AMSND+Act+1

__** “A Midsummer Night’s Dream" **__
 * Ana and Brianna **

__** Act I, Scene 1 **__ She tells Thesues that "Four days will quickly steep themselves in night. Four nights will quickly dream away the time." While Thesues is very impatient and want time to go by faster- "O, methinks how slow this old moon wanes!" He brought his daughter and Lysander and Demetrius because he wanted Hermia to marry Demetrius, but she refused. Eugues wants the right to kill his daughter if she doesn't marry Demetrius, and expects Theseus to give him that right. "...within his power." Theseus said- women were under the complete control of their fathers or husbands. Theseus ruled that Hermia could marry Demetrius or go to a nunnery. He says that Demetrius once loved Helena but quickly discarded her for Hermia, and could do that to Hermia because he is an 'inconstant man'. They plan to go to Lysander's widow aunts house to get married, and to meet in the forest at night. They tell Helena because Hermia wants her to know that she is not in love with Demetrius, and that once they go away Helena can have him. Helena tells Demetrius because she hopes that Demetrius will be so grateful that he'll fall in love with her again. The basic dilemma for Hermia is that she can never be with Lysander. Her choices from Theseus and her father are to die, to marry Demetrius or to go to a nunnery. Lysander suggests that they meet in the woods at night and go to his aunt's house outside of Athens and get married.
 * 1. How is Hippolyta’s reasoning concerning how quickly the next four days will pass different from that of Theseus? **
 * 2. Why has Egeus brought his daughter and her two suitors to Theseus? What does Egeus expect him to do? **
 * 3. What was the proper role for women/daughters in Athenian society according to Egeus and Theseus? What is Theseus’s ruling concerning Hermia? **
 * 4. How does Lysander’s comment about Demetrius’s previous love affair with Helena complicate things? **
 * 5. What do Lysander and Hermia plan to do about this seemingly impossible situation? Why do they tell Helena? **
 * 6. Even though Helena loves Demetrius and is Hermia’s best friend, why does she decide to tell Demetrius of Hermia and Lysander’s plans? **
 * 7. Identify Hermia’s basic dilemma. What are the choices outlined for her by Theseus and her father? What other choice does Lysander suggest? **

__** Act I, Scene 2 **__ He wants to play all the parts because he thinks that he is an amazing actor. It is funny because Bottom wanted to play all the parts, but he knew nothing about the play. He thought it was a comedy, not a tragedy. Shakespeare also included examples of malapropism when Bottom mistook Marry for merry. The actors are going to meet in the same woods as Hermia and Lysander, most likely at the same time as Hermia and Lysander, and perhaps Helena and Demetrius (who will be looking for Hermia). He is probably a very poor actor, but he view himself so highly he thinks that he should play all of the parts.
 * 8. Why does Nick Bottom want to play all the parts? **
 * 9. In what way is this scene funny? Why do you suppose Shakespeare included this scene? **
 * 10. Where are the actors to meet the following night? Who else is meeting there at the same time? **
 * 11. How would you describe Bottom’s acting ability? What is Bottom’s own opinion of his acting ability? **

"But O, methinks, how slow this old moon wanes!"
"Four happy days bring in another moon." "Four nights will quickly dream away the time." "Thou hast by moonlight at her window sung." "Chanting faint hymns to the cold fruitless moon." "Take time to pause, and by the next moon-" "Steal forth thy fathers house tomorrow night." "Tomorrow night, when Phoebe doth behold her silver visage in the watery glass." "From lovers' food, till morrow deep midnight." "Then to the wood will he tomorrow night pursue her." "On his wedding day at night." "But, masters, here are your parts, and I am to entreat you, request you, and desire you, to con them by tomorrow night; and meet me in the palace wood, a mile without the town, by moonlight."