A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Act 2 Packet
Name: ________________________________
Block: ______________
Date: _______________
A Midsummer Night’s Dream Act 2 Packet
Background: Shakespeare gives the most lyrical and beautiful lines to the fairies. Titania’s
long and poetic speech on page 41-42 is a perfect example.
Directions: Look for the literary devices in Titania’s speech listed below, and provide TWO
examples of each from Act 2 Scene 1. Copy the words from the text that exemplify each literary
device (highlighting or circling the parts of the quote that demonstrate your literary device),
then write the line numbers for each quote (remember – these can be found in the tiny numerals
printed vertically down the right-hand side of the page). Finally, in your own words, explain
what each quote means in normal terms.
Literary Devices:
Alliteration: repeated initial consonant sounds (words that begin with the same letter and
are close to one another in a line of text)
o Example: Sheila sold seashells by the seashore.
Assonance: repeated vowel sounds (usually in the middles of words that are close to one
another in a line of text – and the vowels don’t need to be spelled the same – only sound
the same)
o Example: Breathe and wheeze and sneeze, please.
Imagery: anything appealing to the five senses (sight, smell, sound, taste, touch) that
creates an experience in the reader’s head
o Example: The leaves smelled like cinnamon and they crackled and rustled in the
waning moonlight.
Personification: giving human characteristics to something that is not human
o Example: The tree wept over losing its leaves.
Alliteration Example #1: ________________________________________________________
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Lines #s: ____________________________
What does it mean? ____________________________________________________________
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Alliteration Example #2: ________________________________________________________
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Lines #s: ____________________________
What does it mean? ____________________________________________________________
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Assonance Example #1: ________________________________________________________
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Lines #s: ____________________________
What does it mean? ____________________________________________________________
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Assonance Example #2: ________________________________________________________
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Lines #s: ____________________________
What does it mean? ____________________________________________________________
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Imagery Example #1: ________________________________________________________
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Lines #s: ____________________________
What does it mean? ____________________________________________________________
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Imagery Example #2: ________________________________________________________
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Lines #s: ____________________________
What does it mean? ____________________________________________________________
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Personification Example #1:
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Lines #s: ____________________________
What does it mean? ____________________________________________________________
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Personification Example #2:
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Lines #s: ____________________________
What does it mean? ____________________________________________________________
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Act 2 Vocabulary in Context
Directions: Study the following lines. Carefully examine the way in which the underlined word
is used in each sentence, then write out the meaning in your own words. (Note: In some
sentences, there is a change in the part of speech or the tense of the underlined words.) Last,
write one original (made-up from your own brain!) sentence for each underlined word, making
sure to use it correctly. Please do not copy or paraphrase the example sentences.
1. A. “But, O, methinks how slow this old moon wanes!”
B. The moon wanes at the end of the month and gets harder to see.
C. Demetrius’ love for Helena has waned.
Definition of “wane”: _______________________________________________________
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Original Sentence: ___________________________________________________________
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2. A. “Thou hast by moonlight at her window sung / With feigning voice verses of feigning
love…”
B. First Demetrius loves Helena, and then he hates her. When he tells her that he loves her
again, she thinks he is feigning.
C. The children feigned surprise at the presents; but, in fact, they already knew what they
were getting.
Definition of “feign”: _______________________________________________________
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Original Sentence: ___________________________________________________________
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3. A. “…and she, sweet lady, dotes / Devoutly dotes, dotes in idolatry, / Upon this spotted and
inconstant man.”
B. Helena dotes upon Demetrius; Demetrius dotes upon Hermia; Hermia dotes upon
Lysander, who also dotes upon her.
C. Some people dote upon dessert.
Definition of “dote”: _______________________________________________________
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Original Sentence: ___________________________________________________________
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4. A. “But I beseech your Grace that I may know / The worst that may befall me in this case / If
I refuse to wed Demetrius.”
B. Hermia beseeches her father to let her marry Lysander.
C. The Student Council decided to beseech the administration for permission to have another
dance.
Definition of “beseech”: _______________________________________________________
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Original Sentence: ___________________________________________________________
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5. A. “Our play is the most lamentable comedy and most cruel death of Pyramus and Thisbe.”
B. To Helena, it is lamentable that Demetrius doesn’t love her.
C. A lamentable story may make the reader cry.
Definition of “lamentable”: ____________________________________________________
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Original Sentence: ___________________________________________________________
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6. A. “And this same progeny of evils comes / From our debate, from our dissension; / We are
their parents and original.”
B. Egeus is Hermia’s father; she is his progeny.
C. Parents want to be proud of their progeny.
Definition of “progeny”: ______________________________________________________
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Original Sentence: ___________________________________________________________
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7. A. “We’ll rest us, Hermia, if you think it good, / And tarry for the comfort of the day.”
B. Tired out by their walk through the woods, Lysander and Hermia decide to tarry in the
forest.
C. If you tarry at breakfast, you may be late for school.
Definition of “tarry”: _______________________________________________________
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Original Sentence: ___________________________________________________________
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8. A. “The more you beat me I will fawn on you.”
B. Although Demetrius is unkind to Helena, she fawns on him and gives him compliments.
C. Sometimes, people fawn on others to get money or approval.
Definition of “fawn”: _______________________________________________________
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Original Sentence: ___________________________________________________________
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9. A. “Content with Hermia? No, I do repent / The tedious minutes I with her have spent.”
B. Once Lysander falls out of love with Hermia, he finds her tedious and he leaves her.
C. A tedious task may make you fall asleep.
Definition of “tedious”: _______________________________________________________
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Original Sentence: ___________________________________________________________
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10. A. “A surfeit of the sweetest things / The deepest loathing to the stomach brings…”
B. Lysander has had a surfeit of Hermia’s company and wants to leave her.
C. A surfeit of food can cause a stomachache.
Definition of “surfeit”: _______________________________________________________
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Original Sentence: ___________________________________________________________
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Character Chart – The Fairies
Directions: Complete the following chart for each character listed.
Character
Title or JobPersonality Traits (adjectives that describe the
Description in the characters – some of these may be obvious and others
story
might need to be inferred by examining this character
in action or reaction to others in context)
First Fairy
Oberon
Puck
(Robin Goodfellow)
Titania
Titania’s Fairy
Attendants
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Cobweb
Mote
Mustardseed
Peaseblossom