1. Today’s agenda Review: Tell a neighbor one fact or insight from Tuesday’s class Review: Tell a neighbor one fact or insight from Tuesday’s class The poetry in Midsummer Night’s Dream The poetry in Midsummer Night’s Dream What happens in Acts 2, 3, and 4, page by page What happens in Acts 2, 3, and 4, page by page What is a comedy? What is a comedy? Look at film Look at film How did the director’s interpretation succeed? What worked? What didn’t? How did the director’s interpretation succeed? What worked? What didn’t?

2. Poetry in Midsummer Night’s Dream Blank verse – metered but not rhymed – usually used by the highest people in society Blank verse – metered but not rhymed – usually used by the highest people in society Rhyming iambic pentameter – usually used by people in the next level down (nobles but not kings or queens) Rhyming iambic pentameter – usually used by people in the next level down (nobles but not kings or queens) Rhyming iambic tetrameter -- used by fairies Rhyming iambic tetrameter -- used by fairies Rhyming iambic trimeter – used by fools Rhyming iambic trimeter – used by fools Rhyming iambic dimeter – used by Bottom who is near the bottom of society Rhyming iambic dimeter – used by Bottom who is near the bottom of society Prose – used by the common people Prose – used by the common people

3. Poetic Meter These terms show number of stresses or feet to a line: One stress (foot) per line = mono + meter = monometer One stress (foot) per line = mono + meter = monometer Two = di + meter = dimeter Two = di + meter = dimeter Three = tri + meter = trimeter Three = tri + meter = trimeter Four = tetra + meter = tetrameter Four = tetra + meter = tetrameter Five = penta + meter = pentameter Five = penta + meter = pentameter Six = hex + a + meter = hexameter Six = hex + a + meter = hexameter Seven = hep + a + meter = heptameter Seven = hep + a + meter = heptameter Eight = oct + a + meter = octameter Eight = oct + a + meter = octameter

4. Examples Prose: Bottom (1.2.68-9) Let me play the lion too. I will roar that I will do any man’s heart good to hear me. Iambic dimeter: Bottom: The raging rocks And shivering shocks (1.2.28-29) Iambic trimeter: Bottom: 5.1.293 and 6 What dreadful dole is here... O dainty duck, O dear Iambic tetrameter: Puck(2.1.8-9) And I serve the Fairy Queen To dew her orbs upon the green Iambic pentameter in rhymed couplets: Helena (1.1.240-1) Love looks not with the eyes but with the mind; And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind. Blank verse not rhymed: Hippolyta (1.1.7-8) Four days will quickly steep themselves in night; Four nights will quickly dream away the time

5. Peter Brook on the play

6. He says People have often asked me, “What is the theme of A Midsummer Night’s Dream?” In my opinion we should first of all try to rediscover the play as a living thing; then we shall be able to analyze our discoveries.... At the center of the Dream, constantly repeated, we find the word “love.” Everything comes back to this, even the structure of the play, even its music. People have often asked me, “What is the theme of A Midsummer Night’s Dream?” In my opinion we should first of all try to rediscover the play as a living thing; then we shall be able to analyze our discoveries.... At the center of the Dream, constantly repeated, we find the word “love.” Everything comes back to this, even the structure of the play, even its music.

7. “Love” soon begins to resound like a musical scale, and little by little we are introduced to its various modes and tones. Love is, of course, a theme which touches all men. No one, not even the most hardened, the coldest, or the most despairing, is insensitive to it, even if he does not know what love is.... At every moment the play touches something which concerns everyone. soon begins to resound like a musical scale, and little by little we are introduced to its various modes and tones. Love is, of course, a theme which touches all men. No one, not even the most hardened, the coldest, or the most despairing, is insensitive to it, even if he does not know what love is.... At every moment the play touches something which concerns everyone.

8. Egeus against Hermia What Egeus says not only reflects a generation gap (a father opposing his daughter’s love because he had intended her for someone else), it also explains the reasons for his feeling of suspicion toward the young man whom his daugher loves. He describes him as an individual prone to fantasy, led by his imagination – an unpardonable weakness in the father’s eyes. What Egeus says not only reflects a generation gap (a father opposing his daughter’s love because he had intended her for someone else), it also explains the reasons for his feeling of suspicion toward the young man whom his daugher loves. He describes him as an individual prone to fantasy, led by his imagination – an unpardonable weakness in the father’s eyes.

9. Hermia vs. Egeus

10. Peter Brook on Oberon & Titania So we observe this game of love in a psychological and metaphysical context; we hear Titania’s assertion that the opposition between herself and Oberon is fundamental, primordial. But Oberon’s acts deny this, for he perceives that within their opposition a reconciliation is possible. So we observe this game of love in a psychological and metaphysical context; we hear Titania’s assertion that the opposition between herself and Oberon is fundamental, primordial. But Oberon’s acts deny this, for he perceives that within their opposition a reconciliation is possible.

11. Oberon vs. Titania

12. Peter Brook on the Mechanicals Those simple men who have only ever worked with their hands apply to the use of the imagination exactly the same quality of love which traditionally underlies the relationship between a craftsman and his tools. That is what gives these scenes both their strength and their comic quality.... The meaning of their clumsy efforts changes before our eyes. Those simple men who have only ever worked with their hands apply to the use of the imagination exactly the same quality of love which traditionally underlies the relationship between a craftsman and his tools. That is what gives these scenes both their strength and their comic quality.... The meaning of their clumsy efforts changes before our eyes.

13. Pyramus & Thisby

14. Importance of the Wall (Brook) One of the central images of the play is a wall, which, at a given moment, vanishes. Its disappearance, to which Bottom draws our attention, is caused by an act of love. Shakespeare is showing us how love can pervade a situation and act as a transforming force.... Through the subtlety of its language the play removes all kinds of barriers.... If the [audience members] give it a fine, sensitive attention, they cannot fail to perceive a world just like their own, more and more riddled with contradictions and, like their own, waiting for that mysterious force, love, without which harmony will never return. One of the central images of the play is a wall, which, at a given moment, vanishes. Its disappearance, to which Bottom draws our attention, is caused by an act of love. Shakespeare is showing us how love can pervade a situation and act as a transforming force.... Through the subtlety of its language the play removes all kinds of barriers.... If the [audience members] give it a fine, sensitive attention, they cannot fail to perceive a world just like their own, more and more riddled with contradictions and, like their own, waiting for that mysterious force, love, without which harmony will never return.

15. Puck Blesses the Audience The epilogue The epilogue The epilogue The epilogue