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'SHOW' IS A NO!

illustrates

depicts

proves

demonstrates

it creates an effect

exhibits

reveals

communicates

conveys

presents

exposes

examines

expresses

dramatizes

evidence/ evident

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Transitional words and phrases can create powerful links between ideas in your paper and can help your reader understand the logic of your paper.

again, and then, besides, equally important, finally, further, furthermore, nor, too, next, lastly, what's more, moreover, in addition

Eight (8) basic categories you must learn:

To Show Time. ...

To Show Place. ...

To Add An Idea. ...

To Illustrate or Explain an Idea. ...

To Compare or Contrast Ideas. ...

To Show a Result. ...

To Empasize an Idea. ...

To Summarize an Idea.

~Transition words commonly appear at the start of a new sentence or clause (followed by a comma), serving to express how this clause relates to the previous one.

~ Begin each paragraph with a word like first, additionally, further, secondly, or third, next, first, last, we now turn, in the other hand, finally, now let's consider, if you think that's shocking, similarly, and yet, altogether, at present

~If you need to communicate a point that contradicts your previous statement, an effective transition sentence is one that includes a word or phrase such as however, despite this/that, in contrast, or nonetheless.

Type of Transitions Common Terms

Additive Also, Additionally, Furthermore, Moreover

Adversative But, Still, However, While, Whereas, Conversely, (and) yet

Causal Since, For, As, Because (of the fact that)

Sequential Initially, Secondly, Thirdly, Last

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Bottom: 'I see their knavery: this is to make an ass of me, tofright me if they could. But I will not stir from thisplace, do what they can. I will walk up and down hereand I will sing, that they shall hear I am not afraid.'

Explanation: I see what joke they're trying to pull. They want to make an ass of me, to scare me if they can. But I won’t move from this spot, whatever they do. I’ll walk back and forth and sing a song so that they’ll hear me and know I’m not afraid.

Bottom: 'Methinks, mistress, you should have little reason for that. And yet, to say the truth, reason and love keeplittle company together nowadays. The more the pity thatsome honest neighbors will not make them friends. Nay,I can gleek upon occasion.'

Explanation: I don’t think you should have a good reason to love me. And yet, to be honest, reason and love are seldom found together these days. It’s a shame that some mutual friend of theirs doesn’t introduce them. Ha, I've been known to tell a joke from time to time.

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Important Quotes: Lovers' Tangle Act III 

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Important Quotes: Lovers' Tangle Act III 

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Demetrius

'[Waking] O Helena, goddess, nymph, perfect, divine! To what, my love, shall I compare thine eyne? Crystal is muddy. Oh, how ripe in showThy lips, those kissing cherries, tempting grow!That pure congealèd white, high Taurus' snow,Fanned with the eastern wind, turns to a crow

When thou hold’st up thy hand. Oh, let me kissThis princess of pure white, this seal of bliss!'

Explanation: [Waking up] Oh, Helena, goddess! Divine, perfect nymph! My love, to what can I compare your eyes? Crystal is like mud compared to them. Oh, your lips look like ripe, tempting cherries just touching together! The pure white snow on the tops of the Taurus mountains, fluffed by winds from the east, look as black as a crow in comparison to the whiteness of your hands. Oh, let me kiss your pure white hand in a pledge of happiness!

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Summaries' videos: Make your video notes 

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Summaries' videos: Make your video notes 

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Act II Scene I

https://youtu.be/B72xdOyvg_s?si=3ASQD2fwt_8KHKh9

Act II Scene II

https://youtu.be/SdW7_d0iuEs?si=g7Myct2TuzKIqZBf

Act III Scene I

https://youtu.be/BCHQwWLXF5E?si=Jd2OUIUvNTYlu_og

Act III Scene II

https://youtu.be/2dgJL4T0KK8?si=1Z_-ek_QSR3VgTtY

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A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare | Act 2, Scene 1

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Important Quotes: Lovers' Tangle Act III 

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Important Quotes: Lovers' Tangle Act III 

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Lysander:

'Why should you think that I should woo in scorn?Scorn and derision never come in tears.Look, when I vow, I weep. And vows so born,In their nativity all truth appears. How can these things in me seem scorn to you,Bearing the badge of faith to prove them true?'

Explanation: Why would you think that I’m making fun of you when I tell you of my love for you? Mockery is never accompanied by tears. Look, I cry when I swear my love for you. And when vows are made by someone who is crying, that shows how true and since the vow is. How can you think I am mocking you, when my tears are like a badge of honesty?

Helena:

'You do advance your cunning more and more.When truth kills truth, O devilish holy fray!These vows are Hermia’s. Will you give her o'er?Weigh oath with oath, and you will nothing weigh.Your vows to her and me, put in two scales, Will even weigh, and both as light as tales.'

Explanation: You display your sneaky ways more and more clearly. What a nasty fight it will be, when one “true” vow invalidates another “true” vow you made earlier. These promises you’re making to me belong to Hermia. Are you going to just jilt her? If you weigh the vows you’ve made to Hermia against the vows you made to me, they’ll cancel each other out, and weigh nothing. They’ll be as weightless as lies.

Hermia:

'Dark night, that from the eye his function takes,The ear more quick of apprehension makes.Wherein it doth impair the seeing sense,It pays the hearing double recompense.Thou art not by mine eye, Lysander, found.Mine ear, I thank it, brought me to thy soundBut why unkindly didst thou leave me so?'

Explanation: While the darkness of night makes eyes work less well, it helps ears to work better. While it blocks the ability to see, it more than makes up for that by increasing the ability to hear. My eyes couldn’t find you, Lysander. But thankfully my ears heard your voice. Why did you so cruelly leave me alone?'

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In Act 2 Scene 1 of A Midsummer Night's Dream, it is the next night and the fairy King Oberon's fairy servant, Puck, actually named Robin Goodfellow meets another fairy, a servant of the fairy Queen Titania.

Puck boasts about the practical jokes he likes playing on humans.

Oberon and Titania enter arguing about a changeling boy who is to Titania's late mortal friend’s son.

Oberon wants to tell her to give him the boy and she refuses

Their quarrel has been causing chaos in the natural world including wind and fog and flooding which is affecting the crops

Oberon tells Puck that he is going to play a trick on Titania

Cupid he says once shot an arrow that accidentally hit a flower the juice of the flower can be placed on a sleeping person's eyes and when the slipping person wakes up they fall madly in love with the next living creature that they see.

He sends Puck to get him the flower planning to use it on Titania so she may fall in love with something hideous and disgusting

After Puck leaves Demetrius and Helena enter and Oberon secretly watches them Demetrius is searching for Hermia and Lysander and Helena follows along expressing her love for him.

He tells her harshly to go away leave him alone but she just keeps following him Puck brings the flower to Oberon who tells Puck to use some of its juice to make that Athenian man he has just seen fall in love with the poor woman who he treated so badly.

He tells Puck he will recognize the man by his Athenian garments.

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Quotes Act III: Love Tangle Confusion Hermia & Helena

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Quotes Act III: Love Tangle Confusion Hermia & Helena

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Helena:

'O spite! O hell! I see you all are bent To set against me for your merriment.If you were civil and knew courtesy,You would not do me thus much injury.Can you not hate me, as I know you do,But you must join in souls to mock me too?If you were men, as men you are in show,You would not use a gentle lady soTo vow, and swear, and superpraise my parts,When I am sure you hate me with your hearts. You both are rivals, and love Hermia, And now both rivals to mock Helena—A trim exploit, a manly enterprise,To conjure tears up in a poor maid’s eyes With your derision! None of noble sort Would so offend a virgin, and extortA poor soul’s patience, all to make you sport.'

Explanation: Oh cruelty! Oh hell! I see you’ve all joined together to humiliate me for your own enjoyment. If you were civilized or had good manners, you wouldn’t hurt me this way. Can’t you just hate me, as I know you do? Do you have to team up to mock me too? If you were true men, as you pretend to be, you wouldn’t treat a noble woman this way—making vows and promises and praising my beauty in such over-the-top ways when I know you both hate me in your hearts. You’re both competing for Hermia’s love, and now you’re competing to see who can mock me more. What an impressive feat, what a manly thing to do, to put tears in a poor girl's eyes through your mockery! No truly noble person would offend an innocent girl like this, or torture a poor soul's patience just so you can have some fun.

Helena

'Lo, she is one of this confederacy!Now I perceive they have conjoined all threeTo fashion this false sport, in spite of me.Injurious Hermia! Most ungrateful maid!Have you conspired, have you with these contrived205To bait me with this foul derision?...as well as I, may chide you for it,Though I alone do feel the injury.'

Explanation: So, she’s a part of your little gang! Now I see that all three of them have joined together to create this game of lies in order to hurt me. Hurtful Hermia! Ungrateful girl! Have you conspired and schemed to torment me with this awful mockery? Have you forgotten about all the confidential conversations we’ve shared, the vows of sisterhood we made, the hours we spent together while scolding time for moving so fast and forcing us apart? Our schoolgirl friendship, our childhood innocence? Hermia, we used to sit together like two gods of craftsmanship, and sew one flower with our two needles, working on the same single piece of cloth. We would sit on the same cushion, singing the same song in perfect tune, as if our hands, our sides, our voices and our minds were joined as one. We grew up together, like two cherries—which seem to be separate but are also joined together. Two loving cherries sharing one stem. That's just how it was with us, who seemed to have two bodies but one heart, like doubled coats of arms that belong separately to a husband and wife who also share a single crest. Are you really going to rip apart our old friendship by joining these men to humiliate your poor friend? It’s not friendly, and it’s not ladylike. All women, not just me, will scold you for acting this way, even though I’m the only one who’s getting hurt.

Hermia:

'I am amazèd at your passionate words.I scorn you not. It seems that you scorn me.'

Explanation: I’m shocked by your angry words. I don't hate you. It seems like you hate me.

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They both leave to put the magic flower nectar to use

Act 2 shows what happens when humans enter the fairy realm of the woods the fairy world has its own rules and magic is a typical occurrence out in the woods at night

Magic turns reality into a sort of dreamlike Wonderland the feud between Oberon and Titania speaks to the theme of gender roles, Men and Women.

Oberon is frustrated not just because he wants the changeling boy but also because Titania is defying him.

He berates her and reminds her he is ‘her Lord’ so she should obey him

Their arguments and the disorder is unleashing on the natural world emphasizes the connection between the fairy realms magic and nature.

Gender roles are also emphasized in the relationship between Helena and Demetrius

Helen has utter devotion to Demetrius speaks to gender stereotypes of women having dogmatic love and devotion to the men they fawn over even when those men are insensitive.

Oberon's decision to take pity on Helena is the action that first intertwines the human and fairy plots.

Puck who already has experience playing tricks on humans moves between these two plots weaving them together.

The theme of love is a magical force finds its most concrete symbolic representation in the flower that was shot by Cupid's arrow;the nectar making its victim fall for any living thing be it animal fairy or whatever.

It represents the irrationality of loves and magic.

[Shakespeare’s audience were a superstitious and most ordinary folk believed that fairies lived in the woods and worked their magic at night.]

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Cambridge IGCSE Literature in English 0475

AO1: Show detailed knowledge of the content of literary texts in the three main forms (drama, poetry, prose), supported by reference to the text.

AO2: Understand the meanings of literary texts and their contexts, and explore texts beyond surface meanings to show deeper awareness of ideas and attitudes.

AO3: Recognise and appreciate ways in which writers use language, structure, and form to create and shape meanings and effects.

AO4: Communicate a sensitive and informed personal response to literary texts.

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Hermia's dilemma & Lysander's change of heart

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Hermia's dilemma & Lysander's change of heart

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Hermia

Dark night, that from the eye his function takes,

The ear more quick of apprehension makes.

Wherein it doth impair the seeing sense,

It pays the hearing double recompense.

Thou art not by mine eye, Lysander, found;

Mine ear – I thank it – brought me to thy sound.

But why unkindly didst thou leave me so?

Explanation: When it’s dark at night, the eye cannot see, but the ear can hear even better. Night may impair vision, but it makes us hear twice as well. I didn’t find you by looking, Lysander; my ear brought  me here, recognizing your sound. But why did you leave me so rudely?

Lysander: 'Thy love? Out, tawny Tartar, out!Out, loathèd medicine! O hated potion, hence!'

Explanation: Your love? Get away from me, you dark-skinned Tartar! Get away, you disgusting poison. You hated potion, get away!

Hermia: 'Do you not jest?'

Explanation: Are you joking?

Helena: 'Yes, sooth, and so do you.'

Explanation: Yes, of course he is, and so are you.

Lysander: 'Demetrius, I will keep my word with thee.'

Explanation: Demetrius, I’ll honour what I said and fight you

Demetrius: 'Nay, then, thou mock’st me. Thou shalt buy this dear If ever I thy face by daylight see.Now go thy way. Faintness constraineth meTo measure out my length on this cold bed.By day’s approach look to be visited.[Lies down and sleeps]'

Explanation: No, you’re just mocking me. You’ll pay dearly for this if I ever see your face in the daylight. Now run wherever you want. I’m so tired I need to lie down and sleep on this cold ground. But expect me to come find you by the dawn. [He lies down and falls asleep]

Helena: 'O weary night, O long and tedious night,Abate thy hours. Shine comforts from the east,That I may back to Athens by daylightFrom these that my poor company detest.And sleep, that sometimes shuts up sorrow’s eye, Steal me awhile from mine own company.[Lies down and sleeps]'

Explanation: Oh, exhausting, long, and boring night, please end already! You reassuring dawn, start shining in the east, so I can go back to Athens in the daylight and leave behind these people who hate spending time with me. Now sleep, which can make us forget our sorrows, help me escape for a while from my own company. [She lies down and falls asleep]

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SETTING:

Athens & Wood

City of Athens: Theseus' palace, orderly organised law-abiding with harsh Athenian rules

Wood: irrational absurd mystical realm of fairies and magic

disorder and confusion being the norm

-a world representing lunacy, the theme of Appearance/ Illusion vs Reality, theme of dream and supernatural, symbols of magic and love potion

-as enchantments are the norm the characters alter on entering this magical realm where nothing truly makes sense

Characters

King Theseus & King Oberon:

-Theseus represents authority, order, sanity, normalcy, love and justice within the city

-a powerful responsible mortal king who resolves issues by the law hence upholds the law and the harsh Athenian rules but mitigates them

-understands love as is himself in love with Hippolyta the to-be-queen, and awaits his wedding enthusiastically by ordering celebration and revelry in the city

-Oberon a more powerful and knowledgeable king an authority on the occurrences in the world with keen knowledge about the human world and human nature

-manipulates situations to his own benefit and fulfil his will

kind, thoughtful and helpful understands love and the purity of love

-though seems spiteful and enjoys Puck's mischief yet not filled wholly with spite as helps mortals out of dire situation in the forest.

-Theseus' power is restricted to the world and the Athenian law hence less powerful than Oberon who has extraordinary magical powers and better understanding of both the fairy realm and human world

-mitigates the laws and softens the verdict as he too understands love

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In Act 2 Scene 2 of ‘A Midsummer Night's Dream’Titania's fairies sing her to sleep and then Oberon places the magic flower nectar on her eyelids.

Lysander and Hermia enter lost and tired they lie down a little apart they are still unmarried and fall asleep. Puck enters and seeing Lysander’s Athenian clothing believes he is the man Oberon sent him to find.

He places the flower’s juice on Lysander’s eyelids and leaves.

Demetrius enters with Helena still chasing after him but he finally evades her and runs off. Helena spots Hermia and Lysander and wakes up Lysander thinking he is hurt.

As soon as he opens his eyes, he falls madly in love with Helena who in turn thinks Lysander fun of her and runs away.

Lysander follows when Hermia wakes up Lysander is gone she goes off to search for him Oberon ensues chaos on purpose as revenge against Titania's prideful denial of his demand that she give him the changeling boy.

He hopes that she falls in love with something violent but Puck ensues chaos without meaning to when he mistakenly applies the juice to the wrong lover’s eyes.

Referring to Oberon's vague description of a young man in Athenian garments how will this play out now that Helena is loved by the wrong man and the man Hermia loves no longer loves her.

An eccentrically chaotic confrontation seems imminent in this scene Hermia dreams about a snake eating her heart.

The dream foreshadows the betrayal of love and trust she will soon experience.

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Section 'A'
Passage-based Questions. [20 marks]

A passage with be provided to annotate and analyse before beginning to answer the given questions. All answers must be in the PEEAL FORMAT

Section'B'
PEEAL Essay Questions{10 marks}

Characters and Relationships
Instruction: Analyse and Plan according to PEEAL FORMAT {5 marks}

Themes

The Lovers: The Love Tangle

Hermia and Lysander

Helena and Demetrius

Hermia and Demetrius

The Rude Mechanicals

Bottom

Quince

Flute

Starveling

Snug

Snout

The Aristocrats and The Royals

Duke Theseus of Athens

Hippolyta

Egeus an aristocrat

Demetrius a nobleman

Lysander a nobleman

Hermia Egeus' daughter

Helena Hermia's best friend

Section 'C'
Quote Identification & Analysing Theme {10 marks}

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Demetrius' Proclamation of Love for Helena Act III Scene II

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Demetrius' Proclamation of Love for Helena Act III Scene II

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Demetrius

[Waking] O Helen, goddess, nymph, perfect, divine! What could I possibly compare to your eyes? Crystal is cloudy in comparison. Your lips are as ripe as cherries, tempting me to kiss them. When you hold up your hand, the pure white snow of the Taurus Mountains, blowing in the eastern wind, turns as black as a crow in comparison. Let me kiss this, pure, white hand as a seal of our engagement.

Explanation: [Waking] O Helen, goddess, nymph, perfect, divine! What could I possibly compare to your eyes? Crystal is cloudy in comparison. Your lips are as ripe as cherries, tempting me to kiss them. When you hold up your hand, the pure white snow of the Taurus Mountains, blowing in the eastern wind, turns as black as a crow in comparison. Let me kiss this, pure, white hand as a seal of our engagement.

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Hippoltya

-Hippolyta, the Queen of Amazon, was injured and captured during war however is now being revered and adulated by the Athenian King Theseus who will marry her in four days time

-calm and complacent seems less enthusiastic than Theseus about the wedding but gradually won by him

Titania

-Titania fiery assertive resilient possessing magical powers lives in her bower refuses to be submissive subservient when Oberon is being unjust and overly dominating by forcing her to hand over the Indian changeling boy,

-her late friend and disciple's son, whom he wants to make his henchman.

-resists by putting up a brave fight by declining his demands, abandoning his company and deriding him before the fairies;

-frustrating the powerful king who decides to avenge the insults and maliciously make her handover the Indian changeling boy to him.

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In Act 3 Scene 1 of A Midsummer Night's Dream in the woods near the place where Titania is sleeping the six silly Athenian tradesmen gather to rehearse their play within a play.

They are a little concerned that having a lion or a sword fight in the play will frighten the ladies leading to disaster for the actors.

Bottom suggests that they simply explain in the play that they are actors playing roles so no one will be afraid.

Realizing that the night of the performance will fall during a new moon on a moonless night, they decide an actor will play moonshine in the play.

As they rehearse, mischievous fairy Puck enters and decides to play a practical joke changing Bottom’s head to that of a donkey’s nole, just before Bottom enters for a scene.

Without a mixes entrance, the other tradesmen run away terrified at this sudden transformation

Bottom is confused and thinks they are all trying to scare him.

He begins to sing loudly waking Titania who takes one look at him and instantly falls in love with him.

She forbids him to leave the woods and tells her fairy servants to wait on him hand and foot.

She takes Bottom back home to her Bower to dote on him lovingly.

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Themes

1. Theme of Love

2. Theme of Unrequited Love

3. Theme of Men and Women

4. Theme of Marriage

5. Theme of Magic

6. Theme of Order & Disorder

7. Theme of Illusion/ Appearance and Reality

8. Theme of Plays Within Play

9. Theme of Dreams

10. Theme of Supernatural

-City of Athens represents daytime, structure order, harsh laws and rules  whereas Duke Theseus stands by these harsh rules and upholds the law though he mitigates it for Hermia

-Theseus and Hippolyta represent order, stability, and wakefulness

Symbols

1. Symbol of Woods

2. Symbol of Moon

Motifs

1. Moon

2. Flower

3.Magic

4. Love Potion

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Puck:

'Then fate o'errules that, one man holding troth,A million fail, confounding oath on oath.'

Explanation: That’s the fate of love. For every man who’s faithful to his love, a million others cancel out each oath of love they make with a new one, over and over again.

"Then will two at once woo one,

That must needs be sport alone .

And those things do best please me

That befall prepost'rously."

Explanation: Then these two men will both be pursuing Helena. That’s fun enough. The most ridiculous things are often the most entertaining.

Oberon:

'And Helena of Athens look thou find—All fancy-sick she is and pale of cheer,With sighs of love, that costs the fresh blood dear. By some illusion see thou bring her here.I’ll charm his eyes against she do appear.'

Explanation: 'Race all through the forest, moving faster than the wind, and find Helena of Athens. She’s lovesick, and her face is pale because of all of her sighing, which is bad for the blood. Use some magic illusion to bring her here, and I’ll put the love juice on his eyes for when she arrives.'

Puck:

'I go, I go. Look how I go,Swifter than arrow from the Tartar’s bow.'

Explanation: I'm going, I'm going. See how I go? Faster than an arrow from a Tartar's bow. [In Shakespeare's day, Tartars were renowned for their skill at archery.]

Puck

'Believe me, King of Shadows, I mistook.Did not you tell me I should know the man By the Athenian garment he had on?And so far blameless proves my enterprise,That I have 'nointed an Athenian’s eyes.And so far am I glad it so did sort,As this their jangling I esteem a sport.'

Explanation: Believe me, King of Shadows—it was a mistake. Didn’t you tell me that I’d recognize the man by the Athenian clothes he was wearing? I can't be blamed for what I've done—I put the love juice on an Athenian’s eyes. And so far I’m glad it worked out this way, as I find all this uproar entertaining.

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Duke of Athens, the fiancé and later husband to Hippolyta

a strong and responsible leader who tries to be fair and sensitive

his duty to uphold the law is paramount because of the needs of Egeus and Hermia situation [when both Lysander and Demetrius love Hermia]

as soon as the lovers sort themselves out, he overrules Egeus' demand that Hermia marry Demetrius

let the lovers decide for themselves whom to marry

treats the labourers decently, despite the fact that their play is atrocious

Though a fearsome warrior for he captured Hippolyta, an Amazon Queen, in battle, he is devoted to making her happy

however, is extremely literal-minded, and gives little credence to the ‘fantasies’ the lovers recount of their night in the forest

just kind understands the intricacies of love, mitigates the verdict to an exile/ banishment to a nunnery instead of execution by death

Theseus attempts to resolve the problem of Hermia's marriage by using reason

humane country gentleman his enthusiasm for his hounds at IV:1

duty-conscious head of state with touches of a sensitive romantic lover

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In this scene, the tradesmen argue about the contents of their play worrying that the audience will not understand that they are actors playing roles.

Their lack of trust in the audience to separate fact from fiction is funny in itself but it takes on additional layers as a commentary on theatre in general.

Obviously, everyone watching a Midsummer Night's Dream knows that the actors are playing the roles of Bottom and the other tradesmen in Shakespeare's play, playing actors putting on a play.

In contrast to this meta theatrical subtext, Puck says he will become an actor in their play if he has caused two but then instead of pretending in a performance, he changes reality. This emphasizes the difference between the magic of theatre which requires the audience to willingly participate in the fiction and true magic which takes its victims unaware.

Wordplay continues to be Shakespeare's foundation of the humour of this scene Bottom continues with malapropisms, using wrong words substituting ‘odious’ for ‘odorous’ and when he's transformed he becomes a walking pun he's an ass- headed man named Bottom who is already sort of an ‘ass’ and his personality. Moreover, Bottom’s jokes are so bad even titania who's in love with him wants him to stop talking. She ends the scene by instructing her fairy servants ‘tie up my lover's tongue bring him silently.’

Love is irrational! It's magical!

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How do you perceive each of the character? Support your answer with evidence from Act 1.

Theseus the Duke of Athens, anxiously awaiting his wedding in four days time to his beloved Hippolyta

Hippolyta, the Queen of the Amazons, now Theseus' beloved wife-to-be

Egeus, the distraught and raging father, a nobleman

Hermia, Egeus' daughter Lysander's beloved and Demetrius' desire

Lysander, a young noble in love with Hermia, disapproved by Egeus

Demetrius, a young noble man, an inconsistent lover previously in love with Helena now wooing Hermia desperately

Helena, Hermia's best friend, a piteous heartbroken devastated beauty, deserted by cruel Demetrius, desperately chasing him to win him back

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Oberon:

'Thou seest these lovers seek a place to fight.Hie therefore, Robin, overcast the night.The starry welkin cover thou anonWith drooping fog as black as Acheron,And lead these testy rivals so astray As one come not within another’s way...And then I will her charmèd eye releaseFrom monster’s view, and all things shall be peace.'

Explanation: You can see that these lovers are looking for a place to fight. Therefore, rush, Robin, and make the night dark and cloudy. As quickly as possible, cover the starry sky with a low fog as dark as hell, and lead around these manic rivals so that they get so lost that they won't run into each other. Imitate Lysander’s voice to get Demetrius all riled up with insults. Then rage a bit in Demetrius’ voice. And in that way you’ll lead them away from each other until tiredness creeps over them with its heavy legs and bat-like wings that they fall dead asleep.[He gives a different flower to ROBIN] Then crush this flower over Lysander’s eyes, because its juice has the ability to remove from his eyes the mistaken love he was given by the first love juice—and to make his eyes see the way he would normally. When they wake, all this mockery and fighting will seem like a dream or an insignificant hallucination. Then the lovers will return to Athens, bound together by love until they die. While you’re working on this job I've given you, I’ll go visit Titania and ask her for the Indian boy. And then I’ll reverse the spell on her eyes and she will stop loving that monster. Then everything will be at peace.

Puck:

My fairy lord, this must be done with haste.For night’s swift dragons cut the clouds full fast,And yonder shines Aurora’s harbinger,At whose approach, ghosts, wandering here and there,Troop home to churchyards...They willfully themselves exile from lightAnd must for aye consort with black-browed night.'

Explanation: My fairy lord, all this must be done quickly. The dragons that pull the night's chariot are speeding through the sky. In the distance the morning star, which appears just before the dawn, is shining, and all the ghosts that wander in the night are marching back to their graveyards. The damned souls of all those who committed suicide, buried at crossroads or at the bottom of a river, have already returned to their wormy graves. They fear that day will expose their shame, and so they avoid all sunlight and remain forever in darkest night.

[In Shakespeare's day, people who committed suicide were not allowed a Christian burial, and thus were interred in the places Robin mentions.]

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Theseus makes contrast on the previous events after the lovers' return to Athens from their adventure in the woods, daylight and reason calls for a strong spokesman for those values

Theseus is sceptic appears to playdown the extravagances of imagination and judge reality in the light of 'cool reason'

While Hippolyta doubts the workmen's offerings, he defends them

his later remarks on the need for generosity in responding to the offerings of subjects whose goodwill exceeds their ability:

What poor duty cannot do, noble respect
takes it in might, not merit.

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In Act 3 scene 2 of A Midsummer Night's Dream, Puck gleefully tells Oberon that he has transformed one of the rude mechanicals the Athenian tradesman performing the play into a donkey headed man and that Titania waked and straightaway loved an ass.

He also says he's put the magic flower nectar on the eyes of the Athenian youth as Oberon wanted.

But just then Demetrius and Hermia enter since Demetrius is still longing after Hermia Oberon can clearly see that Puck must have been chanted the wrong Athenian man. Hermia runs off and Demetrius falls asleep on the ground in the woods.

Oberon tells Puck to bring Helena to him. After Puck goes to get her Oberon anoints Demetrius his eyelids with the flower nectar.

Puck then returns telling Oberon that Helena and Lysander are coming, finding the whole scene entertaining as Lysander professes his love for Helena. Demetrius awakens and on seeing Helena, instantly falls in love with her. Helena is convinced that two men are mocking her.

Hermia enters and is completely confused and dismayed because Lysander and Demetrius are now both head over heels in love with Helena whom the two men begin fighting over.

Hermia becomes angry with Helena for stealing her lover the men leave to duel and the women flee in different directions.

Oberon gets annoyed with Puck for causing all the confusion.

Puck claims it was an honest mistake but he's enjoying himself anyway.

Oberon tells him to prevent the duel and he gives Puck a flower to use on Lysander to reverse the enchantment.

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A Midsummer Night's Dream Summary:
https://youtu.be/_HALEIcLFqM

A Midsummer Night's Dream Themes:
https://youtu.be/M5wiW5i5rss

A Midsummer Night's Dream Symbols:
https://youtu.be/ZGzv0V1BQ-Y

A Midsummer Night's Dream  Act 1 Scene 1:
https://youtu.be/8LpGRhXBR8U?si=3l1Ll2gTGpMwG6dr

A Midsummer Night's Dream  Act 1 Scene 2:
https://youtu.be/MmLZiFn1d6w?si=szv9DsrDwsp3vslY

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A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare | Plot Summary

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Oberon:

'But we are spirits of another sort.I with the morning’s love have oft made sport,And like a forester the groves may treadEven till the eastern gate, all fiery red... Make no delay.We may effect this business yet ere day.'

Explanation: But we’re a different sort of spirit. I've often enjoyed the pleasures of the morning, and like a forest ranger, wander the woods until in the East the sun rises, all fiery red—spreading its rays over the ocean and turning the salty green water to gold. But anyway, hurry. Don’t delay. We can get all this done before it's day.

Puck:

'[As LYSANDER] Thou coward, art thou bragging to thestars,Telling the bushes that thou look’st for wars, And wilt not come? Come, recreant. Come, thou child!I’ll whip thee with a rod. He is defiledThat draws a sword on thee.'

Explanation: [In LYSANDER’s voice] You coward! Are you bragging to the stars and telling the bushes that you're looking for a fight, but then you won't actually come find me? Come here, coward! Come here, you child! I’ll whip you with a stick. You're such a coward, anyone who tries to fight you with a sword would be disgraced.

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The King of the Fairies and Titania's husband, a dark elemental force whose power and influence is felt throughout the play

is imperious and peremptory figure, not vicious nor aloof from human sympathy for he takes pity on Helena while pursuing his vengeance on Titania through Puck

like a godly king, unaccustomed to having his wishes being challenged or debated, strong in knowledge for what he wants he has the power to exact

Oberon is responsible, wilful, jealous and demands obedience from his subjects, including his wife

When angry, he uses magic and plots to manipulate and humiliate in order to get his way

domineering, sharp and authoritative, manipulative spiteful as it is his will that he is not prepared to have thwarted

just kind but powerful as he understands both the mortal world and the Fairy realm

knows the force of herbs and can cast a spell on a new-born child that will protect the child from harm

is a dream figure, powerful in his influence on the human world not tied to its laws like Theseus

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Oberon then says he will once again ask Titania to give him the changeling boy and then use the second flower on her too.

Puck tells him it is almost dawn so they will need to work fast signalling the return of sanity and order to the play.

Puck creates a fog and the Athenian men around and confusion by imitating their voices. The men become exhausted and finally lie down to sleep. Helena and Hermia also enter and fall asleep on the ground with the four lovers all asleep on the ground near each other. Puck puts the magic flower nectar on Lysander’s eyelids to reverse the spell.

Shakespeare loved dramatic irony which is when the audience knows more than the characters do creating tension and suspense here.

Dramatic irony begins when Helen tells Demetrius that Hermia and Lysander are planning to escape to the woods.

Then, separately, the foolish mechanicals decide to rehearse in the woods.

Now, the audience knows that all the characters are going to end up in the woods at the same time and a lot could go wrong.

When it becomes clear that Oberon has seen only one Athenian man the audience has seen a second Athenian man and they know that his plan could go wrong.

Oberon and Puck are the audience for the lovers' play. In an interesting reversal, Puck becomes an actor in this play as he imitates the voices of Lysander and Demetrius to lead them astray.

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Briefly analyse the following passage: tone, conflict, theme and the use of word play.

Section 'A':  Act I Scene 1

Passage-based Questions
i). Or if there were a sympathy in choice,

War, death, or sickness did lay siege to it,Making it momentary as a sound,Swift as a shadow, short as any dream,

Brief as the lightning in the collied nightThat in a spleen unfolds both heaven and earth,And ere a man hath power to say "Behold!"

The jaws of darkness do devour it up.So quick bright things come to confusion.

ii). But what of that? Demetrius thinks not so;

He will not know what all but he do know.And, as he errs, doting on Hermia's eyes,So I, admiring of his qualities.Things base and vile, holding no quantity,Love can transpose to form and dignity.Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind,And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.

Nor hath Love's mind of any judgement taste;

Wings and no eyes figure unheedy haste.And therefore is Love said to be a childBecause in choice he is so oft beguiled.

As waggish boys in game themselves forswear,So the boy Love is perjured everywhere.

For ere Demetrius looked on Hermia's eyneHe hailed down oaths that he was only mine,And when this hail some heat from Hermia felt,So he dissolved, and showers of oaths did melt.

I will go tell him of fair Hermia's flight.

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Puck or Robin left alone on the stage, closes the play by addressing the audience, directly. He announces that if we as audience do not like the play, then the best remedy for the situation is to pretend it's only been a dream. instead of cursing the players for a terrible play, the audience should forgive them. Finally, he asks them for an applause if they as an audience accept his apologies. He assures that they will make amens before long, presumably with the performance of another play.

Explanation:

Think but this, and all is mended—
That you have but slumbered here
While these visions did appear.

In other words: ‘If these fairies making mischief on the stage have offended any of you, then I suggest looking at it this way: what you have just watched is nothing but a dream, which you have witnessed while you slept here.’

Puck’s speech is simple. It’s almost as if Puck is lulling us to sleep – or out of it, perhaps more accurately, since he’s claiming that we have been asleep and are now waking up at the end of the performance.

And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream,

In other words, ‘This light and trivial story we have presented before you had no more power than a dream.’ A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a play full of magic and the supernatural, as the very existence of Puck himself – a sprite or fairy – attests, as does the presence of a number of other characters, including Oberon and Titania, king and queen of the fairies.

There’s potentially something mischievous about Puck’s claim that the play is ‘no more yielding than a dream’: dreams can be extraordinarily powerful and vivid when we experience them, and although they are not real, they can leave their mark on our minds.

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Oberon and Titania

Oberon and Titania rulers of the fairy world

control not only the love lives of human characters but also the elements

Oberon successfully uses magic to resolve the conflict between the four lovers

there are sinister potentialities in Oberon and Titania's power

Oberon is capable of making mistakes, the vague instruction to Puck of anointing the eyes of an 'Athenian man'

the vengeful, malicious and spiteful trick he plays on Titania has a hint of cruelty

however, all his actions stem from benevolent intentions

claims to 'torment' (II: I) Titania for her obsession with the Changeling boy simply to restore the harmony between them/ their relationship beautifully evoked in his speech:

Thou remembrest/ Since once I sat upon a promontory,
And heard a mermaid, on a dolphin's back,
Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath,
That the rude sea grew civil at her song,
And certain stars shot madly from their spheres,
To hear the sea-maid's music. (II:I)

Instructs Puck to anoint Demetrius' eyes with the love juices

'he may prove
More fond on her than she upon her love.' (II.I)

Disassociates himself from malevolent spirits when he tells Puck

'we are spirits of another "sort"'  (III.II)

Oberon's role shows that the imagination (disguised as love-juices) does not have a part to play in the course of true love.

rules over the profoundly illogical and irrational dream world where the young lovers come to resolve their romantic problems

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A Midsummer Night's Dream Act IV Summary

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A Midsummer Night's Dream Act IV Summary

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Oberon orders Puck to bring down a fog and separate the lovers.

He puts the potion into Lysander’s eyes so that he will fall in love with Hermia again.

Demetrius will remain in love with Helena.

Oberon casts a spell on the lovers so that they will fall asleep and think it has all been a strange dream.

Titania is so in love with Bottom that she gives the little Changeling boy to Oberon.

Now that he has won, Oberon releases Titania from the spell. Titania thinks that she dreamt that she fell in love with an ass and is repulsed to find herself sleeping next to a mortal, Bottom.

Titania and Oberon seem to be in love with each other again.

Bottom thinks that he has woken up from a strange dream. The spell on him is broken too.

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Section 'A':
Briefly analyse the following passage: tone, conflict, theme, writer's effect and the use of word play and character's traits.
Act I Scene II
i).That will ask some tears in the true performing of

it. If I do it, let the audience look to their eyes. I will move storms, I will condole in some measure.  To the rest — yet my chief humour is for a tyrant. I could play Ercles rarely, or a part to tear a cat in, to make all split.
The raging rocks
And shivering shocks
Shall break the locks
Of prison gates,
And Phibbus' car
Shall shine from far
And make and mar
The foolish Fates.

This was lofty. — Now name the rest of the players. — This isErcles' vein, a tyrant's vein; a lover is more condoling.

ii).An I may hide my face, let me play Thisbe too. I'll speak

in a monstrous little voice: “Thisne, Thisne!” —

“Ah Pyramus, my lover dear!" – "Thy Thisbe dear and lady dear!”

iii).An I may hide my face, let me play Thisbe too. I'll speak

in a monstrous little voice: “Thisne, Thisne!” —

“Ah Pyramus, my lover dear!" – "Thy Thisbe dear and lady dear!”

iv). I grant you, friends, if you should fright the ladies

out of their wits, they would have no more discretion butto hang us, but I will aggravate my voice so that I will

roar you as gently as any sucking dove. I will roar you

an 'twere any nightingale.

v). I will discharge it in either your straw-color

beard, your orange-tawny beard, your purple-in-grain

beard, or your French-crown-color beard, your perfect yellow.

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And, as I am an honest Puck,
If we have unearnèd luck
Now to ’scape the serpent’s tongue,
We will make amends ere long.

Puck now tells the audience that he means what he says, as he is honest. If the audience are more generous towards Puck and his fellows than they deserve, and agree not to kiss at the actors on the stage (like a snake), then he promises they will make up for the poor play soon.

Else the Puck a liar call.
So good night unto you all.
Give me your hands if we be friends,
And Robin shall restore amends.

Puck concludes his speech by saying, essentially: ‘If we don’t make it up to you, you can call me a liar. So, good night everyone. Show your appreciation by clapping your hands, and I, Robin Goodfellow, will make it up to you in return for your applause.’

Gentles, do not reprehend;
If you pardon, we will mend.

To paraphrase: ‘Ladies and gentlemen, do not blame me or get annoyed with me: if you are willing to forgive us, we will make everything all right again.’

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Titania, also a dream figure, carries less direct influence on the lives of the human characters

is under Oberon's control as the young lovers

paying the price for her disobedience to her husband in refusing to handover the Changeling boy

Being divine creatures, their lack of harmony has far-reaching effects as it created disorder in the natural world

Their restored relationship heralded by music and dancing showing return of harmony

play ending with Fairies offering blessings, signify that the human and divine worlds are once again in harmony

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The lovers get married in a joint ceremony with the Duke of Athens and his new bride. Bottom and his friends put on their terrible play, a love story about Pyramus and Thisbe.

It is hilarious, but the actors mean it to be a serious tragedy.

The wedding guests enjoy laughing at the play as much as the actors enjoy performing it.

At the end, everyone is happy and Oberon and Titania bless each of the couples on their wedding night.

Puck has the last word. He hopes the audience have enjoyed the play - if not, to pretend it was all a dream.

He asks for the audience’s applause.

[It is believed that Shakespeare may well have written this play as a celebration for a noble's wedding, however, the identity is unknown.]

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Section A:
Briefly analyse the following passage: tone, conflict, theme, writer's effect and the use of word play.

Act I Scene I
i). If then true lovers have been ever crossed,

It stands as an edict in destiny.
Then let us teach our trial patience
Because it is a customary cross,
As due to love as thoughts and dreams and sighs,
Wishes and tears — poor fancy's followers.

ii). Call you me fair? That “fair” again unsay.

Demetrius loves your fair, O happy fair!

Your eyes are lodestars, and your tongue's sweet air

More tuneable than lark to shepherd's earWhen wheat is green, when hawthorn buds appear.Sickness is catching. O, were favor so!

Your words I catch, fair Hermia. Ere I go,My ear should catch your voice, my eye your eye,My tongue should catch your tongue's sweet melody.

Were the world mine, Demetrius being bated,The rest I'd give to be to you translated.O, teach me how you look, and with what artYou sway the motion of Demetrius' heart.

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So, there’s an element of false modesty to Puck’s (and Shakespeare’s) polite request for forgiveness from their audience, for having inflicted a potentially offensive spectacle upon them. Finally, also, there is probably an element of self-awareness: ‘shadows’ in ‘If we shadows have offended’ may principally refer to the fairies in the play, those airy spirits and shadowy creatures who are so central to A Midsummer Night’s Dream alongside the human participants; but ‘shadows’ was also often used for actors in the theatre too.

Indeed, in one of Shakespeare’s sonnets, Sonnet 53, Shakespeare had potentially punned on this meaning of ‘shadows’

What is your substance, whereof are you made,
That millions of strange shadows on you tend?
Since every one hath, every one, one shade,
And you but one, can every shadow lend …

Although that theory is not widely believed by scholars and critics, the idea of theatre as a place of ‘shadows’ – forms which are not real, yet reflect the realities of love and desire, as in A Midsummer Night’s Dream – is one with which Shakespeare was clearly familiar.

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Language & Mood, Love, Setting & Characters 

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Language & Mood, Love, Setting & Characters 

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Language & Mood

poetic language displaying rhythmic flow

Oberon and Titania speaks in blank verse and at times shorter rhymed lines

Bottom and Friends speak in prose_ Shakespeare normally adopted this technique for the low-life ordinary people

Opening conversation between Theseus and Hippolyta was blank verse with gentle and stately rhythm with a mood of harmony, peace, love and tranquility

Egeus shatters this mood to create tension fear and suspense

Most noticeable example when Titania uses rhymed verse while talking to Bottom who in contrast is speaking in prose

creating comic contrast between the stately dainty Titania and the down-to- earth, unsophisticated, absurd and comical, Bottom

Quince's misuse of punctuation in the Prologue

Puck, Fairies, Oberon and Titania uses sing-song rhythm when singing the songs:

'Over hill, over dale,
Thorough bush, thorough brier,
Over park, over pale,
Thorough flood, thorough fire.' (II:1)

Love and Unrequited Love

Hermia and Lysander sincerely genuinely madly in love until he is wrongfully anointed with the love potion

it is only under the influence of the potion that he falls out of love with Hermia

Demetrius, an inconsistent lover, again falls in love with Helena and later proclaims his love for her before Theseus and Egeus

Helena after being continuously derided and rejected harshly by Demetrius wins her beloved back forever

Oberon manipulates and wins back Titania

Theseus and Hippolyta and epitome of true genuine love

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'SHOW' IS A NO!

illustrates

depicts

proves

demonstrates

it creates an effect

exhibits

reveals

communicates

conveys

presents

exposes
examines
expresses

dramatizes
evidence/ evident