Wednesday, September 13, 2023

For Friday: A Midsummer NIght's Dream, Act Two



NOTE: No questions this time, but we'll do an in-class writing over some aspect of Act 2 (maybe someone's speech??) when you get to class. Here are some ideas to consider:

* Look at the language of this act: who speaks in verse? Rhymed verse? Blank verse? Prose? Who switches from one to the other?

* How do Titania and Oberon contrast with the other pairs of lovers we've seen so far in the play? Who are they most like? Theseus and Hippolyta? Hermia and Lysander? Helena and Demetrius?

* Why does Oberon demand the little Indian boy from Titania, especially when she clearly has a bond with the child that he does not? How might this echo other aspects of the play from Act 1?

* Why does Shakespeare include songs in his play, especially since most of the poetry in the play is already quite musical? How do we 'read' songs as a reader differently than they would appear on-stage? 

* Is it comic that Lysander exchanges his love for Hermia with Helena so readily? Should a mere drop from a magic flower untie the bonds of love? Is this merely a plot device of comedy, or is Shakespeare's cynicism about love (from the Sonnets) showing through?

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