| A | B |
|---|
| What are Theseus and Hippolyta discussing as the play starts? | They are discussing their wedding which is supposed to take place in 4 days time. |
| How does Hippolyta come to be betrothed to Theseus? | He has defeated her in battle and won her hand in marriage as a peace settlement or as a spoil of victory. |
| Why is Egeus disturbed? | He wants his daughter, Hermia, to marry Demetrius, but she loves and desires to marry Lysander. |
| What will be Hermia’s fate if she refuses to marry Demetrius? | She may choose to die or to live as a nun. |
| What hope does Helena have by telling Demetrius of Lysander and Hermia’s flight? | She anticipates the sweet pain of following him to and from the appointed wood while he is pursuing Hermia. |
| Who are the characters in scene two (in general, not by name), what are they planning? | They are six craftsmen of Athens who plan to perform the tragedy of Pyramus and Thisby as an entertainment to honor the dukes wedding day. |
| Why is Oberon angry with his queen? | She keeps a young boy as her attendant, and Oberon wants the boy for himself. She refuses to share the lovely child with him. |
| On what mission does Oberon send Puck? | Oberon sends Puck to find a flower that has been struck by Cupid’s arrow so that he may anoint the sleeping Titania, causing her to blindly love the first creature she sees upon awakening. |
| Upon overhearing Demetrius and Helena, what does Oberon command Puck to do? | He tells Puck to find the Athenian couple and anoint the youth’s eyes as he sleeps so that upon waking he will see the maid and love her. |
| Upon whose eyes does Puck apply the potion? | He does Lysander’s eyes by mistake. |
| When he wakes up, who does Lysander see and love? | He sees Helena. |
| What is Helena’s reaction to Lysander’s words of love? | She thinks he is cruelly teasing her. |
| To where has Lysander disappeared when Hermia awakes? | He has gone to follow Helena, whom he now loves. |
| Why does Bottom want a prologue written for the play? | He wants one written so that his character can read it to audience, assuring them that no harm will come to the actors either by sword or by lion. He thinks the ladies will go into a swoon or else panic. |
| What has Puck done to Bottom? | He has changed his head into that of an ass. |
| Identify the speaker: “Tie up my love’s tongue, bring him silently.” | Titania was instructing her fairies to bring Bottom to her bower. |
| What news does Puck bring Oberon? | He tells Oberon that Titania is in love with a monster, an ass; and that he has successfully dosed the Athenian’s eyes. |
| Why does Oberon send Puck to fetch Helena? | He realizes that another Athenian youth was dosed by Puck by mistake and that now a maid has lost her true love and the intended youth is still repulsing Helena. While Puck is away, Oberon charms Demetrius to love Helena when he sees her again. |
| What is Helena’s situation at this point in the play? | She is now loved by both Lysander and Demetrius and she believes they have conspired to play a cruel prank on her. |
| What does Helena suppose of Hermia? | She thinks that Hermia has joined in the malicious prank with Lysander and Demetrius. |
| What does Hermia think Helena has done? | She thinks that out of jealousy Helena has made known her taller height and therefore her greater value of the two maids. |
| Why does Oberon send Puck to confuse the two young men? | They are going to fight over Helena, so Oberon has Puck make the night darken and cloudy using his voice to lead them away from each other and to sleep. |
| What remedy corrects the crossed-loved couples? | Puck drips the potion on Lysander’s eyes so he will love his former sweetheart, Hermia. He leaves Demetrius loving Helena. |
| Why does Titania give Oberon the child? | She cares for him no longer now that she has Bottom to dote on. |
| How does Oberon find Titania and Bottom? | They are asleep in each other’s arms. |
| Why does Oberon remove the spell he has cast over the queen? | He has the boy and now pities his queen her silly new love-pet. He wants her back to her true self. |
| Finding the two couples sleeping in the wood and learning of their more balanced love, what order does Theseus give? | He orders that they should follow him and Hippolyta to be married with them at the temple. |
| What news does Bottom bring his companions? | He says that their play has been chosen by the duke as an entertainment they must now get ready and meet at the palace. |
| Why do you think Shakespeare included a play within a play? | The story of Pyramus and Thisby is an ancient tale well known to the audience in Shakespeare’s time. The audience of A Midsummer Night’s Dream could join in with the jests and comments. |
| What do the fairies do after the palace goes to sleep? | Oberon sends them off through the house to sing and dance and bless the new lovers on their wedding night. |
| Who does puck address at the play’s end? | He talks to the audience. |
| What is the purpose of this last speech? | It closes the play and thanks the audience, asking that they enjoy or else pardon frivolous entertainment. |
