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A Midsummer Night’s Dream

A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Background Information. The Play. Written in the 1590s. Marriage of Theseus & Hippolyta in Athens. Four Athenian lovers. Amateur actors Fairies. Themes in Midsummer. Love Identity Reality v. Fantasy Pastoral Order v. Disorder. Shakespeare Bio.

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A Midsummer Night’s Dream

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  1. A Midsummer Night’s Dream Background Information

  2. The Play • Written in the 1590s. • Marriage of Theseus & Hippolyta in Athens. • Four Athenian lovers. • Amateur actors • Fairies

  3. Themes in Midsummer • Love • Identity • Reality v. Fantasy • Pastoral • Order v. Disorder

  4. Shakespeare Bio • 1564-1616. • The Bard of Avon. • Plays, sonnets, longer poems. • King’s Men company at the Globe Theater.

  5. Histories • Mostly based on lives of English kings. • Richard II • Henry IV

  6. Comedy in Shakespeare • Greek/Roman concept for plays with happy endings. • Lighter tone. • Often centers around marriage, festivals, holidays. • Movement to a “green world.”

  7. Themes in the Comedies • Separation, reunification, deception, misidentification, pastoral elements.

  8. Examples • A Midsummer Night’s Dream • Twelfth Night • As You Like It

  9. Shakespearean Tragedy • Aristotle: tragedy should center around a flawed but admirable protagonist. • Free will -- bad decisions. • Hamartia - missing the mark. • Realizing consequences of actions.

  10. Themes in Tragedies • Serious subjects: mortality, death, ethics, grief, love.

  11. Examples of Tragedies • Hamlet • King Lear • Othello • MacBeth

  12. Shakespearean Romance • Later plays. • Redemptive plotline with happy ending. • Magic & fantasy. • Mix of civilized & pastoral. • Often tragicomedy - blending the two genres.

  13. Examples of Romance • A Winter’s Tale • The Tempest

  14. Modes of Printing • Quarto: paper folded twice (into quarters), creating eight pages. • Folio: pages folded once to create two leaves. • Shakespeare’s First Folio (1623)

  15. The Renaissance • 14th-17th c. Europe • Resurgence of classicism. • Search for realism in art. • A humanistic movement.

  16. Humanism • Rather than train professionals in jargon and strict practice, humanists sought to create a citizenry able to speak and write with eloquence and clarity. • Humanities: logic, poetry, history, philosophy, art.

  17. Four Moral Virtues • Justice • Temperance • Fortitude • Prudence

  18. Three Theological Virtues • Faith • Hope • Charity

  19. Ptolemy • Lived 90-168 AD. • Roman citizen, wrote Greek, lived in Egypt. • Mathematician, geographer, astronomer, astrologer.

  20. Ptolemaic Astronomy • Geocentric. • Theorized concentric spheres. • “Music of the spheres” • Astronomy & Astrology

  21. Excerpt from Troilus & Cressida • “The heavens themselves, the planets, and this centre.Observe degree, priority, and place,Insisture, course, proportion, season, form,Office, and custom, in all line of order....Take but degree away, untune that string,And hark! What discord follows..…”

  22. The Pastoral • A genre in literature, art or music that depicts shepherd life*, usually in an idealized manner and for urban audiences. • *Shepherds and other farm workers that are often romanticized and depicted in a highly unrealistic manner. • Often idealizes simplicity and leisure.

  23. Pastoral Style from Christopher Marlowe • Come live with me and be my Love, And we will all the pleasures prove /That hills and valleys, dale and field,And all the craggy mountains yield.There will we sit upon the rocks / And see the shepherds feed their flocks,By shallow rivers, to whose falls / Melodious birds sing madrigals.

  24. Gender Roles • the set of social and behavioral norms that are considered to be socially appropriate for individuals of a specific sex in the context of a specific culture, which differ widely between cultures and over time

  25. Masque • 16-17th century festive courtly entertainment • Music, dancing, singing, stage design. • Often complimentary to nobles or royalty • Often allegorical • A dumb show is a variation.

  26. Elizabethan Era • Associated with Queen Elizabeth’s reign (1558-1603). • England’s golden age. • Height of English Renaissance. • Internal Peace • Age of Exploration & Expansion

  27. Jacobean Era • 1603-1625. • King James VI of Scotland, inherited English crown in 1603. • Initial New World settlement.

  28. Aristotle’s Unities • action: a play should have one main action that it follows, with no or few subplots. • place: a play should cover a single physical space and should not attempt to compress geography. • time: the action in a play should take place over no more than 24 hours.

  29. Teatro Mundi • The “world as theater.” • People are actors, and “all the world’s a stage.” • Common Shakespeare convention.

  30. Diana • Roman goddess of the moon. • Virgin goddess. • Also known as goddess of the hunt. • Emblem of chastity. • Associated with nature.

  31. Theseus & Hippolyta • Theseus: mythical founder of Athens; traveled with Hercules. • Hippolyta: Queen of the Amazons.

  32. Venus • Roman goddess of love, beauty & fertility.

  33. The Metamorphoses • Roman narrative poem by Ovid. • Most read of all classical • works during the Middle • Ages. • Favorite work of reference for Greek mythology. • Recurring theme of love.

  34. Pyramus & Thisbe • Story of ill-fated lovers. • Told in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. • A classic Romeo & Juliet plot set in Babylon.

  35. Aurora • Roman goddess of the dawn. • Commonly depicted in romantic art.

  36. May-Day & Solstices • Midsummer = Summer solstice: June 25th (now June 21st). • Pagan, Celtic, Roman festival.

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