Hi everyone :)
The following are the answers for the quotes handout that you were supposed to look for within the play.
The following are the answers for the quotes handout that you were supposed to look for within the play.
Thanks to those who attempted the handout in earnest.
Those who are looking for quick answers without attempting the questions, please be more serious with the tasks I set; they may not seem like much but it is quite amazing what the human mind can retain and recall at oppotune moments- you may find the things you do coming back to you in the middle of an exam for example...
Have a restful weekend Sec 4s! :)
SUGGESTED ANSWERS
1. Why has Theseus ordered a revel?
Theseus, Duke of Athens, has ordered a revel to celebrate his marriage to Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons, who he won through battle. The marriage is to take place in four days when there is a new moon. He desires to “… Stir up the Athenian youth to merriments. Awake the pert and nimble spirit of mirth.”
2. What does he promise Hippolyta?
Theseus promises Hippolyta that their marriage will be one of joy, unlike the warring he used to win her, by declaring, “…But I will wed thee in another key….”
3. Why does Egeus bring Hermia, Lysander, and Demetrius to Theseus?
Egeus brings Hermia, Lysander, and Demetrius to Theseus because he (Egeus) wants Hermia to marry Demetrius. Against Egeus’ will, Hermia wants to marry Lysander. Egeus wants Theseus to invoke the law requiring that a daughter marry the husband her father chooses for her or face the consequences: death or banishment to a nunnery. This is illustrated when Egeus says, “…I beg the ancient privilege of Athens….”
4. Why does Theseus tell Hermia to come to terms with her father’s choice of husband for her?
Theseus tells Hermia to come to terms with the husband her father has chosen for her or “…prepare to die for disobedience to your father’s will, … or on Diana’s alter to protest for aye austerity and single life.”
Theseus tells Hermia to come to terms with the husband her father has chosen for her or “…prepare to die for disobedience to your father’s will, … or on Diana’s alter to protest for aye austerity and single life.”
5. What is Hermia’s decision?
Hermia chooses to enter a nunnery rather than marry someone other than Lysander, who she feels is her true love. She protests, “So will I grow, so live, so die, my lord, ere I will yield my virgin patent up….”
6. Why does Theseus lead Egeus and Demetrius away?
Theseus leads Egeus and Demetrius away saying, “…But, Demetrius, come, and come Egeus, you shall go with me,” in order to speak with them privately. This is also a device to allow the actors to leave the stage so that Lysander and Hermia may plot alone.
7. What is Lysander’s plan?
Lysander’s plan is that Hermia and he will flee to his aunt’s house, in a place where, “…the sharp Athenian law cannot pursue…” them and where they may be married.
8. Why does Helena want to be like Hermia?
Helena wants Hermia to, “…teach me how you look and with what art …” because Demetrius loves Hermia and Helena wants his love for her own. She thinks that if only she were like Hermia, she could have his love.
Helena wants Hermia to, “…teach me how you look and with what art …” because Demetrius loves Hermia and Helena wants his love for her own. She thinks that if only she were like Hermia, she could have his love.
9. Why do Hermia and Lysander tell Helena the plan?
Hermia and Lysander tell Helena their plan because Helena complains to Hermia that Demetrius wants only Hermia. They reassure Helena that Hermia will no longer be available to Demetrius and, as Hermia promises, “… he shall no more see my face,” since Hermia and Lysander are going to elope.
10. What does Helena intend to do with this information?
Helena intends to tell Demetrius that Hermia is going to elope with Lysander in the hope that he will pursue them, only to realize it is Helena he really loves at which point Helena will “… have his sight thither and back again.”
11. Why do the craftsmen meet?
10. What does Helena intend to do with this information?
Helena intends to tell Demetrius that Hermia is going to elope with Lysander in the hope that he will pursue them, only to realize it is Helena he really loves at which point Helena will “… have his sight thither and back again.”
11. Why do the craftsmen meet?
The craftsmen meet to assign and discuss the roles they will have, “… to play in our interlude before the Duke and the Duchess on his wedding day at night.” Quince wrote and is directing this play for Theseus’ and Hippolyta’s wedding, which is to be held during the new moon, four days hence.
12. Why is Quince the one assigning the roles?
Quince is the person assigning the roles because he wrote the play with, “…every man’s name which is thought fit …” for certain roles. As the director, it is his job to cast the actors in the parts for which they are most suited—an easy job for him since he is also the dramatist (playwright).
13. What is Bottom’s reaction to his assigned role?
13. What is Bottom’s reaction to his assigned role?
Bottom’s reaction to his assigned role is that he wants to know who Pyramus is and, when told, proclaims he will have everyone crying with his portrayal of this lover who dies. To quote, “I will move storms; I will condole in some measure.”
14. What is Flute’s misgiving about his assignment?
14. What is Flute’s misgiving about his assignment?
Flute’s misgiving about his assignment is that he is growing a beard and women don’t have beards—so how can he play the part of a woman? As he protests, “Nay, faith, let not me play a woman. I have a beard coming.”
15. Why does Bottom want to play Flute’s role?
15. Why does Bottom want to play Flute’s role?
Bottom requests, “…let me play Thisbe, too,” because he wants to wear the mask the character will be wearing and use a small voice, as Flute will have to do to portray a woman.
16. What is Snug’s worry?
16. What is Snug’s worry?
Snug’s worry is that he will not have enough time to memorize his lines since he is, “slow of study” as he phrases it, and the play is to be in only four days.
17. Why does Bottom want to play Snug’s role?
Bottom requests, “Let me play the lion too,” so that he may roar as Snug will have to for this part. Bottom seeks the exciting or “fun” parts for himself, possibly giving us a hint as to his nature.
18. What do Quince and Bottom caution about the role of the Lion?
Quince and Bottom caution the Lion not to frighten the ladies in the audience because, “…that were enough to hang us all.”
19. Why does Quince insist Bottom play Pyramus?
Quince insists Bottom, “…must needs play Pyramus,” because he has both the bearing and the face of this character. Remembering that Quince wrote the play with Bottom in mind for the role of Pyramus will also help explain Quince’s insistence on Bottom playing this particular role.
20. Where are the men to meet next?
The men are next to meet, “At the Duke’s Oak…” which happens to be in the haunted wood, although the craftsmen are not aware that the fairies are now in residence there.
21. How did Puck earn his reputation?
21. How did Puck earn his reputation?
Puck earned his reputation as a hobgoblin by playing pranks, some mean, on both humans and animals as we can see by the fairy’s declaring, “…you are that shrewd and knavish sprite….” The name Puck, which is not Robin Goodfellow’s actual name, means hobgoblin and often is used interchangeably with the hobgoblin’s actual name.
22. Why is Oberon angry with Titania?
22. Why is Oberon angry with Titania?
Oberon is angry with Titania because she refuses to give up the changeling she has brought with her from India. While she has had many affairs, it is her insistence on keeping the boy that enrages her husband. Oberon, himself, declares, “I do but beg a little changeling boy…” and, more directly, “Give me that boy….”
23. What is her argument with him?
Titania is angry with her husband because she does not want to give up the changeling and she feels Nature “From our debate, from our dissension…“ is turning itself upside down. She maintains that if he would simply allow her to keep the boy the arguing would end and Nature would be able to return to normal.
24. What is it Oberon sends Puck to find?
Oberon sends Puck around the world to find a flower called “love-in-idleness” with which to make a love juice. He is going to use this love juice in his plan to punish his wife for keeping the changeling and force her to relinquish the boy to him.
25. How does Oberon intend to punish his wife?
Oberon intends to punish his wife by anointing her eye with the love juice while she sleeps so that she will fall in love with the first creature she sees upon waking. He plans to release her from the spell only when she agrees to give him the changeling.
26. Why does Helena pursue Demetrius?
26. Why does Helena pursue Demetrius?
Helena pursues Demetrius because she loves him and will “…follow thee and make a heaven of hell to die upon the hand I [Helena] love so well.” Demetrius had wooed and won her before Egeus chose him as a son-in-law and before Demetrius fell in love with Hermia. Helena cannot accept that Hermia, who loves and is loved by Lysander, is also loved by Demetrius.
27. Why does Demetrius want Helena to leave him alone?
Demetrius wants Helena to leave him alone because he is in pursuit of someone himself. He is looking for Hermia and Lysander so that, “The one I’ll stay; the other stayeth me,” since he thinks he is in love with Hermia and, more importantly, Egeus has chosen him as Hermia’s husband.
28. How is it that Oberon is able to overhear them?
Oberon is invisible, so Helena and Demetrius speak freely in front of him since they do not know he is there. Oberon states that “I am invisible, and I will overhear their conference.”
29. What does Oberon decide when Puck returns?
When Puck returns, Oberon decides he will help Helena, “a sweet Athenian lady …in love,” by having Puck anoint Demetrius’ eye with the love juice just as he, Oberon, will be doing to his wife, Titania. Oberon hopes that Demetrius will fall in love with Helena as she is with Demetrius, whom Oberon calls “a disdainful youth.”
30. How does Oberon instruct Puck to recognize Demetrius?
Oberon instructs Puck to recognize Demetrius by his “Athenian garments” and gives no further clue as to his identification. This is an excellent example of one of Shakespeare’s devices to complicate the plot laid out in Act I.
31. What is it Oberon hopes Titania sees immediately uponwakening?
31. What is it Oberon hopes Titania sees immediately uponwakening?
Now that Oberon has anointed Titania’s eye with the love juice, she will fall in love with the first creature she sees upon waking from the sleep she had instructed the fairies to sing her into. The still angry Oberon hopes Titania will see some “vile thing” the moment she opens her eyes.
32. Why does Lysander want to rest?
Lysander wants to rest because Hermia is already “faint with wand’ring in the wood” in the attempt to reach his aunt’s house and he, frankly, has forgotten the way and needs to rest himself to remember the way.
33. Why does Hermia ask him to move further away to sleep?
Hermia, who is running away to avoid her father’s choice of husband in order to marry her own—a crime punishable by death or banishment to a nunnery—asks Lysander, “For my sake, my dear, lie further off yet. Do not lie so near,” because it is unseemly for an unmarried couple to sleep together.
34. Why does Robin Goodfellow (Puck) anoint Lysander’s eye?
Puck anoints Lysander’s eye because Oberon, being invisible at will, overheard Helena beseech Demetrius to love her and took pity on her. He sent Puck to anoint Demetrius’ eye so that he would love Helena since it is obvious she would be the first one he would see upon awakening because she keeps following him. Oberon, however, described Demetrius as the youth in “Athenian garments,” which is also what Lysander is wearing. Not knowing this is the wrong person, Puck carries out Oberon’s order.
35. What does Robin Goodfellow think Hermia’s reason is for sleeping so far removed from Lysander?
Puck thinks Hermia is Helena and that she’s sleeping so far from Lysander, who he thinks is Demetrius, because she cannot bring herself to sleep any nearer to “this lack-love, this kill-courtesy.”
36. Why does Helena stop chasing Demetrius?
Helena stops chasing Demetrius because he has actually been running away from her and she is “…out of breath in this fond race,” and needs to catch her breath.
37. Why does Demetrius leave Helena alone in the wood?
37. Why does Demetrius leave Helena alone in the wood?
Demetrius leaves Helena alone in the wood “on thy peril,” as he thinks, because she will not agree to stop following him and he simply wants to get away from her.
38. Why does Lysander profess his love for Helena?
38. Why does Lysander profess his love for Helena?
Lysander professes his love for Helena because, after Puck anointed his eye with the love juice thinking he was Demetrius, Helena spies him in the wood and wakes him to ascertain if he is “dead or asleep” since she knew he and Hermia had planned to run away the night before. This makes Helena the first creature he saw when he awoke under the spell of the love juice.
39. What is Helena’s reaction to Lysander’s protestations of love?
Helena’s reaction to Lysander’s pledge of love for her is to demand in anger, “When at your hands did I deserve this scorn?” She thinks he is mocking her since, as far as she knows, he and Hermia are presently in the act of eloping. She feels even worse because it is so obvious that Demetrius loves Hermia, too, even though he had once loved Helena.
40. Why does Hermia awake?
Hermia awakes because she has a nightmare about a serpent upon her breast. She calls for Lysander to help her, then realizes she is alone, with Lysander being, “Gone? No sound, no word?”
41. Why does Quince feel their rehearsal spot is ideal?
41. Why does Quince feel their rehearsal spot is ideal?
Quince feels that the rehearsal spot in the wood is “a marvelous convenient place” for practicing their play because there is a flat area, a green plot, to serve as the stage and shrubs (hawthorne) to represent the tiring house (dressing room).
42. Why does Bottom feel they need two Prologues to the play?
Bottom feels the craftsmen need “a device to make all well” —two Prologues (opening speeches) to the play—to warn the ladies of the audience that there will be a sword scene which is only acting, no one is really going to be hurt, and that the Lion is only an actor, not an actual savage beast who may harm them.
43. How do they solve the problems of representing the moonlight and the Wall in their play?
The craftsmen solve the problems of the moonlight and the wall by checking the almanac and assuring themselves there will, indeed, be moonlight to shine through the window (casement) on stage the night of the play. “Some man or other must present Wall,” is Bottom’s suggestion. This actor is to be loam covered and hold his fingers out between Pyramus and Thisbe, who are supposed to be speaking through a wall.
44. Why is Bottom alone when Puck changes his head to that of an ass?
Bottom is alone when Puck changes his head to that of an ass because Quince has the actors rehearsing with their stage directions, which are entrances and exits from the stage and the movements they are to make on the stage itself. Bottom has just had an exit cue (word in the script upon which a specified actor performs a predetermined action) and left the green plot serving as the rehearsal stage.
45. How is it that Bottom is alone when Titania awakes?
Bottom is alone when Titania awakes because during Bottom’s exit, Puck—already annoyed that these humans are so close to the sleeping Fairy Queen—decided to play one of his wicked pranks. When Bottom re-enters the green plot with an ass’s head instead of his own, his friends run in fright, crying “O monstrous! O strange! We are haunted! Pray, masters, fly, masters! Help!” Although Quince and Snout each return for a moment to attempt to make Bottom understand what has happened, both run away again.
46. Why hasn’t Bottom followed his friends from the wood?
Bottom hasn’t followed his friends from the wood because he doesn’t realize his head has been changed. He thinks their running away and Snout and Quince’s attempts to tell him he has changed are nothing more than a joke on him, “ …an attempt to make an ass of me, to fright me if they could.” He refuses to run after them and be part of the joke.
47. Why does Titania awake?
Titania awakes because Bottom is singing to keep up his courage. He will not admit it to his friends, but he is afraid to be in the wood by himself. He also sings because he wants his friends to hear it, “that they shall hear I am not afraid.”
48. What does Titania offer Bottom?
Titania offers Bottom the fairies to attend him, jewels, songs sung to lull him into sleep on a bed of pressed flowers, and the chance to, “purge thy mortal grossness so that thou shalt like an airy spirit go.”
49. What is his reaction to this offer?
Bottom’s reaction to this offer is to banter with the fairies in a clownish way which seems to signify acceptance.
50. What part are the fairies to play in this?
The four Fairies—Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Mote, and Mustardseed—are to, “Be kind and courteous to this gentleman [Bottom],” to attend to his every need, to fee him delicacies, and in all ways possible to make him more than comfortable and happy.
51. What is it Puck reports to Oberon?
51. What is it Puck reports to Oberon?
Puck reports to Oberon that he came upon the craftsmen “met together to rehearse a play” near the sleeping Titania and changed Bottom’s head for that of an ass, then made certain Bottom was near Titania so that he was the first being she saw when she woke up and would she fall in love with him. Puck also mentions how frightened Bottom’s friends were and that the eye of the youth in “Athenian garments” has also been anointed.
52. Why is Hermia following Demetrius?
Hermia is following Demetrius because she is convinced Demetrius, “…hath slain Lysander in his sleep…” Both men want to marry her. Theseus has ordered her to marry Demetrius, as Egeus desires, or face the nunnery or death. She and Lysander have run away to elope. She cannot think of another reason for Lysander to leave her sleeping, alone and unguarded, in the haunted wood other than that Demetrius must have killed Lysander.
53. What is it Oberon realizes when he sees them together?
When Oberon sees Hermia and Demetrius together, he realizes that while Demetrius is the youth he’d wanted Puck to anoint with the love juice, Hermia is not the maid he’d seen pursuing Demetrius; the maid he wanted to help by having the man she was pursuing fall in love with her. In his dismay, he cries to Puck, “What hast thou done?”
54. How is this mistake to be rectified?
The mistake is to be rectified by having Puck, “about the wood go swifter than the wind, and Helena of Athens look thou find,” bringing her to Oberon, in the haunted wood. Once Helena is found Oberon and Puck will make Demetrius fall asleep and reanoint his eye so that he would fall in love with Helena, instead of Hermia.
55. Why won’t Helena accept Lysander’s advances?
Helena will not accept Lysander’s advances because—as she says —“These vows are Hermia’s.” In addition, Lysander and Hermia just told her the previous night that they were eloping. Helena is in love with Demetrius, no one else. Hermia is both her best and childhood friend, and this
seems like a case of mocking to her. She is hurt, bewildered, and angry about his advances.
56. Why does she doubt the veracity of Demetrius’ protestations of love?
Helena doubts the veracity of Demetrius’ love because he had loved her once before and left. He has been in love with Hermia, as far as she knows, since he came to Athens so that Egeus could have Theseus force Hermia to marry him rather than face a nunnery or death. Helena suspects he is part of this cruel joke to mock her love of him. She is baffled at the two men’s behavior and wonders at them “…but you must join in souls to mock me too?”
57. Why do Hermia and Helena argue?
57. Why do Hermia and Helena argue?
Hermia and Helena argue because Helena is convinced Hermia, her closest and oldest friend, is “…one of this confederacy…” to mock her. They are also arguing because Hermia is convinced Helena is scorning her by refusing Lysander’s love after somehow managing to make him fall in love with her (Helena) and, hence, out of love with herself (Hermia).
58. Why do each of the young people leave?
Each of the young people leaves for a different reason. Helena, physically afraid of the smaller Hermia, comments to Hermia, “My legs are longer though, to run away,” and does so. Hermia, incensed and devastated, pursues Helena. Demetrius and Lysander, losing all hope of convincing Helena which one of them loves her more, go off to find a location for the duel which will supposedly prove to Helena which one loves her more.
59. How does Puck manage to make Lysander and Demetrius sleep?
Puck manages to trick Demetrius and Lysander and make them sleep by tiring them each out. He tricks each of them by pretending to be the other and throwing his voice, as each of them, hither, and yon. They keep running from here to there to find the other and are finally exhausted into sleep as Demetrius explains in saying, “Faintness constraineth me to measure out my length on this cold bed…”
60. Why do Helena and Hermia also fall asleep?
Hermia and Helena fall asleep because they, too, are exhausted. Hermia has been trying to catch Helena as Helena runs away from her. This after a night of nightmares for Hermia and running after Demetrius for Helena. Helena concisely states the situation when she murmurs, “Never so weary, never so in woe…,” before falling asleep
61. What is it Bottom asks Peaseblossom, Mustardseed, and Cobweb to do?
61. What is it Bottom asks Peaseblossom, Mustardseed, and Cobweb to do?
Bottom asks Peaseblossom to scratch his head. He asks Cobweb to bring him the unbroken honey-bag of a red-hipped bumble-bee on top of a thistle (a type of flower). He then asks Mustardseed to help Cobweb scratch since Bottom, still unaware he has an ass’ head, ironically mentions, “And I am such a tender ass, if my hair do but tickle me, I must scratch,” while thinking it’s time to get to a barber’s for a shave.
62. What news does Oberon tell Puck?
Oberon tells Puck the news that Titania, Oberon’s wife and queen of the fairies, has given him the changeling once she fell in love with Bottom (due to the love juice). Now that he has the changeling she had previously refused to relinquish, he orders Puck to remove the spell from Titania’s eye and, “…take this transformed scalp from off the head of this Athenian swain…”
63. Why is Titania in love with her husband again?
Titania is in love with her husband, Oberon—king of the fairies —again because the spell was removed from her once she gave Oberon the changeling from India. “O! How my eyes do loathe his visage now!” she says of Bottom and has a difficult time understanding she had been in love with him while under the love-juice spell.
64. Why are Theseus, Hippolyta, and Egeus in the wood?
Theseus, Hippolyta, and Egeus have come to the wood to hunt as a way of starting the May Day celebration. Theseus also wants Hippolyta to hear “the music of my hounds,” since this was considered a sort of music at the time.
65. Why does Theseus think the five sleeping people came to the wood?
Theseus thinks the five sleeping people— Bottom, Lysander, Hermia, Helena, and Demetrius—came to the wood to begin the rites to celebrate May Day. He also reminds Egeus that this is the day Hermia is to “…give answer of her choice”: to marry the man her father chose as her husband, be banished to a nunnery, or be put to death.
66. What does Lysander answer when questioned by Theseus?
When questioned by Theseus, Lysander answers that he really doesn’t know how he came to be in the wood, but he does remember that he and Hermia’s “intent was to be gone from Athens …without the peril of the Athenian law –.”
67. Why is Egeus so angry?
67. Why is Egeus so angry?
Egeus is so angry because Lysander has just admitted he and Hermia are defying the Athenian law which demands that a daughter marry the man her father chooses for her. Elopement with another man is not one of the daughter’s options; therefore, Egeus now declares, “…I beg the law, the law, upon his head.”
68. Why won’t Demetrius marry Hermia as he had promised?
Demetrius will not marry Hermia as he promised because, “the object and the pleasure of mine eye, is only Helena,” due to Oberon and the love juice’s intervention. Oberon told Puck to make certain Helena was the first creature Demetrius saw when he awakened after Puck reanointed his eye with the love juice while Demetrius was sleeping.
69. What is Theseus’ decision?
Theseus’ decision is that the two couples in love—Lysander and Hermia, and Demetrius and Helena—“…shall eternally be knit –,” during his own wedding to Hippolyta. Egeus is not pleased with this decision but, since he came to his duke asking for a judgment, he cannot argue.
70. Why does Bottom want Quince to write a ballad?
Bottom wants Quince to write a ballad about his dream, as he clearly states when he simply says, “I will get Peter Quince to write a ballad of this dream.” What he now thinks was a dream was really his experience while he had an ass’s head. Bottom would like to hear the ballad of this dream/experience presented at the end of the play the craftsmen are performing the night of the wedding ceremonies.
71. How do the actors know Bottom has not yet returned?
71. How do the actors know Bottom has not yet returned?
The actors know Bottom has not yet returned because Robin Starveling went to his house, only to find, “He [Bottom] cannot be heard of.”
72. Why can’t they perform the play?
They can’t perform the play because there is not, “…a man in all Athens able to discharge Pyramus but he [Bottom].”
73. What do his friends say are Bottom’s best qualities?
His friends say Bottom’s best qualities are his wit (sense of humor), which is “the best wit of any handicraftsman in Athens,” and his sweet voice.
74. What mistake does Quince make in referring to Bottom’s voice?
74. What mistake does Quince make in referring to Bottom’s voice?
The mistake Quince makes is in referring to Bottom’s voice as that of a “paramour” rather than “paragon.” The humor in this is that a paramour is a lover, while a paragon is a model of excellence. The bawdy joke is that Quince is calling his friend a lover, rather than a role model.
75. What is Snug’s news?
Snug’s news is that, “…there is two or three lords and ladies more married,” that night.
76. What is especially disappointing about not being able to present the play?
What is especially disappointing about not being able to perform that night is that with the additional couples being married, the craftsmen, “…had all been made men,” from just this one night’s performance. This means they would have made enough money to live comfortable lives.
77. What would Flute have demanded for Bottom?
Flute declares he would have demanded nothing less than six pence – quite a bit of money at that time – for Bottom’s performance or he’d “be hanged.”
78. What is Bottom’s reaction upon finding his friends?
Bottom’s reaction upon finding his friends is to ask the group in general why they are so sad.
79. Why won’t he tell them what has happened to him?
79. Why won’t he tell them what has happened to him?
Bottom will not tell his friends what has happened to him because, since it is so fantastic, it will take a long time to tell and they need the time to prepare for their performance that night because their play has been chosen for the revel. Bottom saves his tale, for he would prefer, “no more words.”
80. What is his advice to his fellow actors?
Bottom’s advice to his fellow actors is as follows: prepare your costumes; review your parts; Thisbe—wear clean clothes; Lion—do not cut your fingernails so that they may somewhat resemble claws; and, “eat no onions nor garlic,” before the performance.
81. Why does Theseus doubt the reality of the story the lovers tell him?
81. Why does Theseus doubt the reality of the story the lovers tell him?
Theseus calls the story the lovers tell him, “More strange than true,” because he thinks, “the lunatic, the lover, and the poet,” are alike in their overblown imaginations. Hippolyta wonders if this is true since all of the four lovers tell the same story.
82. What are the choices for the revel?
The choices for the revel are a battle song sung by, “an Athenian eunuch [a castrated male] to the harp,” an old play Theseus has already seen, another play he deems too serious for a wedding feast, and the craftsmen’s play.
83. Why does Theseus choose the craftsmen’s play?
Theseus chooses the craftsmen’s play for several reasons. The first is he doesn’t care for the other choices for various reasons. The second is he is intrigued by the contradictory wording of the title: “A tedious brief scene of young Pyramus and his love Thisbe, very tragical mirth.” He is also delighted that his craftsmen would honor him by attempting to push their brains to write a play and then their acting skills by presenting it.
84. What is the consensus of opinion about the Prologue?
The consensus of opinion about the Prologue is that it was roughly and poorly delivered, but Lysander takes this as a morality lesson that, “it is not enough to speak, but to speak true,” if one is to bother speaking at all.
85. Why does Theseus command Demetrius to be silent?
Theseus commands Demetrius to be silent because. “Pyramus draws near the wall,” and he, Theseus, wants to hear if he and Thisbe do speak through the Wall (portrayed by Snout).
86. What is Hippolyta’s astute comment about the play?
Hippolyta’s astute comment about the play is, “This is the silliest stuff that ever I heard.”
87. How does Robin Starveling defend the use of the lanthorn (lantern) in representing the moon?
87. How does Robin Starveling defend the use of the lanthorn (lantern) in representing the moon?
Starveling defends the use of the lanthorn in representing the moon by saying, “The lanthorn doth the horned moon present,” three times and offering no other explanation.
88. How does Pyramus die in the play-within-the-play?
88. How does Pyramus die in the play-within-the-play?
Pyramus dies in the play-within-the-play when he kills himself, proclaiming, “Out, sword, and wound the pap of Pyramus.…” He had found Thisbe’s bloodied mantle (cloak) and concluded the Lion killed her, which is not the case at all. Since, according to Pyramus’ thinking, she is dead and he is her love, he sees no reason to continue living.
89. What does Oberon tell the fairies to do before they sing and dance all night?
Oberon tells the fairies that before they sing and dance all night, they are to bless the newly married couples and whatever children these couples may have in the future so that they, the humans, “…ever shall be fortunate.”
90. What two things does Puck ask from the audience before Shakespeare’s play ends?
The two things Puck asks of the audience before Shakespeare’s play ends are that they forgive the characters for any offense given and that they applaud or, “Give me your hands.…”
