Read the final act of A Midsummer Night's Dream for Wednesday's class and answer a few more questions...
Q1: The Pyramus and Thisbe play is Shakespeare's cheeky lampoon of the worst theater of his day, performed by some of his most insensible actors. According to this Act, what are some of the hallmarks of bad writing and acting that Shakespeare is exposing to his audience? How does Shakespeare also use his on-stage audience as a kind of 'applause' sign?
Q2: Shakespeare loves being 'meta,' which means little devices that break down the 'fourth wall' of the stage and suggest the obvious--that the play IS a play, and the actors ARE actors. What are some ways Shakespeare accomplishes this in Act 5, which is the most 'meta' act of all?
Q3: Though clearly a bathetic tragedy (meaning, one that falls short of being truly pathetic, or touching), how might the Pyramus and Thisbe play be itself an echo (or double) of A Midsummer Night's Dream itself? When does the language, or the characters, or even the plot seem to suggest events that we've seen in the previous play, where the audience were the actors?
Q4: Even stranger than the play, is the role of Puck at the end, who is basically playing the role of Bottom, telling the audience (in this case, us) that "none of this was real, it was all pretend, just a dream, so don't be offended!" Why would Shakespeare do this, when he earlier made fun of Bottom for doing so? Is Puck's apology itself an act of meta-satire? Or is it a sincere apology for going too far?
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