For Tuesday: A Midsummer Night's Dream, Acts 1-2

NOTE: A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that is constantly pitting different worlds against one another, as van Es explained in his book. So you will find the word of the forest/faeries (Oberon, Titania, Puck, etc.) vs. the world of upper-class Athens (Theseus, Hermia, Lysander, etc.) vs. the world of lower-class Athens (Bottom, Flute, Snout, etc.). To complicate matters, Theseus and Hippolyta are figures from Greek myth, though they exist side-by-side with the upper and lower-class characters in Athens who are really characters from Shakespeare's England. When these worlds mix, chaos--and comedy--ensue. 

* How do the paired lovers disucss the rules and ideals of love in the First Act? Consider especially Helena's speech in 1.1, and Egeus' complaint to Theseus at the beginning of the play.

* How is the moon used as a metaphor throughout the first scene regarding love and constancy? Consider Theseus' comment, "Changing faint hymns to the cold fruitless moon" (1.1). 

* Also, consider how characters play with the metaphor of "love as sight" throughout the first Act. For example, Hermia says, "I would my father looked but with my eyes," and Helena says, "Were the world mine, Demetrius being bated,/The rest I'd give to be to you translated" (1.1). 

* How do the "rustics" (the low class players) satirize the idea of acting and perhaps of Shakespeare's own theater? 

* The low class characters often use "malapropisms," which is the misuse of a word. Why are such mistakes funny? How would Bevis explain this? 

* Read Titania's speech in 2.1 carefully. What does this say about her character and about the nature of love itself? How does it offer a commentary on many of the themes/metaphors of Act 1? 

* How do the Spirits and they're arguments/conflicts echo that of the human world in Act 1? Consider the connections between Egeus and Oberon, and Titania and Hermia, etc. 

* Though prose and verse are pretty strictly followed in these Acts (verse for upper class, prose for lower), the use of verse often breaks from imabic pentameter into couplets and songs. Why does Shakespeare employ so many variations of poetry throughout Acts 1 and especially 2?