2. William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream You learned a little about Shakespeare’s life and work yesterday. Now, let’s talk more about Shakespeare... …and hip hop.

3. Literary elites love to rep Shakespeare’s vocabulary: across his entire collection of work, he uses 28,829 unique words, suggesting he knew over 100,000 words and arguably had the largest vocabulary, ever. In fact, he invented over 1700 of our common words by changing nouns into verbs, changing verbs into adjectives, connecting words never before used together, adding prefixes and suffixes, and devising words wholly original.

4. But how does his vocabulary compare to that of hip hop artists? In 2014, a guy named Matt Daniels decided to do a little project and analyze hip hop lyrics to see who has the biggest vocabulary in hip hop…and how that compares to Mr. Shakespeare’s work. He used the first 35,000 words of any rapper’s career – that way newer artists with fewer albums could be compared to veteran artists. Daniels notes: “35,000 words covers 3-5 studio albums and EPs. I included mixtapes if the artist was just short of the 35,000 words. Quite a few rappers don’t have enough official material to be included (e.g., Biggie, Kendrick Lamar). As a benchmark, I included data points for Shakespeare and Herman Melville, using the same approach (35,000 words across several plays for Shakespeare, first 35,000 of Moby Dick).” Let’s see what he found: http://rappers.mdaniels.com.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com

5. What do you need to know about William Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream? Dated 1594-1596, first printed 1600 Written around the same period as Romeo & Juliet One of Shakespeare’s strangest and most imaginative plays, very different from his earlier work and other plays of the same time period Relies on a combination of source material, from philosophical texts to low comedic situations Think of it as a modern-day writer mixing in characters from Frozen with a Harry Potter novel, a sitcom, several urban legends, and a Shakespearean play – all combined in one story.

6. More about Midsummer Range of references  Greek mythology (Theseus and references to other Gods and Goddesses)  English country fairy lore (Puck is popular in 16 th C. stories)  Theatrical practices of the time (a play about putting on plays)  Characters are drawn from various texts known by theatergoers at the time Plot is entirely original though! Basically…you’re going to meet a whole bunch of diverse characters (some from the real world and some from the magical world) with separate journeys tied (sort of ridiculously) together by random plot devices and the common theme of love and marriage The reading may seem difficult, but you should really approach this play with a sense of humor and suspension of disbelief!

7. Background You Should Know Midsummer’s Night: The night before the summer solstice, the longest day of the year. This night was said to be particularly sacred to fairy folk. For English countryside dwellers, it was traditionally a time when charms and spells were performed for the purpose of protecting livestock and the farm. References to the time of year in the play set the action a little earlier in the year, BUT the spirit of the setting places it in the magical uncertainty of Midsummer’s night. Court Masques: Short plays put on by nobility in court; a popular form of entertainment. At the end of the play, performers would remove their disguise and invite the audience to dance. Shakespeare both parodies and uses forms of the masque in Midsummer at the end with the Pyramus and Thisbe play.

8. Background You Should Know Elizabethan Views on Fairies: Thought fairies played tricks on innocent people By the way, if you think this is ridiculous… There are still Elizabethan superstitions that we follow today: don’t walk under a ladder – they are bad luck because they are linked to gallows (the wooden frame for hanging people) say ‘Bless you’ when someone sneezes – this is to stop the Devil entering your body through your mouth don’t spill salt – salt was very expensive in Elizabethan times, so spilling it was very bad luck black cats are unlucky – they were associated with witches

9. Background You Should Know Elizabethan Views on Marriage and Women: Women belonged to their fathers (or their brothers if father died), and then to husbands. Women could not own property of their own. (This is one of the reasons Queen Elizabeth never married – she did not want to give up her power to a man.) Women allowed to marry from the age of 12, but often only women from wealthy families would marry so young. Many marriages arranged for the good of the family; small children might be ‘betrothed’ to each other in order to join the families together before they were old enough to get married. Many women did not marry until their mid-20s. Men had to be able to support a household when they married. Fun fact: The age at which you could get married was only raised to 16 in 1929 – less than a hundred years ago! Before then you could get married younger with your parents’ consent – just like in Elizabethan times, over three hundred years earlier.

10. Background You Should Know The Story of Theseus: Mythical Greek hero of Athens City attacked by the Amazons, the race of ruthless women warriors. With great difficulty, Theseus defeated them. As a reward, he carried off their queen, Hippolyta. The Myth of Pyramus and Thisbe: Couple of young Babylonians in love, but families totally hate each other (sound familiar?) Whisper sweet nothings through a crack in the wall that separates their houses, until they just can’t take it and decide to elope Thisbe shows up under tree where they’re supposed to meet and sees a bloody-mouthed lion; runs away screaming and drops her shawl. Pyramus arrives later and finds the bloody-mouthed lion ripping apart the shawl. Dun dun dunnnnn… Assuming Thisbe has been eaten, he stabs himself with sword. Thisbe returns, figures out what’s happened and stabs herself too.

11. The Literary Stuff Narrator – None Protagonist – Because there are 3 main groups of characters, there is no single protagonist; however, Puck is usually thought to be most important Antagonist – None; most of the play’s tension is the result of circumstances, accidents, and mistakes Setting Time – Combines Ancient Greece with Renaissance England (1500s) Place – Athens and the forest outside its walls Point of View – varies from scene to scene Tone – romantic, comedic, fantastical, satirical, dreamlike, joyful

12. Themes Difficulties of love Transformation Magic & Supernatural Plays within plays The nature of dreams Fantasy vs. Reality Gender

13. The Characters THE COURT Theseus Hippolyta Philostrate Egeus

14. The Characters THE LOVERS Helena Hermia Lysander Demetrius

15. The Characters THE MECHANICALS Peter Quince the Carpenter Bottom the Weaver Flute the Bellows-Mender Snout the Tinker Starveling the Tailor Snug the Joiner

16. The Characters THE FAIRY COURT, THE NIGHT AND FOREST WORLD Oberon & Titiana Puck First Fairy Pease-blossom, Cobweb, Moth, and Mustard-Seed