Introducing 

Prezi AI.

Your new presentation assistant.

Refine, enhance, and tailor your content, source relevant images, and edit visuals quicker than ever before.

Loading content…
Loading…
Transcript

https://play.kahoot.it/#/lobby?quizId=c3369f34-fca9-4d53-9916-b28d3ceb1740

1. Why is Titania in love with her husband again? [Jeanne Zheng]

Titania is once again in love with Oberon because, after she had given him the Indian boy, he administered the antidote of the love potion to her eyes. No longer under the influence of magic, Titania wonders how she ever fell in love with Bottom. As she and Oberon fly away, Titania asks Oberon to explain the night’s events to her.

2. Why are Theseus, Hippolyta, and Egeus in the woods? [Jeanne Zheng]

Theseus, Hippolyta, and Egeus (along with Theseus’s huntsmen) are in the woods to celebrate May Day. Theseus is boasting about his hounds when the group stumble upon the four lovers sleeping in the woods.

3. Why is Egeus so angry? [Joanne Wang]

Egeus is mad because Demetrius has love drops in his eyes and he loves Helena instead of Hermia. Demetrius no longer wants to marry Hermia.

4. Why won’t Demetrius marry Hermia as he had promised? [Joanne Wang]

Demetrius will no longer marry Hermia as he promised because he has love drops in his eyes, so he is in love with Helena instead.

5. How do the four young lover finally pair up? Who still has drops in his eyes? What do you think of that? How long will the drops last? [David Vapnek]

In the end, Hermia and Lysander are together and Helena and Demetrius are together. Hermia and Lysander had always loved each other. Helena always loved Demetrius but Demetrius only loved Helena because of the current love drops in his eyes. The loves drops probably will not last forever, and unfortunately Demetrius will not love Helena any more.

6. What evidence of control is exhibited at this point in the play? Make a connection fromt he text to the topic of control. [Claude Yan]

When the four lovers are found sleeping together before the wedding, Helena controls Demetrius and Hermia controls Lysander. In other words, the four lovers are paired up with each other as the two girls (Hermia and Helena) wanted it in the first place). In the beginning of all the drama, Helena loved Demetrius, who did not love her back. Now, he claims “Was I betrothed ere I saw Hermia. But like a sickness did I loathe this food. But, as in health, come to my natural taste, Now I do wish it, love it, long for it, And will forevermore be true to it (MSND, Act IV.i. 171-175).” Of course Helena is delighted when Demetrius says this, because he is giving up his love to Hermia and transferring it to Helena. Hermia is also happy because Lysander does not love Helena anymore like he did in the forest. Puck dropped the magical substance in Lysander’s eyes, and he laid his eyes on Hermia. In conclusion, the four lovers are fit and ready to now marry.

1. Why does Theseus discuss his hounds at the beginning of the passage? [Jeanne Zheng]

After Hippolyta describes the musical barking of the dogs as she went hunting with the heroes Hercules and Cadmus, Theseus feels the need to prove himself and boasts about the melodious sound of his own dogs.

2. How do the lovers interpret last night’s events? Why? [Jeanne Zheng]

The lovers believe the previous night’s events to be simply foggy dreams as the fairies have enchanted them. They are disoriented and confused, but suspect that something else is at work.

3. Why does Bottom wake up alone in the forest? [David Vapnek]

The previous night Bottom's head was turned into a donkey head and all of his friends left in fear. He was turned back to normal and woke up alone and confused.

4. How do you think Egeus is going to act now that the duke said Hermia could marry Lysander? [Joanne Wang]

I think that Egeus will still be mad about Hermia marrying Lysander, but there is nothing he can do because the duke ordered Hermia and Lysander to be married, and there is nothing Egeus can do to change that.

5. Do you think Helena knows Demetrius only loves her because he has the love drops in his eyes? [Joanne Wang]

Hermia does not know that Demetrius has love props in his eyes because none of the mortals know the fairies exist, so Helena wouldn't know that Puck put love drops in Demetrius's eyes.

In Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, he frequently uses figurative language to enhance his playwright. The metaphors he choses to use not only make his writing more beautiful, but they also create a deeper understanding for readers.

Shakespeare enjoys creating metaphors to engage his readers. One of the most effective is when Demetrius expresses that his love for Hermia has “melted as the snow,”(II.i.165). Through this comparison, the character Demetrius expresses that, just as melting snow, his love for Hermia has disappeared. The metaphor effectively shows how Demetrius has changed and no longer loves Hermia, but Helena instead. Shakespeare effortlessly alters a character with a simple phrase.

In addition to modifying characters, this metaphor also transforms the plot. Since Demetrius no longer loves Hermia, all the plans at the beginning on the play were ruined. Egeus’s scheme to have Hermia wed to Demetrius was destroyed because Demetrius no longer wanted to marry Hermia. As this arrangement was really the driving force of the whole play, Demetrius’s statement of his love “melted as the snow” (II.i.165) resolves the main problem of the text. In this way, Shakespeare’s use of a seemingly small metaphor concludes the conflict effectively.

Furthermore, the metaphor Shakespeare uses also shapes the theme. His comparison of Demetrius’s waning love for Hermia to melting snow allows the reader to further understand how “love never did run smooth” (I.i.134). The theme Shakespeare is trying to express-- the fact that love is a confusing and conflicting path, becomes even more prominent. The winding road of the lovers’ relationships takes yet another turn as Demetrius announces that he now loves Helena.

In conclusion, the use of metaphors in A Midsummer Night’s Dream do not only impact the characters, but also the plot and theme. Shakespeare cleverly allows readers to understand the twists the play takes while enhancing it with figurative language.

In William Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Egeus unsuccessfully attempts to force his daughter Hermia to marry a man he prefers but she despises. In an effort to bend Hermia to his will, the father appeals to Theseus, the Duke of Athens, and is outraged to discover the four lovers’ forbidden passage into the woods. Furious, Egeus exclaims that Lysander and Hermia would’ve betrayed he and Demetrius, and “defeated [Demetrius] and [Egeus], / [Demetrius] of [his] wife and [Egeus] of [his] will” (IV.i.157-158). When Demetrius confesses that he no longer loves Hermia but Helena instead, Egeus realizes his hold over the young man has crumbled. A desperate Egeus turns to Theseus in hopes that the monarch would support him, only to have the duke “overbear his will” (IV.i.178) and announce that the four lovers shall be married alongside him. Throughout A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Egeus has several fruitless attempt to control several characters.

In A Midsummer Nights Dream by William Shakespeare, the Duke Theseus controls Egeus successfully. Egeus, the father of Hermia was upset because his daughter wanted to marry Lysander, and Egeus didn't like Lysander. Egeus tried to enforce his wishes but Theseus overruled them. Since Theseus was the more powerful Duke, he could control Egeus by deciding that "These couples shall be eternally knit" (IV, I, 179-180). Theseus decided that the lovers could marry who they wanted, contrary to what the angry dad, Egeus had wanted. Overall, the Duke controlled Egeus like he controlled many other characters throughout the play.

William Shakespeare’s use of imagery, allusion, metaphors, similes, poetry, and prose in his play A Midsummer Night’s Dream not only enhances the emotion within his writing but also adds to the readers’ understanding of the lines and plot. Through the use of figurative language, Shakespeare is able to paint a vivid picture within the audience’s minds. When expressing confusion about the previous night’s events, Demetrius (one of his characters) compares his memories and dreams to “far-off mountains turnèd into clouds” (IV.i.174-175). The line is written in such a way that the reader can not only experience Demetrius’s emotions, but gain a visual image of his doubt as well. However, it is not simply the way Shakespeare writes that makes his works so appealing, but also how he writes it. Observing the way Shakespeare uses poetry (in iambic pentameter form, in which the syllables are arranged so that the lines sounds almost like a heartbeat when read aloud) and prose (the normal form of writing and speaking) can tell much about his characters. For instance, in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare writes in poetry for the duke and his party as well as the four lovers and the fairies, but writes in prose for Bottom and the Mechanicals.* This can be interpreted as a way Shakespeare expresses the lower standing of the workers, almost as if they are not refined enough to speak in the way the nobles and fairies do. By using this method, he creates a deeper understanding for the social structure of his play and the personalities of his characters, two concepts that are necessary to understand the lighthearted humor present in this work. Shakespeare’s subtle uses of poetry and prose, as well as figurative language, make A Midsummer Night’s Dream a brilliant and eloquent comedy.

*External research was done to gather information about the prose and poetry in the play.

#1 “How comes this gentle concord in the world,/ That hatred is so far from jealousy/ To sleep by hate and fear no enmity?” (IV.i. 130-132). [poetry: Iambic Pentameter]

Upon discovering the four lovers sleeping beside each other in the woods, Theseus muses how gentle the world must have turned that people who hate each other can sleep by their enemies without fearing harm.

#2 “But, my good lord, I wot not by what power—/ But by some power it is—my love to Hermia,/ Melted as the snow, seems to me now/ As the remembrance of an idle gaud/ Which in my childhood I did dote upon.” (IV. i. 151-155). [metaphor and simile]

Demetrius explains to Theseus and Egeus that his love for Hermia had melted, and now only remembers it as a childhood fondness of a cheap toy.

#3 “These things seem small and undistinguishable,/ Like far-off mountains turnèd into clouds” (IV. i. 174-175). [simile and imagery]

Demetrius compares the previous night’s events to faraway mountains that resemble clouds.

#4 “Good morrow, friends. Saint Valentine is past./ Begin these wood-birds but to couple now?” (IV. i. 125-126). [allusion]

Theseus jokingly tells the lovers that Valentine’s Day has past and wonders why they (he compares the lovers to birds) only begin to “couple now”.

#5 “No doubt they rose up early to observe/ The rite of May, and hearing our intent/ Came here in grace our solemnity” (IV. i. 118-120). [poetry]

Theseus believes that the lovers woke early and went to the woods to celebrate May Day with him and his party.

#6 “The eye of man hath not heard, the ear of man hath not seen, man’s hand is not able to taste, his tongue to conceive, nor his heart to report what my dream was” (IV. i. 204-210). [prose]

Bottom tries to express the depth of his dream by saying that the human senses have never felt what he had in his vision, but wind up confusing them.

#7 “My hounds are bred out of the Spartan kind,/ So flewed, so sanded, and their heads are hung/ With ears that sweep away the morning dew,/ Crook-kneed, and dew-lapped like Thessalian bulls,/ Slow in pursuit, but matched in mouth like bells…” (IV. i. 104-108). [simile]

Theseus boasts about his dogs, and describes them and how melodious their barking is.

#8 “And I have found Demetrius as a jewel,/ Mine own and not mine own” (IV. i. 188-189). [simile]

Helena worries that, although she already has Demetrius, that someone may try to take him away.

#9 “ I have had a most rare vision. I/ have had a dream—past the wit of man to say what/ dream it was” (IV. i. 200-202). [prose]

Bottom believes he has had a very important dream.

#10 “But like in sickness did I loathe this food./ But as in health, come to my natural taste,/ Now I do wish it, love it, long for it,/ And will for evermore be true to it” (IV. i. 160-163). [simile, magic three]

Demetrius compares his previous loathing for Helena to the loss of appetite while ill, and explains that his love for Helena has returned along with his “health”.

My group’s experience with making the newspaper was simple, but very time consuming. In the beginning of the assignment, each group only had a maximum of two computers, and my group has four people. The two people who did not have a computer had to use our own devices, which is a lot slower and gives fewer options in terms of editing documents and prezis. The easiest task for my group were the allusion projects because all we had to do was gather information about our assigned allusion and put a few quotes with some pictures. The wordle picture took a little longer than expected because the adobe plugin for the school computer was not working properly. To do the wordle, we had to go on several other word cloud websites and test if the plugin worked on this websites. We finally found a working site called “abcya” and making the wordle was a breeze. Some techniques that worked out were planning before head, not procrastinating, and letting ourselves pick what we want to do so there will be less complaining. My group had no trouble decoding Shakespeare. We looked up the words we did not know and when we were sure we could not decode the line, we looked in the book on the left page, which had all the translations right under our noses. Reading Shakespeare was a little difficult but it was pleasurable reading writing from the most famous playmaker of all time. The grammar was different and were the phrases. One of Hermia’s most said words in our scene is “methinks.” My group first thought it was hilarious, but as we worked more on our project, the grammar became more clear, and we just read right through the play no problem. Overall, reading Shakespeare was an enjoyable experience and I look forward to reading more Shakespeare plays in the future.

THANKS FOR WATCHING!

A Midsummer Night's Read

$1.25

Act. IV.i. 117-218

Tuesday, May 27, 1595 By David, Jeanne, Claude, and Joanne

Theme Trackers

GAMES

Figurative Language, Poetry, and Prose Analysis

Crossword Puzzle Kahoot!

By Jeanne Zheng

A Summary of Events

By Claude Yan

Word Bank

  • concord
  • hither
  • loathe
  • discourse
  • expound
  • latter
  • overbear
  • gallant
  • nymph
  • enmity
  • peril
  • betrothed
  • solemnity
  • ballad

In Clouds...

In Comics...

By David Vapnek

By Claude Yan

By Jeanne Zheng

EDITORIAL SEGMENT

A Midsummer Night's Dream 1999, with Michelle Pfeiffer and Kevin Kline

True Love... Or is it?

Research reveals love might not be necessary for a relationship- we offer our thoughts.

By Jeanne Zheng

By Joanne Wang

c

Egeus

Theseus is the

Duke, so he can

overrule every-

body's

decisions.

By David Vapnek

Most of us have had idealistic beliefs of romance implemented within us at a young age- whether from stories told by relatives, or by seemingly harmless fairytales of tragic heroes sacrificing themselves for true love. Many of us grow up to seek this "true love" in our relationships.

But what is it, really? What is it with love and romance that draws us in and causes us to go to the most drastic of measures for it?

And then, there is the ultimate question- is love really even worth it?

Andrew Trees thinks not. In his 2010 article in the LA Times, Trees suggests that love-which is really just a chemical reaction-isn't even necessary in a relationship. Although we view works of romance like Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet as the "quintessential story of love at first sight", Trees says that Shakespeare never really intended for the the play to be so. In fact, he believes Shakespeare is really offering his own cynical views on this whole concept, perhaps even ridiculing it. Trees then claims that we should not depend on pure "love" and physical attraction for relationships, and view romance with an eye of

skepticism rather than blind faith.

Although I agree that "true love" is not a very good building ground for any relationship, we should not ignore it completely. After all, emotion is what makes us human. It's not as if getting rid of love in a partnership will erase the mistakes along with it. Love should be a part of, but not the foundation, of relationships.

This also applies to teenagers. Love shouldn't be completely written off as simply a hormonic reaction, but cannot be trusted as a reason to make logical decisions. The teens in Shakespeare's comedy A Midsummer Night's Dream had mistaken their most likely temporary passion for a permanent relationship. In this case, "love" is not, should not, and cannot be regarded as the most important factor in making decisions. This will most likely only lead to heartache and unnecessary drama, as was seen in the tumultuous Shakespearean play.

Maybe what our society should do is take a step back from all the passion and think―really think―about the situation before running off into the woods in search for a love that may not even really be there.

Annotations

By Claude Yan

The Summary at a Glance

By Claude Yan

Theme Tracker Paragraphs

How Egeus Controls Hermia

How Theseus Controls Egeus

By Jeanne Zheng

By David Vapnek

"...perhaps the time has come to reconsider the concept of romantic love, at least as it has been conceived in Western societies."

- Andrew Trees, "'Romeo and Juliet' has led us astray", L. A. Times

How Egeus controls Demetrius

By Joanne Wang

In the play A Midsummer Night's Dream, the father of Hermia, Egeus, tries to control Demetrius. He wants to do this because he wants his daughter to be betrothed to him. When Demetrius shows affection towards Helena and not Hermia, Egeus tries to persuade Demetrius to love Hermia by telling him they would have "defeated you and me: you of your wife and me of my consent" (II.i.155-158). However, as much as Egeus tries, he fails because Thesus overruled him by allowing the couples marry who they wished.

THE LINK CAN BE FOUND HERE:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cE80THRIKOkd9cQrYQLu-0uFohpPG0y-rG11JHigalA/edit?usp=sharing

"Love Melted as Snow": An Analysis

By Joanne Wang

Allusions Decoded

Reading Comprehension Questions

A Series of Writings Unearthed Reveal All

Text-to-Film Comparison

by Claude Yan

By David Vapnek

Additional Questions

Learn more about creating dynamic, engaging presentations with Prezi