Act 2, Scene 2
Enter Queen of Fairies [Titania], with her train
This scene follows Act 2 Scene 1 without any apparent interruption of
time. We do, however, seem to have moved place: to the bower Oberon
has just described.
AO2: Titania issues instructions in blank verse to her fairies.
What does she tell them to do? What is the purpose of this in
terms of the action of the play?
Come now, a roundel and a fairy song.
Then for the third part of a minute, hence—
Some to kill cankers in the musk-rose buds,
Some war with reremice for their leathern wings
To make my small elves coats, and some keep back
The clamorous owl that nightly hoots and wonders
At our quaint spirits. Sing me now asleep.
Then to your offices and let me rest.
FIRST FAIRY(sings)
You spotted snakes with double tongue,
Thorny hedgehogs, be not seen.
Newts and blindworms, do no wrong.
Come not near our fairy queen.
FAIRIES(sing)
Philomel, with melody
Sing in our sweet lullaby.
Lulla, lulla, lullaby, lulla, lulla, lullaby.
Never harm
Nor spell nor charm
Come our lovely lady nigh.
So good night, with lullaby.
FIRST FAIRY(sings)
Weaving spiders, come not here.
Hence, you long-legged spinners, hence!
Beetles black, approach not near.
Worm nor snail, do no offence.
FAIRIES(sing)
Philomel, with melody
Sing in our sweet lullaby.
Lulla, lulla, lullaby, lulla, lulla, lullaby.
Never harm
Nor spell nor charm
Come our lovely lady nigh.
So good night, with lullaby.
AO4: This is the first of the play’s delicate and
spell-like songs. Lacking the original music,
directors have set these to a range of tunes
and styles, each creating a different mood.
Cf. serpent in Hermia’s
dream: a threatening
presence
AO2: Does this suggest that
Oberon’s spell will result in no
lasting harm to Titania? Or that her
spells hold no power against him?
“One aloof, stand sentinel”
[Titania sleeps. Exeunt fairies.]
[Enter Oberon]
AO3: What happens to this ‘aloof,
sentinel’ fairy to allow Oberon his
swift access to the bower and instant
application of the love juice to
Titania’s eyes?
As a director, what choice would you
make?
AO2: Oberon’s swift anointing of
Titania’s eyes changes the
atmosphere of the scene from
one of enchantment and
delicacy to something darker
and more dangerous. How does
his language use add to this?
What thou seest when thou dost wake,
Do it for thy true love take.
Love and languish for his sake.
Be it ounce or cat or bear,
Pard or boar with bristled hair,
In thy eye that shall appear,
When thou wakest, it is thy dear.
Wake when some vile thing is near.
What is the effect of this last line on the audience?
Enter Lysander and Hermia
The swift pace of the scene
continues, as Lysander and
Hermia quickly settle down
to sleep. Before this,
however, Lysander makes a
brief attempt to share
Hermia’s sleeping-place.
A consideration of
pace: why do the events
of this scene happen so
quickly? How does it set
the tone of the scene?
Enter Lysander and Hermia
A consideration of
pace: the move away
from the slow, magical
world of enchantment
to fast-paced action
takes us into farce:
comedy based on
dramatic features such
as improbable
situations, mistaken
identities, sexual
infidelities and wild
coincidences. The fast
pace ensures we know
these events are
comedic, not tragic.
LYSANDER: Fair love, you faint with wandering in the wood.
And to speak troth, I have forgot our way.
We’ll rest us, Hermia, if you think it good.
And tarry for the comfort of the day.
HERMIA: Be it so, Lysander. Find you out a bed,
For I upon this bank will rest my head.
LYSANDER: One turf shall serve as pillow for us both.
One heart, one bed, two bosoms, and one troth.
HERMIA: Nay, good Lysander. For my sake, my dear,
Lie further off yet. Do not lie so near.
AO2: verse form –
Lysander starts with a
quatrain, then the lovers
switch to rhyming
couplets.
What is the effect of
these end-stopped lines
on our interpretation of
the lovers’ conversation?
LYSANDER: O, take the sense, sweet, of my innocence.
Love takes the meaning in love’s conference.
What is the significance
I mean that my heart unto yours is knit
of these two lines?
So that but one heart we can make of it.
Two bosoms interchainèd with an oath—
So then two bosoms and a single troth.
AO2: Lysander’s language – how
Then by your side no bed room me deny.
does the repetition of the bolded
For, lying so, Hermia, I do not lie.
HERMIA: Lysander riddles very prettily.
words add to our interpretation
of this exchange?
LYSANDER: Fair love, you faint with wandering in the wood.
And to speak troth, I have forgot our way.
We’ll rest us, Hermia, if you think it good.
And tarry for the comfort of the day.
HERMIA: Be it so, Lysander. Find you out a bed,
For I upon this bank will rest my head.
LYSANDER: One turf shall serve as pillow for us both.
One heart, one bed, two bosoms, and one troth.
AO2:
The end-stopped lines
make the lovers’
exchange seem a little
clichéd. This is an
expected and obvious
exchange.
HERMIA: Nay, good Lysander. For my sake, my dear,
Lie further off yet. Do not lie so near.
LYSANDER: O, take the sense, sweet, of my innocence.
Love takes the meaning in love’s conference.
These two lines present
I mean that my heart unto yours is knit
the couple as united.
So that but one heart we can make of it.
Two bosoms interchainèd with an oath—
So then two bosoms and a single troth.
AO2: The bolded words give us
Then by your side no bed room me deny.
the impression that Lysander is
For, lying so, Hermia, I do not lie.
HERMIA: Lysander riddles very prettily.
attempting to seduce Hermia with
some mild innuendo.
“And then end life when I end loyalty!”
AO2: What is the significance of
this quote?
What expectations does it create
for the audience, within the
context of the themes and tone
of the play so far?
Enter Robin/Puck
... and how does this entrance add to them?
Look at Puck’s speech: how does Shakespeare
use dramatic irony?
Note: sense of movement and action
Through the forest have I gone.
But Athenian found I none,
On whose eyes I might approve
This flower’s force in stirring love.
(sees LYSANDER and HERMIA)
Night and silence! Who is here?
Weeds of Athens he doth wear.
This is he, my master said,
Despisèd the Athenian maid.
And here the maiden, sleeping sound
On the dank and dirty ground.
Pretty soul! She durst not lie
Near this lack-love, this kill-courtesy.
(squeezes flower juice on LYSANDER’s
eyelids)
Churl, upon thy eyes I throw
All the power this charm doth owe.
When thou wakest, let love forbid
Sleep his seat on thy eyelid.
So awake when I am gone,
For I must now to Oberon.
AO2: Puck speaks in tetrameter here, the
same form used by Oberon and Titania.
The rest of the scene is in rhyming
couplets.
Enter Demetrius and Helena, running
AO2: How does this stage direction
increase or add to the expectations of
the audience?
HELENA: Stay, though thou kill me, sweet Demetrius.
DEMETRIUS: I charge thee, hence, and do not haunt
me thus.
HELENA: O, wilt thou darkling leave me? do not so.
DEMETRIUS: Stay, on thy peril: I alone will go.
Exit Demetrius
AO2: What is the significance of this
short exchange? Think about language,
form and audience response.
Enter Demetrius and Helena, running
AO2: ‘running’ suggests action, adding
to the fast pace of the scene and sense
of comedy, distancing the audience from
the seriousness of the events taking
place
HELENA: Stay, though thou kill me, sweet Demetrius.
DEMETRIUS: I charge thee, hence, and do not haunt
me thus.
HELENA: O, wilt thou darkling leave me? do not so.
DEMETRIUS: Stay, on thy peril: I alone will go.
Exit Demetrius
AO2: 1) the rhyming couplets are shared,
suggesting a united ending for the pair
2) it leaves Helena alone, setting an
expectation that Lysander will see and fall
in love with her
“I am as ugly as a bear”
AO3: How do we feel about Helena at this point in the play? Is she a figure
of comedy? Of sympathy? Are her words ridiculous or a sign of how
demoralised she has become?
matches the pace of the scene
O, I am out of breath in this fond chase!
The more my prayer, the lesser is my grace.
Happy is Hermia, wheresoe'er she lies;
For she hath blessed and attractive eyes.
How came her eyes so bright? Not with salt tears:
If so, my eyes are oftener wash'd than hers.
AO4: the 1935
No, no, I am as ugly as a bear;
film shows an
For beasts that meet me run away for fear:
actual bear
Therefore no marvel though Demetrius
slinking away
Do, as a monster fly my presence thus.
from Helena!
What wicked and dissembling glass of mine
Made me compare with Hermia's sphery eyne?
But who is here? Lysander! on the ground!
Dead? or asleep? I see no blood, no wound.
Lysander if you live, good sir, awake.
AO2: How does Lysander’s speech after he awakes link to his earlier
exchange with Hermia? How does it create a sense of comedy?
Helena: Lysander if you live, good sir, awake.
Lysander: And run through fire I will for thy sweet sake.
Transparent Helena! Nature shows art,
That through thy bosom makes me see thy heart.
Where is Demetrius? O, how fit a word
Is that vile name to perish on my sword!
AO2: How does Lysander’s speech after he awakes link to his earlier
exchange with Hermia? How does it create a sense of comedy?
Helena: Lysander if you live, good sir, awake.
Lysander: And run through fire I will for thy sweet sake.
Transparent Helena! Nature shows art,
That through thy bosom makes me see thy heart.
Where is Demetrius? O, how fit a word
Is that vile name to perish on my sword!
use of rhyming couplet
to highlight new
pairing- this is comedic
Hyperbolic =
humorous
Repetition of the
words he earlier used
in his attempted
seduction of Hermia.
This reinforces her
point that language
can be used ‘prettily’,
i.e. cleverly but
without honesty
Theme: reason versus seeming / illusion
Lysander claims his new love for Helena is due to reason. This adds to the
humour of the scene, as does her mistaken belief that he is mocking her
which means that the more he professes his love, the more disgusted she
becomes. This adds to the earlier treatment of love as separate to reason.
The love juice has become a symbol for this irrationality.
Lysander:
Content with Hermia! No; I do repent
The tedious minutes I with her have spent.
Not Hermia but Helena I love:
Who will not change a raven for a dove?
The will of man is by his reason sway'd;
And reason says you are the worthier maid.
Things growing are not ripe until their season
So I, being young, till now ripe not to reason;
And touching now the point of human skill,
Reason becomes the marshal to my will
And leads me to your eyes, where I o'erlook
Love's stories written in love's richest book.
Helena:
Wherefore was I to this keen mockery born?
When at your hands did I deserve this scorn?
Note: this situation foreshadows
what is likely to occur when Titania
wakes up, whilst also diverting our
attention from the fact that she is
still asleep on stage. At this point we
are much more interested in
Hermia’s awakening.
AO2: How does Hermia’s awakening create a contrast to the comedy we
have witnessed?
Consider:
• language
• rhythm
• theme
Help me, Lysander, help me! do thy best
To pluck this crawling serpent from my breast!
Ay me, for pity! what a dream was here!
Lysander, look how I do quake with fear:
Methought a serpent eat my heart away,
And you sat smiling at his cruel pray.
Lysander! what, removed? Lysander! lord!
What, out of hearing? gone? no sound, no word?
Alack, where are you speak, an if you hear;
Speak, of all loves! I swoon almost with fear.
No? then I well perceive you all not nigh
Either death or you I'll find immediately.
Help me, Lysander, help me! do thy best
To pluck this crawling serpent from my breast!
Ay me, for pity! what a dream was here!
Lysander, look how I do quake with fear:
Methought a serpent eat my heart away,
And you sat smiling at his cruel pray.
Lysander! what, removed? Lysander! lord!
What, out of hearing? gone? no sound, no word?
Alack, where are you speak, an if you hear;
Speak, of all loves! I swoon almost with fear.
No? then I well perceive you all not nigh
Either death or you I'll find immediately.
Repetition of Lysander’s
name = loneliness. A
reminder of how
vulnerable she is
without him.
Symbol of danger (cf.
Titania’s spell; Genesis).
The sudden pauses,
questions and exclamations
here vary the rhythm of
Hermia’s speech and show
her uncertainty and surges
of emotion, cf. earlier, trite
end-stops.
Her fear is a strong contrast to the
comedy we’ve just witnessed and
brings some real human emotion to
the scene.
Theme: reason
Hermia’s dream is more reliable than reason.
Do you
agree?
Write a
response
on your
sheet,
explaining
your
answer.
Revision Task:
Pick one of the below essay questions. Plan and write up your
answer, setting out your arguments clearly and trying to cover all
assessment objectives. Try to write 2-3 sides of A4.
“ It is only the presence of the fairies that makes the four lovers’
quarrels entertaining.” How far do you agree with this statement?
“The most important source of comedy in the play is dramatic
irony.” How far do you agree with this statement?