AMSND+Act+3

__** "A Midsummer Night's Dream" **__
 * Ana and Brianna **

__** Act III, Scene 1 **__ They are going to write a prologue telling the ladies that the lion and Pyramus are not real, but in fact only Nick Bottom and Snug. They also think that Snug should talk to the audience, and that he be visible underneath his costume. They are going to have an actor come in with a lantern, presenting them as moonshine, and the will have somebody play the Wall with plaster around him and his fingers spread to represent the crack through which Pyramus and Thisbe speak. They run away because Bottom reappears with the head of a donkey, because of Puck's mischief. He plans to 'lead you about a round, through bog, through bush, through brake, through briar..." Meaning that he will change himself into different animals and make noises to scare the actor. He sort of makes fun of the other fairies names, for example by saying that he will use Cobweb to wrap his finger if he cuts it. He doesn't seem to take them seriously. Bottom has a good reaction to Titania when she falls in love with him, he seems to like the attention.  It is an apt statement because Puck is causing people to fall in love unreasonably, like how Lysander is now suddenly in love with Helena without any reason.
 * 25. How are the actors going to keep from scaring the ladies when Pyramus kills himself or when the lion roars? **
 * 26. How are the actors going to manage the setting/scenery such as the moonlight and the wall? **
 * 27. Why do the rest of the actors run off when Bottom reappears? **
 * 28. What does Puck plan to do when he follows after the other actors? **
 * 29. How does Bottom react to Titania and the other fairies? **
 * 30. Bottom says, "…reason and love keep little company together nowadays." Why is this such an apt statement at this point in the play? **

__** Act III, Scene 2 **__ Hermia accuses Demetrius of killing Lysander in his sleep. They put the juice from the flower into Demetrius's eyes so he would love Helena, and are then going to anoint Lysander's eyes to make him love Hermia again. She thinks he is mocking her, as she thought Lysander was. She wants him to actually be in love with her, not to have him playing a mean joke on her. She believes that she is helping Lysander and Demetrius to mock her, and she feels betrayed. They were extremely close, as Helena says in her little speech on page 58. They were as close as 'two lovely berries moulded on one stem'. He absolutely hates her, although he says he won't harm her. Hermia is very upset and says that he can do her no greater harm than hate. Hermia refuses to believe Lysander of what he says because she loves him and doesn't want his love for Helena to be true. She accuses Helena of seducing Lysander and making him fall in love with her. Helena is afraid of Hermia because 'O, when she's angry, she is keen and shrewd! She was a vixen when she went to school, and though she be but little, she is fierce.' Their love for Helena is so powerful that they leave to duel for her hand. Oberon tells Puck to separate Demetrius and Lysander so he can anoint Lysander's eyes with the flowers juice to make him fall in love with Hermia again. He is going to go to Titania and beg once more for the changeling boy, and then release the charm that has he in love with Bottom to reconcile. Oberon doesn't fear the coming of the day, because unlike the other fairies he does not lose his magical powers at sunrise. It works well because he actually manages to separate Lysander and Demetrius.
 * 31. What does Hermia accuse Demetrius of doing? **
 * 32. How are Puck and Oberon going to correct Puck’s earlier mistake? **
 * 33. Why is Helena upset when Demetrius says he loves her? Isn’t this what she had wanted all along? **
 * 34. Of what does Helena accuse Hermia? **
 * 35. How close had Hermia and Helena been in the past? **
 * 36. How does Lysander treat Hermia? Why can’t she believe what he says? **
 * 37. Of what does Hermia accuse Helena? **
 * 38. Why is Helena afraid of Hermia? **
 * 39. What are Lysander and Demetrius going off to do? **
 * 40. What does Oberon tell Puck to do about the two young men? **
 * 41. What is Oberon going to do about Titania? **
 * 42. Why doesn’t Oberon fear the coming of day? **
 * 43. How well does Puck’s trickery work? **

====** Review Question: The climax, or turning point, of A Midsummer Night’s Dream comes at the end of Act 3. In point form describe the major plot points of Act Three starting from when Titania falls in love with Bottom leading to the climax or turning point of the play near the end of act three. **==== ~ Quince and Bottom and the other artisans arrive in the woods to practice the play Pyramus and Thisbe. ~ Bottom goes off stage and returns with the head of a donkey because of Puck, and everyone runs away. ~ Titania awakens because of Bottom's singing and instantly falls in love with him. ~ Oberon is happy that Titania fell in love with some vile thing, and but is dismayed to see that Puck has anointed the eyes of the wrong athenian man. ~ Hermia accuses Demetrius of killing Lysander in his sleep. ~ Puck anoints the eyes of Demetrius and he also falls in love with Helena. ~ They all meet together and Lysander and Demetrius begin to fight over Helena, and a confused Helena and Hermia get into a fight because Hermia believes that Helena seduced Lysander. ~ Oberon is furious and tells Puck to separate the two men, and bring their lovers close to them. He also says he wants peace with Titania and is going to release the spell. ~ Puck then anoints Lysander's eyes, making sure that Hermia is near so he will fall back in love with her when he wakes up.

media type="file" key="AMSND Act 3 Vision.mp3" width="240" height="20" === Podcast: Shakespeare plays with ideas of vision, of blindness, and of different ways of interpreting what one sees. Podcast, with music the lines in Act Three that deal with this imagery. ===

~"If you think I come hither as a lion, it were pity of my life. No, I am no such thing. I am a man as other men are."

~Ay; or else one must come in with a bush of thorns and a lanthorn, and say he comes to disfigure, or to present, the person of Moonshine.

~Some man or other must present Wall: and let him have some plaster, or some loam, or some rough-cast about him, to signify wall;

~What do you see? you see an asshead of your own, do you?

~What angel wakes me from my flowery bed?

~On the first view to say, to swear, I love thee.

~Thou art as wise as thou art beautiful. By some illusion see thou bring her here: I'll charm his eyes against she do appear.

~O Helena, goddess, nymph, perfect, divine!

~To what, my love, shall I compare thine eyne?

~Wherein it doth impair the seeing sense, It pays the hearing double recompense.

~Now I perceive that she hath made compare Between our statures; she hath urged her height; And with her personage, her tall personage, Her height, forsooth, she hath prevail'd with him.

~When they next wake, all this derision Shall seem a dream and fruitless vision, And then I will her charmed eye release From monster's view, and all things shall be peace.

~Thou runn'st before me, shifting every place, And darest not stand, nor look me in the face. Where art thou now?