midsummer nights dream (pete larson)

act 1 summary Theseus, duke of athens, is planning to festivities for his upcoming wedding to the newly captured amazon,hippolyta. Egeus arrives with his daughter Hermia and her two suitors, Lysander(the man she wants to marry) and Demetrius(the manher father wants her to marry). Egeus demands that Theseus enforce Athenian law upon Hermia and execute her if she refuses to marry Demetrius. Theseus threatens Hermia with either lifelong chastity or death if she continues to disobey her father. Lysander and Hermia make plans to flee Athens. They reveal their plan to Helena, Hermia’s friend, who is in love with Demetrius. To win Demetrius’s favor, Helena decides to tell him about Lysander and Hermia’s planned elopement.
act 2 summary Oberon and Tirania, king and queen of the faries, quarrel over possession of a young Indian boy. Oberon orders Robin Goodfellow, a hobgoblin or “puck,” to obtain a special flower that makes people fall in love with the next creature they see. Oberon wants to make Titania fall in love with a beast and use her infatuation to get the Indian boy from her. Demetrius enters pursued by Helena, whom he tries to drive off. When Robin returns, Oberon, who sympathizes with Helena’s love, orders him to find the Athenian man(Demetrius) and apply some of the flower’s magic nectar to his eyes.
act 3 summary The tradesmen meet in the woods to rehearse. Robin happens upon them and transforms Bottom’s head into an Ass. Abandoned by his terrified friends, Bottom sings. His singing awakens Titania, who, under the infuence of the flower’s magic, falls in love with him. She takes him away to sleep in her bower.
act 4 summary Titania and her attendance pamper Bottom, who falls asleep with her. Oberon, watching them, tells Robin that Titania has given him the Indian boy and thus they can now remove the spells from Titania and Bottom. Reunited, Titania and Oberon use music to charm Bottom and the four lovers into a deep sleep, and then exit.Theseus and Hippolyta, accompanied by Egeus and others, have come to the woods to celebrate May Day. They discover the four lovers asleep and wake them. Lysander now loves Hermia again, and Demetrius loves Helena. When Lysander reveals how he and Hermia fled Athens, Egeus begs Theseus to punish him. But when Demetrius announces that he now loves Helena, Theseus overrides Egeus and decrees that Lysander will marry Hermia and Demetrius Helena when Theseus himself wed Hippolyta. As the lovers depart for Athens, Bottom awakes and attempts to recall his night’s experience, which seems to him now a dream
act 5 summary Theseus dismisses as imaginary the lovers account of their nights experience, and then chooses”Pyramus and Thisbe” for the nights entertainment. The play is so ridiculous and the performance so bad that the courtly audience found pleasure in mocking them. When the play is over and the newly married couples have retired to bed, the fairies enter, Lead by Titania and Oberon, to bless the three marriages. Robin asks the audience to think of the play as if it were a dream.
The more i love, the more he hateth me Helena- she loves Demetrius everytime she loves him he doesnt love her back (hates her more and more)
and she is mine, and all my right of her i do estate onto Demetrius Egeus- claims to state who Hermia will marry(Demetrius) telling theseus.
An i may hide my face, let me play thisbe too. I’ll speak in a monstrous little voice. Bottom wants to be eveything in the play, he is obsested with himself.
Ay me, for aught that i could ever read, could ever hear by tale or history, The course of true love never did run smooth Lysander- wants to run away with Hermia
his mother was a vot’ress of my order and in the spiced Indian hit by night full often hath she gossiped by my side and sat withme on Neptune’s yellow sands Titania- she wants to keep the Indian boy he side of fight they were talking on the beach(friends son)
Thou speakest aright. I am that merry wanderer of the night. i jest to Oberon and make him smile. Puck/Robin- Does tricks for Oberon to make him smile/ introducing himself (he serves the king)
O, when she is angry, she is keen and shrewd. she was a vixen when she went to school, and thought she be but little, she is fierce. Helena- she is talking about how hermia is angry at her and she calls her short
And yet, to say the truth, reason and love keep little company together nowadays. Bottom-Talking about Titania fell in love with him with the nector in her eyes, Love doesnt make sence sometimes.
Hermia is in love with Lysander
Helena is in love with Demetrius
Demetrius is in love with Hermia
Lysander is in love with Helena
Theseus The duke of Athens. Theseus is a hero from Greek mythology.
Hippolyta The legendary queen of the Amazons, engaged to marry Theseus. Although Hippolyta is marrying Theseus because he defeated her in combat, she does not act at all like an unwilling bride.
Egeus A respected nobleman in Theseus’s court. Egeus complains to Theseus that his daughter, Hermia, refuses to marry Demetrius, Egeus’s choice for her. Egeus’s wish to control his daughter is quite severe—he asks Theseus to impose the death penalty on her if she refuses to marry Demetrius. Theseus, however, reduces the penalty for noncompliance from death to life as a nun.
Hermia Egeus’s daughter. Hermia is a beautiful young woman of Athens, and both Demetrius and Lysander are in love with her. Hermia defies her father’s wish that she marry Demetrius because she is in love with Lysander.
Lysander A young nobleman of Athens in love with Hermia. Although Hermia’s father refuses to let her marry Lysander, Lysander believes that love must conquer all obstacles, so he persuades Hermia to run away from her home and family with him, into the forest.
Demetrius A young nobleman of Athens. In the past, Demetrius acted as if he loved Helena, but after Helena fell in love with him, he changed his mind and pursued Hermia. Emboldened by Egeus’s approval of him, Demetrius is undeterred by the fact that Hermia does not want him.
Helena A young woman of Athens in love with Demetrius. Helena has been rejected and abandoned by Demetrius, who had claimed to love her before he met her best friend, Hermia.
Robin A mischievous fairy who delights in playing pranks on mortals; he is sometimes referred to simply as Puck. he is Oberon’s jester, and his antics are responsible for many of the complications that propel the play. At Oberon’s bidding, he sprinkles “love juice” in the eyes of various characters to change who they love, but he makes mistakes in his application that create conflicts Oberon never intended.
Oberon The king of the fairies. he begins the play at odds with his wife, Titania, because she refuses to relinquish control of a young Indian prince whom she has kidnapped, but whom he wants for a knight. his desire for revenge on Titania leads him to send Robin to obtain the love-potion flower that creates so much of the play’s confusion and farce.
Titania The beautiful queen of the fairies. she resists the attempts of her husband, Oberon, to make a knight of the young Indian prince whom she has taken. Until Oberon gives up his demand, she has sworn to avoid his company and his bed. She is less upset by the fact that she and Oberon are apart than by the fact that Oberon has been disrupting her and her followers’ magic fairy dances.
Bottom The overconfident weaver chosen to play Pyramus in a play that a group of craftsmen have decided to put on for Theseus’s wedding celebration. Bottom is full of advice and self-confidence but frequently makes silly mistakes and misuses language. His simultaneous nonchalance about the beautiful Titania’s sudden love for him and unawareness of the fact that Puck has transformed his head into that of an ass mark the pinnacle of his foolish arrogance.
quince A carpenter and the nominal leader of the craftsmen’s attempt to put on a play for Theseus’s marriage celebration. Quince is often shoved aside by the abundantly confident Bottom. During the craftsmen’s play, Quince plays the Prologue.
why are Titania and Oberon fighting They are fighting over the little Indian boy because Titania wants to take care of him because she was friends with the kids mom and she died a birth. Oberon wants the little Indian boy because he wants him to be his little servant.
what are the consequences of Titania and Oberon’s fight Titania and Oberon’s terrible fights impact the seasons and the weather resulting in terrible rainstorms, high winds, and occasional flooding. As a result, the volatile weather conditions have been the cause of crop failure and food shortages.
according to Lysander, what are some of the obstacles that can get in the way of love. different ages, their guardians and advisors said no, their love might be ruined by war, death, or sickness
what is Athenian law and hermia’s ultimatum Egeus demands that Theseus enforce Athenian law upon Hermia and execute her if she refuses to marry Demetrius. Theseus threatens Hermia with either lifelong chastity or death if she continues to disobey her father.
what are pucks main points of pucks speach at the end of the play. Robin says to think of the play as if it were all just a dream. And for the audience not to get mad at him if the audience forgives them then they will make everything alright.
characters that are foils Helena serves as a foil for Hermia because Hermia emphsizes Helena’s special qualities that she doesnt have.
August 18, 2019