Questions and Answers for A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Why is the quote "Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, and therefore is winged Cupid painted blind" so...
Shakespeare writes about love a lot. This quote is about that theme, but what I like about this quote is that it doesn't support the "love at first sight" notion. In fact, the heroic couplet...
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, / And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind. / Nor hath Love's...
These lines are spoken by Helena at the end of the first scene of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. At the beginning of the play, Helena is in love with Demetrius—who once wooed her—but he...
A Midsummer Night's Dream
What does "And yet, to say the truth, reason and love keep little company together nowadays" mean?
The line is spoken by Bottom in William Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" Act III Scene 1. The full quotation is: [Bottom:] Methinks, mistress, you should have little reason for that. And...
A Midsummer Night's Dream
How and why does Puck change Bottom, how is this transformation appropriate, and what happens when Bottom awakens...
Puck changes Bottom's head into an ass because he is such a poor actor. This is Shakespeare's way of poking fun at bad actors. It also leads to one of the funniest scenes in the play. When Bottom...
A Midsummer Night's Dream
In A Midsummer Night's Dream, why are Oberon and Titania fighting over an Indian boy?
Oberon and Titania, king and queen of the fairies, both want a young Indian boy to be part of their entourage. Titania wants the child, who is half mortal, half fairy, because she promised his dead...
A Midsummer Night's Dream
What does Puck's soliloquy mean at the end of A Midsummer Night's Dream?
In Puck's speech at the end of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, just as in the "parabasis" of ancient Greek Old Comedy, a character breaks the "fourth wall" and speaks directly to the...
A Midsummer Night's Dream
What purpose is served by Puck’s epilogue in A Midsummer Night's Dream?
An epilogue is a speech and it almost like a PS (postscript) to the main body of, in this case a play. It can serve to bring closure to events or answer questions which may still confuse the...
A Midsummer Night's Dream
What does Theseus mean in A Midsummer Night’s Dream when he claims that "The lover, and the poet / Are of imagination...
eNotes editors can only answer one question at a time; others must be posted separately. In Shakespeare's play, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Theseus comments that love and imagination are similar. He...
A Midsummer Night's Dream
What are some examples of personification in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act 3, Scenes 1 and 2?
Personification is a literary device that gives human qualities or characteristics to inanimate objects, ideas, animals, or abstractions. It's a popular form of figurative language, and so it...
A Midsummer Night's Dream
What mistake does Puck make when placing the "love potion" on the Athenian youth's eyes, as instructed by Oberon?
In Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Oberon sees how much Helena loves Demetrius. Oberon instructs Puck (his fairy henchman) to seek out a flower in a place they once visited. While Puck...
A Midsummer Night's Dream
What trick does Puck play on Bottom in Act 3, Scene 1 of "A Midsummer Night's Dream"?
In Act 3, sc. 1, Puck (Robin Goodfellow) decides, when he watches the tradesmen and Bottom practicing their play, that they are foolish and Bottom is especially a fool. Puck calls them "...hempen...
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Metaphors In A Midsummer Night's Dream
In Act III Scene 1 of A Midsummer Night's Dream, the craftsmen enter the woods in order to rehearse their play. After Bottom warns Quince that he will need two separate prologues, one for the men...
A Midsummer Night's Dream
According to Titania, how does Oberon’s anger affect the human world in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream?
Critics have frequently remarked upon the "profusion of poetic imagery" with which Shakespeare's bountiful imagination endows the fairy world in A Midsummer Night's Dream. This delightful...
A Midsummer Night's Dream
In A Midsummer Night's Dream, what does Theseus think of the lovers' adventures? Why does Hippolyta initially seem...
Theseus kindly overrides Egeus to allow Lysander and Hermia to marry, but primarily he is bemused by love's irrationality and thus sees all four of the lovers' adventures as a form of madness or...
A Midsummer Night's Dream
What options does Theseus give Hermia and why in A Midsummer Night's Dream?
In the first act of the play, Theseus tells Hermia she must marry the man her father has chosen. If she does not, only two options remain: "Either to die the death or to abjure For ever the...
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Compare and contrast the characters of Demetrius and Lysander in A Midsummer Night's Dream.
At first glance, Lysander and Demetrius appear to be fairly interchangeable characters in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. They both fall in love with the wrong woman. Lysander falls in...
A Midsummer Night's Dream
How does the relationship between Hermia and Lysander impact Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream ?
Lysander and Hermia represent a couple who is physically devoted to each other but is also not the strongest of couples. We see their weaknesses as a couple when they encounter obstacles, such as...
A Midsummer Night's Dream
What does Helena hope to achieve by telling Demetrius of Lysander and Hermia's flight in A Midsummer Night's Dream?
Helena tells Demetrius that Hermia and Lysander have run away because she hopes that he will change his mind and fall for her. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a simple story, really. Hermia and...
A Midsummer Night's Dream
What was the reason behind the quarrel between Titania and Oberon?
King Oberon and Queen Titania enter the play in Act II, Scene 1. When we first see them, they are quarreling. Robin Goodfellow (aka Puck) tells us why. He says that they are fighting because...
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Why is the forest an important setting in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream ?
One reason the forest is an important setting in A Midsummer Night's Dream is that the forest creates a dark, wild, mysterious atmosphere in which the magical elements of Shakespeare's plot can be...
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Explain the meaning and irony behind Puck's statement "Lord, what fools these mortals be!" in A Midsummer Night's Dream.
In one of the most well-known lines from William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, the mischievous sprite Puck, or Robin Goodfellow, says to the fairy king, Oberon, "Lord, what fools these...
A Midsummer Night's Dream
What are the gender issues in A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare?
The theme of love always raises many questions and in A Midsummer Night's Dream there are many instances which reveal that love can be fickle, unfair, intense, contradictory, irrational, painful...
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Why does Shakespeare use the theme of illusion vs. reality in A Midsummer Nights Dream? I need help understanding the...
In his comedies, Shakespeare examines another theme, love, and all the various ways that it manifests in the human experience. In A Midsummer Night's Dream, he uses another thematic proposition,...
A Midsummer Night's Dream
What is the climax of A Midsummer Night's Dream?
In literature and film, there are various stages which reveal aspects of the work being analysed in terms of its dramatic structure. This structure ensures that the story flows and reaches a...
A Midsummer Night's Dream
What are two examples of puns in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream ?
In Act Five, Scene One of A Midsummer Night's Dream, Theseus asserts, "No die, but an ace for him," while watching the Pyramus and Thisbe play. This is a pun (although not necessarily one that...
A Midsummer Night's Dream
What does Helena accuse Hermia of in Act 3, Scene 2 of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream ?
Helena awakens in this scene to find Lysander and Demetrius both madly in love with her. Helena has no way of knowing this is due to Puck having dropped a love potion into their eyes, so she...
A Midsummer Night's Dream
In A Midsummer Night's Dream, why does Puck put the juice from the flower into Lysander’s eyes? How does Helena react...
In act 2, scene 1 of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Oberon, King of the Fairies, is having a disagreement with Titania, Queen of the Fairies, about a young Indian prince who...
A Midsummer Night's Dream
What is Lysander's plan in A Midsummer Night's Dream?
Lysander’s plan is to run away with Hermia to his aunt’s house, where they can be married beyond the reach of Theseus and Egeus. Hermia wants to marry Lysander, and he wants to marry her. Hermia’s...
A Midsummer Night's Dream
What are the main conflicts of each act in A Midsummer Night's Dream?
In act 1, the central conflict involves Hermia, who is expected by her father, Egeus, to marry Demetrius. The problem is Hermia is in love with Lysander. Because of their love, she vows that she...
A Midsummer Night's Dream
What props are needed to perform Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream ?
Props are any small objects that are used by actors in a play to help them tell the story, which exclude the set design. If we were to use as few props as possible with minimal set design, there...
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Discuss A Midsummer Night's Dream as a romantic comedy.
William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream fits the description of "romantic comedy" for at least two reasons: it focuses on the romantic relationships of characters, and it ends in marriages....
A Midsummer Night's Dream
What are some of Hermia's personality traits in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream ?
One of Hermia's personality traits is that she is very self-assertive; she is strong and very independently minded, lacking any fear of expressing her opinion. We see her demonstrate this trait in...
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Favorite Character in Midsummer Night's Dream Who is your favorite character? Puck has the single best line in the...
Perhaps it's being reminded a bit too perfectly what adolescent/college "romances" were like - and how I probably acted quite a bit like these two poor girls at various times in my...
A Midsummer Night's Dream
What are the supernatural elements found in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream?
Of all Shakespeare's plays, A Midsummer Night's Dream is the most magical. Magic is an element of the supernatural, as it's traditionally believed to come from outside the natural world. In other...
A Midsummer Night's Dream
What are three traits of Helena in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and some quotes to support them?
Helena is very obviously a desperate woman. Having once given herself to Demetrius, she cannot get over the fact that he no longer loves her and does whatever she can to rectify the situation. She...
A Midsummer Night's Dream
In A Midsummer Night's Dream, what's the climax in Act III?
The climax provided in Act 3 occurs when Bottom’s head is replaced with that of an ass, and the anointed lovers gather together, argue, and fall asleep. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is broken up into...
A Midsummer Night's Dream
What are four literary devices used in the play A Midsummer Night's Dream? I need the act, scene, and line number for...
In act II, scene i, starting at line 233, Shakespeare uses the literary device of monologue. A monologue is like a soliloquy in being a speech that expresses a character's thoughts. It differs from...
A Midsummer Night's Dream
What does the forest in the play symbolize? Why?
The forest is a perfect setting for A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The words midsummer and night in the title suggest a story in which nature plays an important role. Midsummer is a time of...
A Midsummer Night's Dream
What are the four main plots of A Midsummer Night's Dream?
Though there are four different plots in "A Midsummer Night's Dream," there is one theme that connects them all: love. The wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta: Theseus is the ruler of Athens and has...
A Midsummer Night's Dream
In act 4 of A Midsummer Night's Dream, who are the characters that wake up and what are their reactions?
In act 4 of A Midsummer Night's Dream, Titania, Nick Bottom, Helena, Hermia, Lysander, and Demetrius wake from their slumbers. All are surprised and confused by recent events. Before Titania wakes,...
A Midsummer Night's Dream
How does Bottom become an ass? What is the reason for this strange event?
In act III, scene 1, Nick Bottom is turned (partly) from a man into an ass when Puck puts a spell on him. It is only his head, not his whole body, that is transformed. Puck was making mischief,...
A Midsummer Night's Dream
In Act 5 of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, what is an example of garbled language in the...
In the hilarious play within the play presented in Act 5 of William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, confusions abound, including the following: Many examples of the use of wrong word...
A Midsummer Night's Dream
In what ways do Demetrius and Egeus attempt to control Hermia?
Both Demetrius, who wants to marry Hermia against her will, and Egeus, her father, who wants her to marry Demetrius, appeal to the power of the state in the form of Theseus, the Duke of Athens, in...
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Why is it ironic that Pyramus and Thisbe is a lamentable comedy?
The story of Pyramus and Thisbe is a tragedy; it's about the star-crossed young lovers who kill themselves needlessly. That makes it lamentable, or sad. The "comedy" is that Bottom and...
A Midsummer Night's Dream
What are some traits of the major and minor characters in A Midsummer Night's Dream?
The four lovers are all young, passionate, and romantic. Helena, spurned by Demetrius despite her love for him, displays low self esteem. She is sad and down on herself, constantly comparing...
A Midsummer Night's Dream
In A Midsummer Night's Dream, what part of her appearance does Hermia believe Helena has exploited to win Lysander's...
Hermia completely misses the point the play makes that love is blind. Therefore, when she realizes Lysander has abandoned her and fallen in love with Helena, she grasps for a rational explanation...
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Who is the most important character in A Midsummer Night Dream?
This is an interesting question, and there is no single answer which is obviously right. A Midsummer Night's Dream, even more than most of Shakespeare's comedies, is truly an ensemble piece, and no...
A Midsummer Night's Dream
What are the differences between Demetrius and Lysander in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream?
One major difference is that Demetrius is portrayed as a bully and physically aggressive, while Lysander is characterized as being sensitive and respectful.We see Demetrius being portrayed as...
A Midsummer Night's Dream
What is a word that is repeated excessively in act 5 of A Midsummer Night's Dream?
The word "moon" is repeated twenty-seven times in act 5, scene 1. In Shakespeare's plays, the moon is often used as a symbol of inconstancy and fickleness. In Romeo and Juliet, for example, Juliet...
A Midsummer Night's Dream
In Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, the sprites (fairies) speak very poetically. Which image or images...
In Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, the sprites, or fairies, are something of a surprise for the Elizabethan audience for whom the play was written. Up until this point in time, people in...
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