Name: Period: Date: Due Date: A Midsummer Night s Dream Study Guide Act 1 Directions: Answer the following questions to guide your reading of Shakespeare s A Midsummer Night s Dream. Journal Question: Should a daughter be more loyal to her father or her lover? Why? Movie Question: Why does screenwriter and director Michael Hoffman set the film in 19 th century Italy rather than in historical Athens? 1. What is the setting of the play, and what will occur in four days? Who will Theseus marry? Why? 2. Why does Shakespeare use imagery of the moon frequently in the opening monologue? What is he attempting to establish for the work s mood and setting? 3. What problem does Egeus present to Theseus about his daughter Hermia? What does he desire? 4. What does Egeus say that Lysander has done to Hermia? How? 5. What does Theseus decree that Hermia must choose in four days? Why? 6. How is a nun s life or religious life characterized, especially in opposition to married life?
7. What does Lysander suggest that he and Hermia do? What do they plan to do? Why? 8. Why is Helena upset? Who did Demetrius love, and whom does he love now? How is Demetrius indirectly characterized by his love track record? 9. What does Lysander tell Helena, and what does Helena plan to do with this information? Why? 10. How does Shakespeare have the characters in Scene 1 speak differently than the characters in Scene 2? Who speaks in blank verse, and who speaks in prose? How does the speech indirectly characterize them? 11. What do the actors in Scene 2 plan to peform at Theseus and Hippolyta s wedding? Why? Is it appropriate or well-suited for the event? Why or why not? 12. Describe Nick Bottom. How does his speech indirectly characterize him? What does he seek to do? Why? 13. Although Peter Quince is supposed to be the leader, how does Nick Bottom behave or act? Why? 14. Generally, how does Shakespeare indirectly characterize the actors/the rude Mechanicals? Why? 15. How is the mood in Scene 1 different than in Scene 2? 16. Where do both Lysander and Hermia plan on meeting as well as the actors plan on practicing? Why do they plan to meet here? What makes this setting different from the city?
Name: Period: Date: Due Date: A Midsummer Night s Dream Study Guide Act 2 Directions: Answer the following questions to guide your reading of Shakespeare s A Midsummer Night s Dream. Journal Question: Is it permissible to deceive or lie to loved ones? Why or why not? Movie Question: In this ensemble cast for a 1999 film, some of these stars are no longer as famous or appear in as many films and some have seen more success in recent years. Who has risen to fame, and what do you think of his/her acting in 1999 in this film? 1. What is Robin Puck Goodfellow s reputation? What pranks or tricks has he played? 2. Why does Shakespeare have Oberon and Titania enter the stage via opposite directions in the stage directions? 3. Why are Oberon and Titania fighting? What does each want? Why? 4. What is the effect of Oberon and Titania fighting on the world? 5. What flower does Oberon want Puck to obtain? Why? What does Oberon seek to do to Titania? Why would a husband seek to do this to his wife?
6. What figurative language do Helena and Demetrius use to describe their feelings for each other? 7. Why does Helena say that she still loves Demetrius even though Demetrius doesn t love her? 8. Who overheard Helena and Demetrius fighting, and what does this person seek to do? Why? What mistake does this person make by not providing specific information? 9. What dramatic irony is there in the fairies prayer for Titania? What does the audience know will happen? 10. What does Oberon say that the flower has the power to do twice? What does this information foreshadow? What does he apply to Titania s eyes, and what will happen? 11. Why don t Lysander and Hermia sleep next to each other? Who does Puck apply magic to? Why? 12. Who does Helena encounter sleeping in the forest and what happens when she wakes him up? 13. What does Lysander say about his feelings for Hermia and Helena, respectively, now? Why? What is ironic about Lysander using reason to justify his emotions to Helena? 14. What is Helena s reaction to Lysander s words? Why? 15. What does Hermia discover when she awakes, and what does she set to do? Why?
Name: Period: Date: Due Date: A Midsummer Night s Dream Study Guide Act 3 Directions: Answer the following questions to guide your reading of Shakespeare s A Midsummer Night s Dream. Journal Question: Although dreams are unreal, are they significant or can sometimes be true? Movie Question: How do the filmmakers use film as a medium to establish the magic and dreamy atmosphere of Shakespeare s original play? What specific devices or techniques do you note that are effective and/or unique? 1. How is Bottom s arrogance and controlling nature evident as the mechanicals prepare their play? Despite his behavior, how do his fellow actors regard him? What evidence supports your assertion? 2. What unique choices do the actors have planned for their production? Are they smart or foolish? Why? 3. What is Puck s opinion of the actors and of Bottom s performance specifically? What does he do to him? 4. What do Bottom s friends do when they discover him? What does Puck think they are doing? Why? 5. What dramatic irony is evident when Bottom asks, You see an ass head of your own, do you? (3.1.99) and I see their knavery: this is to make an ass of me, to fright me if they could (3.1.101-102)?
6. What happens when Titania awakes? Who does she fall in love with? Why? Why is it funny? 7. How does Bottom react to his attention and power? Why? 8. In Scene 2, what is Oberon s reaction to what has happened to Titania? Why? What is Oberon s reaction to what Puck has done to Lysander and more importantly not to Demetrius? 9. What does Hermia believe that Demetrius has done to Lysander? Why? 10. How does Puck react to his mistake? Why? 11. What do Oberon and Puck do to Demetrius while he sleeps, and what happens when he awakes? 12. What is Helena s reaction to her newfound attention? How is her situation an example of situational irony? Keep in mind that earlier in the play, no one loved Helena. 13. What is Hermia s reaction to Helena s attention? How does Helena respond, and what does she mention about their past? What history do Hermia and Helena share? 14. What insults are thrown among the lovers? Include examples of figurative language. 15. What is Oberon s plan to right the wrongs that Puck has done? How does Puck trick both Demetrius and Lysander in the woods? What steps does Puck take to begin restoring order and harmony to others?
Name: Period: Date: Due Date: A Midsummer Night s Dream Study Guide Act 4 Directions: Answer the following questions to guide your reading of Shakespeare s A Midsummer Night s Dream. Journal Question: Can theatre and film be magic? How do these affect viewers? Why? Movie Question: This film adaptation currently has a 67% rating on Rotten Tomatoes with generally favorable reviews. Some critics claim the film is uneven though. What is your opinion on the film so far? Why? 1. How has Bottom reacted to his new life? What examples of Bottom s foolishness are still evident? 2. How does Oberon feel about what has happened to Titania? Why? 3. What does Oberon say that he was successful in having Titania do for him? Therefore, what does he plan to do to Titania? 4. Why does Shakespeare have Oberon and Titania resolve the source of their conflict offstage rather than on stage? Why does Shakespeare not stage this action but rather have Oberon inform us of what happened? 5. What is Titania s reaction to Bottom and what she has experienced once Oberon removes the spell?
6. Does Oberon ever come clean and tell Titania what he has done? Why or why not? 7. What will Titania s reaction be if she finds out what has happened to her changeling boy? 8. What can the act of Oberon and Titania dancing following their reconciliation symbolize? Why? 9. What are Theseus and Hippolyta doing in the woods? Whom does Theseus discover in the woods? 10. What do Lysander and Demetrius explain to Theseus about what has happened? 11. Whom does Egeus interrupt, and how does this interruption indirectly characterize Egeus? 12. What is Theseus ruling or verdict about Hermia, and how does this conflict resolve for Egeus? 13. What is the lovers reaction to what has happened to them? What figurative language do they use? 14. What is Helena s reaction to finally winning Demetrius heart? Why? 15. What is Bottom s reaction to what has happened to him? What dramatic irony and situational irony is evident when Bottom says, Man is but an ass if he go about to expound this dream (4.1.203-204)? 16. How do Bottom s friends react to his return? What do they all plan to do, and what silly advice does Bottom offer?
Name: Period: Date: Due Date: A Midsummer Night s Dream Study Guide Act 5 Directions: Answer the following questions to guide your reading of Shakespeare s A Midsummer Night s Dream. Journal Question: Can a work of art be so bad it s good? Why or why not? Provide an example if you can think of an applicable one. Movie Question: A romantic comedy would have traditionally ended by now, but why does Hoffman include Act 5 in his film adaptation? How does he film the performance of the actors play of Pyramus and Thisbe? 1. How must a comedy conclude? What has been resolved so far? Therefore, why does Act 5 exist? 2. What are Theseus and Hippolyta s responses to what the lovers told them about what happened in the woods? 3. How are lovers, lunatics, and poets similar according to Theseus? Considering that Shakespeare was a poet, is Shakespeare mocking himself? Why or why not? 4. What entertainment interests Theseus based on the options that Philostrate presents? What figurative language interests Theseus about the actors scene? 5. What is Philostrate s opinion about the Pyramus and Thisbe scene that the actors have prepared? What does he advise Theseus not to pick? Why?
6. Why does Theseus insist on seeing the performance despite Philostrate s recommendation? Why doesn t Hippolyta want to see the performance? 7. What does Quince say in his prologue, and how does he fumble his delivery? What figurative language do Lysander, Hippolyta, and Theseus all use to describe it? 8. In the second prologue that Quince delivers, what does he inform the audience about their scene? Is as much detail that he is providing necessary? Why or why not? 9. What does Snout say about his character as the Wall? Why? What does Snug also later say about his character as the Lion? Why? What does Starveling say about his character as the Moonshine? Why? 10. Describe Pyramus acting. Why does he break character to speak to the audience? 11. What allusions to famous lovers do Bottom as Pyramus and Flute as Thisbe confuse and botch? 12. What is the general reaction to the play? How is it a success if it is such a failure? 13. Similar to the dance in Act 4, what can the dance that the actors close their play with symbolize? 14. What do Oberon and Titania do for the couples? Why? 15. How does Puck close the play? What advice does he offer? Is he speaking in character, speaking as an actor, or both? Why?