Shakespeare - Main Terms Of A Midsummer’s Night Dream
- William Shakespeare - An English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as
the greatest writer in the English language.
- Status Quo: Athens Arranged Marriage with Hippolyta & Hermia
- Catalysts: Runaway to the woods
- Turning Points Act 1:
- Protagonist: Hermia & Lysander & Helena & Mechanicals
- Antagonist: Egeus & Theseus
- Themes:
a. Arranged Marriage
b. Patriarchy
c. Obedience
d. Love Rebellion
- Ideas:
a. Patronage - When a wealthy powerful person supports an artist. (Shakespeare was
supported by King James).
b. Cliche
c. Star Crossed Lovers
Shakespeare - A Midsummer’s Night Dream Act 1
- Scene 1:
- Thesus kidnaps Hippolyta & forces her to marry him & she's not happy about it. Egeus
wants Hermia, his daughter, to marry Demetrius, the guy her father chose & if she
doesn’t he wants her killed.
- Thesus, duke of Athens, argues with Hermia about marrying Demetrius & not Lysander,
the guy Hermia wants to marry. Thesus gives her 3 choices: the choice of marriage,
death, or none.
- Lysander gives good points as to why she should be with him. Lysander tells Hermia to
meet him in the woods on May Day to run away together.
- They talk to Helena & tell her. We find out Helena loves Demtrius but he wants Hermia
who doesn't want to marry.
- Helena has a soliloquy & decides she’ll tell Demetrius that Hermia is running away &
follow.
- Scene 2:
- Introduces the actors. They’re used to goof on the idea of star crossed lovers. Quince tells
them to meet in the woods to rehearse and Bottom, the main actor, is excited.