SHAKESPOWER
Mrs. Brown
A Midsummer Night's Dream, by William Shakespeare
ISBN-13: 978-0743477543 (Folger Edition)
Among Shakespeare’s most famous works, A Midsummer Night’s Dream is light-hearted, fanciful, and fun. Reading Midsummer will give you practice with Shakespeare’s language and a sense of how he creates characters and environments. It is the first of four plays that we will cover when school begins; all of the plays we read will be in conversation with one another, serving as mirrors and foils of each other to help us explore Shakespeare’s characters and themes.
In addition to reading the play, try to see a production this summer if there is one near you, either in NJ, PA, or wherever you find yourself on vacation. It is a very popular offering during June and July and is often staged outdoors during the summer months. Tickets are often free or very affordable. Nearby, I know of two currently: The Kelsey Theater in West Windsor, NJ through June 23, and The Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival in Center Valley, PA is staging it outdoors during July. There are often additional productions that crop up throughout the summer.
Below you will find my framework for approaching Shakespeare. As you make your way through the play, get in the habit of thinking about Shakespeare’s text in these ways. Take notes, and of course, also highlight anything else you think is interesting or important. Below, you will find some specific questions to guide your reading of Midsummer.
You can use this framework for unpacking any line, speech, scene, act, or play of Shakespeare.
Step 1, Working through the language
Can we summarize and paraphrase what is being said; do we know what the words mean?
Consider the notes and footnotes in the text
Listen to an audio play or watch the scene to get a better sense of meaning
Play with syntax (word order) to see if that makes the lines more intelligible
Step 2, Following the story
What is the context of these lines? (in other words, what is going on that prompts the speaker to say these lines)
How do these lines, scenes, etc. advance the plot / the action of the story?
Is the character’s perspective changing, building, evolving in these lines? This will be especially important for longer passages.
Step 3, Interpreting
How do these lines advance our understanding of the following?
Character
Relationship
Theme
Story (arc) - the course the story will take (foreshadowing good or bad things to come)
The world of the play - place has its own character in Shakespeare
The conventions of the play world (as opposed to the historical world)
For example, roles of men and women, attitudes toward religion, work, etc. Keep these observations within the play; don’t make assumptions about life in 16th Century England.
Questions to Guide your Reading of Midsummer (keep these in mind; you do not need to write out responses to these.)
1. What are the characteristics of the three realms in the play? Who has power in each; what are the rules, the customs, the norms; what are they in charge of; etc.?
a. The court (Duke, Hippolyta, Hermia, Helena, Demetrius, Lysander, and Egeus)
b. The outskirts of Town; the workers (Bottom, Flute, Snug, etc.)
c. The enchanted woods (Titania, Oberon, Puck, etc.)
2. How is the morality of the fairies different from that of the humans?
3. How are the characters of the four lovers changing as a result of being in the woods?
4. To what extent are characters held responsible for their actions? How does this add to the light-heartedness of the play?
5. Which character is left out at the end and why is he/she no longer part of the story moving forward?