’s names? their names relate to their occupations
For what purpose are the men producing this play? it is their “wedding gift” to the Duke and Duchess (Theseus and Hippolyta) on their wedding day (good people, generous, like their leader)
Who is the most enthusiastic of all the mechanicals? How do you know? Bottomhe offers to play every single part in the play and thinks he can do every part very well
Why is Snug perfectly suited to play the lion? he is not smart enough to learn the lines and the lion only has to roar the entire time (easy to learn)
Where will the mechanicals go to rehearse the play?What other characters might they see there? Explain. the forest at nightHermia, Lysander, Helena, Demetriusthey will be there so that Hermia and lysander can run away while Helena and Demetrius try to stop them
Note the difference in speech patterns of the mechanicals and the young lovers. How would you account for this difference?Where else did Shakespeare highlight this difference? mechanicals-prose-colloquial-simpleyoung lovers-complicated-eloquent-poetic (rhyming couplets)shows difference in education due to social classthe illiterate servingman sent by the Capulets to invite people to the party in “Romeo and Juliet”
Why are Oberon and Titania fighting? they are both interested in keeping the Indian boy for themselves
List some of the pranks Puck pulls on humans. women would churn all day but not make any butterdisguised his voice and called on or made noises to people in the forest so that they would run in all directions and get lost at nightmade the beer flatmoved the womens’ stools after they stood up and before they sat down again so that they would fallswam against the lips of women when they drank so that they would spill it on themselves
What does the audience discover about the relationships between Oberon and Titania and Theseus and Hippolyta? Oberon has a crush on Hippolyta and Titania has a crush on Theseus / they are there to give the fairy blessing to the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta
Titania and Oeron’s anger has a huge impact on the natural world. List some examples of the effect of their quarrel.Which literary device is predominantly used in communicating the disturbances in the natural world? fogs and floodsall crops are dying/failing (agricultural failure)livestock is dyingpeople getting sick (epidemic)seasons are messed up (characteristics changing)personification
Titania explains her connection to the Indian Boy. Why does Titania want to keep the child? she was best friends with the mother of the boy and Titania does not want to leave him without a mother because his mother died in childbirth (mortal)-Titania’s motivation is noble, kind, and generous-Oberon is just jealous of the attention Titania give the boy and wants it for himself (claims to want the boy as a servant)
How long will Titania and Oberon be in these woods? four days (will be here with everyone else)
What is the power of “love-in-idleness”?What is its history?Why does Oberon want it? it makes people fall in love with the first living thing they see when they wake upCupid was aiming for a virgin on the beach (missed)arrow hit the flowerflower turned from white to purpleflower now has the same power as the arrowhe wants to use in on Titania because he wants her to fall in love with something and be distracted so that he can steal the boy from her
Helena and Demetrius enter the woods. Summarize the high points of their conversation.To what does Helena compare herself? Paraphrase this speech in 1-2 sentences.What is Demetrius hinting at? Demetrius-I do not love you-Did I lead you on?-I have told you I am not interested / you disgust meHelena-But I love you-I am very interested in youa dog (spaniel); I am your dog, treat me like your dog, I do not care, I will still love youeven though he doesn’t love her and she repulses him, he would still have sex with her
What comment does Helena make about expectations for women? women cannot pursue men and have to hang back and wait for the man to do the pursuing
Who overhears the unpleasant conversation between Demetrius and Helena?What does he intend to do about it?What is the only clue Puck is given in order to execute the plan? How might he run into trouble with only this information? Oberonhe will use the flower on Demetrius as well so that he will fall in love with Helena because he feels bad for hera man in Athenian clothingLysander is also in the woods (Athenian man), so he could easily mistake one man for the other
Titania is put to sleep by the singing of her fairies. What happens to her as soon as she falls asleep? Oberon anoints he eyelids with the nectar
Lysander and Hermia appear. Where are they going? Lysander’s wealthy aunt’s house (eloping)
What is Lysander asking of Hermia?What is Hermia’s answer? to have sex with himno; go away and sleep as far away from me as possible (waiting until their marriage)
Puck arrives and commits a major blunder. What is his mistake?What is the cause of the mistake?What is the result of his error? he hits Lysander with the nectar instead of Demetriusall he has to base his choice off of the clue of Athenian clothing / he knows that he does not love the girl and that is why he is anointing him (see them separateLysander falls in love with Helena (first person he see when he wakes up)
Lysander confesses his love for Helena. What is her reaction?Why would this be natural for her? she gets angry because she thinks Lysander is taunting her and making fun of hershe has low self-esteem and is used to being uninvolved; it makes no logical sense either
Hermia awakens from a dream. What does she dream?Why is it significant? a snake was eating out her heart and Lysander was standing by watching and laughingLysander is not in love with her anymore; foreshadowing (eat at her heart like the serpent and Lysander will laugh at her pain)
Theseus duke of Athens, marrying Hippolyta; anything about his marriage to Hippolyta, telling Hermia about her three choices
Hippolyta queen of the Amazons, marrying Theseus (Duchess of Athens)
Egeus father of Hermia, wants his daughter to marry Demetrius and not her lover, Lysander; anything about Hermia’s disobedience, anything about wanting Hermia to marry Demetrius, bringing the law down on Hermia’s head, blaming Lysander for Hermia’s disobedience
Demetrius one of the four lovers, in love with Hermia, loved by Helena, Egeus’s chosen partner for Hermia; hatred for Helena (but still willing to have sex), pursuing Hermia despite her hatred for him
Lysander one of the four lovers, in love with Hermia, hated by Egeus; declaring true love for Hermia, outlining their plan to elope, regret for loving Hermia, new love for Helena, “the course of true love never did run smooth”
Helena one of the four lovers, in love with Demetrius, very insecure (low self-esteem); asking Hermia to teach her her ways, pursuing Demetrius, comparison to a dog, societal expectations for women not to pursue men, anger towards Lysander for “mocking” her, plan to ruin the plan
Hermia one of the four lovers, daughter to Egeus, in love with Lysander, loved by both Lysander and Demetrius, hates Demetrius; being in love with Lysander (being made bold be her love), will not marry Demetrius, serpent/snake dream
Titania queen of the fairies, married to Oberon, possesses the Indian boy; Indian boy story, natural disturbances cause by the feud between her and Oberon, anything negative about Oberon
Oberon king of the fairies, married to Titania; using Indian boy as a servant, jealousy, anything involving the flower, helping the lovers using the flower, list of nasty animals he wants Titania to fall in love with so that he can take the Indian boy
Puck (Robin Goodfellow) Oberon’s “right hand” fairy, prankster; cannot find the man in Athenian clothes, all the pranks he pulled
Bottom one of the mechanicals, weaver, meant to play Pyramus; wanting to have all the parts in the play, anything super enthusiastic, anything about rehearsing in the woods