Year 7
Shakespeare Unit:
What happens in Act 3, Scene 1 of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream?
How does this scene fit in with the play’s action as a whole?
Reading AF2:
To understand, describe, select or find information, events or ideas from
texts and use quotations to support
What has happened
in the play so far?
Discuss:
What would you do if you had a magic love potion
and you wanted to use it to trick someone who
you were annoyed with? Be ready to share your
ideas.
Reading AF2:
To understand, describe, select or find
information, events or ideas from texts and use
quotations to support
What has happened in the play so far?
Nick Bottom, a weaver, is in woods near Athens where
he has been rehearsing the play of ‘Pyramus and Thisbe’ with
some fellow Athenian workers to perform at the wedding of
Theseus, Duke of Athens, and Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons.
Puck, an attendant to Oberon, king of the fairies, is
known for playing jokes and has transformed Bottom so that he
has an ass’s head.
Meanwhile, the fairy queen and king, Oberon and Titania, have been arguing
over a boy whom they both want to be their servant. Oberon has decided that he will trick
Titania into giving him the boy by putting the magic juice of a flower called love in idleness
in her eyes as she sleeps so that she falls in love with the first thing she sees when she
wakes up. He hopes she will fall in love with something beastly so that she will beg him to
release her from the effects of his magic potion and agree to give him the boy in exchange
for being freed from his charm….
What do you think will happen next?
Reading AF2:
To understand, describe, select or find information, events or ideas from texts and use
quotations to support
Reading AF2: To
understand, describe,
select or find information,
events or ideas from texts
and use quotations to
support
What happens in Act 3,
Scene 1?
https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=yGgsJd4_r4k
Reading AF2: To
understand, describe,
select or find information,
events or ideas from texts
and use quotations to
support
What happens in Act 3,
Scene 1?
In pairs, do one of the following to
develop your understanding of the
scene:
• Act out a short scene where the
fairies are gossiping about their
queen’s new love.
• Pick three lines from the script
and act out what you think
Oberon and Puck might say
privately in conversation as they
spy on Titania and Bottom and
they hear these lines.
Reading AF2: To
understand, describe,
select or find information,
events or ideas from texts
and use quotations to
support
What happens in Act 3, Scene 1?
How does this scene fit in with the
play’s action as a whole?
• Create an acrostic for either
Bottom or Titania, describing
details from the scene.
• How do you think the play’s
action will develop from this
point?
• What do you think about the
way in which Shakespeare has
presented this scene? Look at
the description of
Shakespeare’s techniques in
your booklet to help.