Starter quiz
- In 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', what do we learn about the character of Titania?
- She is a monarch. ✓
- She is married to Thesus.
- She is supernatural. ✓
- She is in conflict with Puck.
- She is tricked by Oberon. ✓
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- In 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', what do we learn about the character of Bottom?
- He is a skilled manual labourer from Athens. ✓
- He is supernatural.
- His head is transformed into that of a donkey by Oberon.
- He wants to perform a play for Duke Theseus. ✓
- He falls in love with Titania after being anointed with the magic potion.
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- In 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', why does Oberon want Puck to fetch him the magical potion?
- To get revenge on Titania. ✓
- To transform Bottom into a donkey.
- To create chaos amongst the Athenian nobles.
- To make Titania fall in love with him.
- To help Helena. ✓
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- Starting with the first, put these plot points from Act 2 of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' in chronological order.
- 1⇔Puck puts the magical potion on Lysander by accident.
- 2⇔Helena sees Lysander lying on the forest floor.
- 3⇔Helena wakes Lysander up, worried he is dead.
- 4⇔Lysander tells Helena he loves her and regrets the time he spent with Hermia.
- 5⇔Helena believes Lysander is making fun of her and runs away.
- 6⇔Lysander follows Helena, determined to express his love for her.
- 7⇔Hermia wakes up alone in the forest.
- In 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', when Oberon puts the magical potion on Titania, he says, "Wake when something ______ is near."
- 'vile' ✓
- What is the name for the hierarchical system that was so important to Elizabethan society?
- The Great Chain of Hierarchy
- The Good Chain of Being
- God's Chain of Being
- The Great Chain
- The Great Chain of Being ✓
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Exit quiz
- In 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', how does Oberon react when he realises Titania is in love with Bottom?
- angrily
- regretfully
- hopefully
- happily ✓
- sadly
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- In 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', how does Oberon react when he realises Puck put the love potion on the wrong Athenian man?
- happily
- laughingly
- regretully
- passively
- angrily ✓
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- In 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', what does Oberon do while Puck is looking for Helena in Act 3?
- transforms Demetrius into a donkey
- watches Titania dote on Bottom
- puts he love potion on Hermia
- nothing - it is Puck's role to undo the mistake
- puts the love potion on Demetrius ✓
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- In Act 3 of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', Puck tells Oberon that Titania "with a ______ is in love."
- 'monster' ✓
- In Act 3 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', when Puck tells Oberon what has happened to Titania, Oberon states, "This falls out ______ than I could devise".
- 'better' ✓
- In 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', after Oberon realises Puck put the magical potion on the wrong person, he tells him to "About the wood go ______ than the wind" to find Helena.
- 'swifter' ✓
Worksheet
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Lesson Details
Key learning points
- Oberon is pleased that Titania has fallen in love with Bottom.
- Oberon is angry that Puck put the magical potion on the wrong Athenian man.
- The relationship between Titania and Bottom is an example of disorder.
- For Elizabethans, Titania and Bottom’s relationship would be seen as especially funny because it disrupts the hierarchy.
- Elizabethans believed that everyone had their place in a hierarchical system called The Great Chain of Being.
Common misconception
Oberon finds the disorder between the Athenian nobles funny.
As soon as Oberon realises Puck's mistake, he swiftly tries to correct it.
Keywords
Disorder - confusion, chaos
Theme - an important idea to a text that is explored through different characters and plot points
Hierarchy - a system whereby people or things are ranked, with some being higher than others
Elizabethans - a person alive when Elizabeth I was on the throne (1558-1603); the first audiences of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ were Elizabethan
The great chain of being - a term used by Elizabethans which referred to a system of ranking which they believed was created by God
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