4/24/2017 Welcome Back Have out your notes or annotations on the excerpt from The Elements of Style… On the piece of paper provided, write a grammatical concept that you still are unsure about.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream Complete the anticipation guide individually while I distribute books. In 10 minutes, we will discuss…

Essential questions… How do we act when we are in love? Why? Which emotions “from the heart” are the strongest? Which reveal our true selves? How effectively does Shakespeare use humor to make his ideas known about human behavior?

Getting started on Midsummer… There are five intertwined plots in the play: The marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta The teenagers in love The marriage of Titania and Oberon The adventure of the mechanicals Pyramus and Thisbe There are two settings for the play: The City World (reason) The Green World (emotion)

Was Shakespeare really funny? Yes. His humor appealed to people of all tastes and classes Midsummer contains all kinds of humor – slapstick, wit, sight gags, puns…

Types of Comedy in MND Romantic Comedy Farce—improbable and ludicrous situations that provoke belly laughs High Comedy—intellectual humor; wit, puns

Need to know points: Midsummer The play was first performed between 1595 and 1596 Like R&J it explores love, but is a comedy, not a tragedy Shakespeare explores the complex nature of the human heart Midsummer mocks many aspects of human behavior

Symbols, Motifs and Themes City World and Green World Dichotomy Moonlight Dreaming Imagination Varieties of Love: Irrational (fickle, blind, sudden); Universal (affects all); Selfish; Sexual; Platonic; Tragic

What’s really happening in Midsummer? Shakespeare uses different kinds of humor to mock people’s common assumptions about love Shakespeare uses numerous examples of figurative language to explore the complexities of human emotions Shakespeare uses dramatic irony to heighten the sense of comedy and humor in the play Shakespeare uses soliloquies by major characters to draw the audience into central ideas and themes Shakespeare portrays human relationships in several different lights in order to illustrate the changing and complex sides of human emotions

The Lovers’ Transformations A Lover’s Triangle: Hermia, Lysander, Demetrius (Helena loves Demetrius) Puck annoints Lysander by mistake Lysander now loves Helena; Demetrius still loves Hermia, who loves Lysander Oberon annoints Demetrius: Now both men love Helena; Hermia is the castoff Puck clears Lysander: Couples rightfully paired

Famous Quotations “The course of true love never did run smooth.” “Reason and love keep little company together nowadays.” “Lord, what fools these mortals be.” “Lovers and madmen have such seething brains.” “If we imagine no worse of them than they of themselves, they may pass for excellent men.”

Let’s begin reading… 1.1 Theseus Hippolyta Egeus Hermia Demetrius Lysander Helena

HW Finish reading Act 1 for HW (Due Wednesday, 4/26)