Name: ANSWER KEY
Date:
P:
William Shakespeare PowerPoint Notes II: “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”

I.
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” was written in 1595.
Genre
Play/drama: written for the purpose of entertaining; meant to be
acted out (drew material from Greek background; wrote 38 plays
and 154 poems!)
Three Types of Plays Written by Shakespeare:
Type
Definition
1. TRAGEDY
2. *COMEDY
3. HISTORY

-Unhappy ending
-characters are “fatally flawed”
-Happy ending
-love is a common theme
-Set during medieval English history
-characters are actual people
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is considered a Shakespearian comedy !
Elements of a Shakespearian Comedy:
1. Mistaken identities
2. Separation and reunification
(break-ups and make-ups =
happy ending!)
3. Marriages for the unmarried
4. Complex plot – more than one
storyline to follow
(“Midsummer” = 3 storylines)
II.
Form: the way Shakespeare wrote his plays (lines, dialogue in verse)
Term
Definition
verse
A line of poetry
meter
Measured amount of syllables in a line of poetry
blank verse
(UPPERCLASS
MORTALS)
A 10-syllable line of unrhymed verse that follows a
pattern of stressed syllable followed by an
unstressed syllable
A 10-syllable line of rhymed verse that follows a
iambic pentameter
pattern of stressed syllable followed by an
unstressed syllable
-Solo speech
soliloquy
-one character speaks their thoughts and feelings
aloud, but seems to be unaware of the audience
Comment that is delivered by a character to the
aside
audience but that the other characters on stage
presumably do not hear
prose
(LOWERCLASS
MORTALS)
-Ordinary speech
-unrhymed and without measured meter (short
stories, novels)
Known as a “play on words” – intentionally using
pun
words or phrases in a different way than they are
intended
-A reference to another character, event, or work
allusion
of art
-for Shakespeare – allusions tend to reference “the
classics” (Greek & Roman)
III.
Setting
Athens: city in Greece, ruled by Greek laws
*home to the mortal characters (humans)
Woods outside Athens: Greek laws don’t apply
*home to the supernatural world
IV.
Characters and Plot
Intertwining plots: two or more separate plots / story lines; operate
separately until meeting at the resolution
Inset play: a play within a play; a performance that is staged for
the characters in the play
A. Characters of Plot Number One: Upper Class Mortals a.k.a. The Athenians
Name
Description
Theseus
Duke of Athens
Hippolyta
Engaged to Theseus
Egeus
Friend of Theseus; Hermia’s father
Hermia
In love with Lysander
Lysander
In love with Hermia
Demetrius
In love with Hermia
Helena
In love with Demetrius
B. Characters of Plot Number Two: The Supernatural Characters
Name
Description
Oberon
King of the fairies
Titania
Queen of the fairies
Puck (a.k.a. Robin Goodfellow)
Servant to Oberon
C. Characters of Plot Number Three: Lower Class Mortals a.k.a. The Workers
Name
Occupation
Part in *Inset Play
Peter Quince
Carpenter
Director
Nick Bottom
Weaver
Pyramus
Francis Flute
Mender
Thisbe
Robin Starveling
Tailor
Moonshine
Tom Snout
Tinker
Wall
Snug
Joiner
Lion
* “Pyramus and Thisbe”:

the play that the lower class mortals are rehearsing as a gift
for Theseus and Hippolyta on their wedding day

an allusion

influenced “Romeo and Juliet”