A Midsummer Night's Dream

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

• Genre: Fiction; play; comedy
• Originally Published: 1595
• Reading Level/Interest: Grades 9-12; college/adult
• Structure/Length: 5 acts; approx. 80 pages; approx. 2 hours on audio
• Protagonists and Central Conflict: In the city-state of Athens, Hermia refuses to marry Demetrius because she loves Lysander, Hermia’s friend Helena loves Demetrius, and Demetrius loves Hermia. When the four young people wander into the woods and into the realm of mischievous fairies, confusion and hilarity ensue.
• Potential Sensitivity Issues: Insinuations of sexual violence

William Shakespeare, Author

• Bio: 1564-1616; often considered the greatest writer in the English language; wrote 39 plays, 154 sonnets, 3 narrative poems, and several other verses that are attributed to him though the writer is unknown; born in Stratford-upon-Avon; married Anne Hathaway at age 18 and had three children: Susanna, Hamnet, and Judith; career as an actor and writer began around 1585; part-owner of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, a playing company, known later as the King’s Men; retired in 1613 at age 49
• Other Works: Richard III (1592); Romeo and Juliet (1594); Much Ado About Nothing (1598); Hamlet (c. 1600); Othello (1604); King Lear (1605); Antony and Cleopatra (1606); The Tempest (1611)

CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Unit:

• The Complexity of Love
• The Balance of Order and Chaos
• The Blurring of Dreams and Reality

STUDY OBJECTIVES: In accomplishing the components of this Unit, students will:

• Identify the key themes of The Complexity of Love, The Balance of Order and Chaos, and The Blurring of Dreams and Reality, and analyze the way the author integrates them.
• Understand the conventions of Shakespearean drama, as well as the dramatic genre: comedy.
• Understand the symbolic effect of the following features: the love potion, the forest, and the laborer’s play.
• Analyze and evaluate plot details and characterization to draw conclusions in structured essay responses regarding how comedic effect is achieved through romantic obfuscation and chaos.