For
Wednesday: A Midsummer Night’s Dream,
Acts 1 and 2
Answer TWO of the following:
1. In Act 1, Scene 1, Helena notes, “Love looks not with the eyes, but
with the mind,/And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind” (22). Discuss how images and metaphors of seeing are used in the first two acts,
and how they illustrate the play’s ideas about love and the act of falling in
love. What does it mean to ‘see’ the one
you love, and is it the sight, rather than the reality, of the person we fall
in love with?
2. Discuss a passage in the play which seems to be absent in the film,
or is presented very differently on the page.
How did the film ‘translate’ this passage differently, or why do you
think the film omitted it? What is the
importance of this scene to you as a reader?
And related to this, can it be
staged effectively (or would it have worked in the 1890’s version of the
film)?
3. How does the scene with the rustics (Bottom, Quince, etc.) and/or
the scene with Titania and Oberon compare with the opening scene of Act 1,
scene 1? Though this play seems to be depicting
three separate worlds that would never otherwise mix, how does Shakespeare
connect each scene through shared themes, ideas, metaphors, or images? Discuss a specific connection or two through
a brief close reading.
4. The joy of Shakespeare is in small moments that seem
inconsequential (or are meaningless to the plot) that take on surprising
importance. Mercutio’s Queen Mab speech
in Romeo and Juliet has nothing whatever
to do with the story, yet it might be the most important speech in the
play. How might Titania’s speech to
Oberon in Act 2, scene 1 be a similar speech?
Close read a few lines of it and suggest how this speech might underline
some larger themes/ideas of the play (or might simply be great poetry in its
own right).
Elyse Marquardt
ReplyDeleteQuestion 1: Hippolyta and Theseus seem to genuinely love each other as human beings with hearts and minds, not just as objects with pretty faces. They look at one another and see intellect, something worthy of respect. This is deeper than mere physical attraction. Lysander and Hermia likewise love each other for their minds, but they are also strongly physically attracted to each other. The humans in this story are better at digging deep and finding a good character to love, rather than just a body to lust after. The fairies, however, are solely interested in surface beauty and the pleasure derived from it. The juice from Oberon's flower causes physical attraction only, which is why Helena is so perplexed and Hermia so distraught when Lysander and Demetrius start dogging Helena; under the spell, they only care for what they see on the outside.
Question 2: Act 1, scene 2 is presented very differently on the page than it was in the film. I like this scene because it introduces the rustics and gets the point across that Bottom is a self-absorbed drama hog. The film made it almost too serious; Bottom seemed nearly devastated that he had to play only Pyramus, and took a great deal too much consoling and encouraging to make up his mind. He was also humiliated in front of a large crowd, which caused us to feel pity for him. In the book, we are able to laugh at Bottom as he prances about before the other rustics and tries to snatch all the other parts for himself. It is much more humorous and light-hearted.
Yes, great point: the play opens with what seems to be a real match (even though he won her by force!), and then shows us a host of people who get hopelessly confused by what they see/feel as truth. And as you suggest, the flower is only sensual--it has nothing to do with the mind. So how does one fall in love the right way? Will the play explain? :)
DeleteAshley Bean
ReplyDelete1. I understand her line to say that real love looks beyond what someone sees, and therefor Cupid doesn't instill real love in anybody. He just creates a physical attraction so strong that it can't be ignored. The play tries to show the different ways people think falling in love happens through comedy. Lysander and Hermia seem to be in love for more than looks, but it seems kind of rebellious. The fairies love beauty, and Shakespeare pokes fun at this with Titania "falling in love" with Bottom with the power of the flower. Hippolyta and Theseus show signs of actual love and nothing crazy has happened to them yet.
2. I thought the scene with Oberon and Titania in Act 2 scene one was portrayed very differently. Maybe I just was lost in the movie, but when Oberon talks of using the juice from the flower, it seemed almost to win her back. It seemed much more loving, despite what he was trying to do. The actor made it seem his speech almost beautiful, even if it's about her falling in love with a nasty beast.
Yes, she states an important question in the play: how can the mind, the seat of judgement, be continually overruled by the weakest, least reliable sense in the body--the eyes? And yet, this happens in each world in the play: Bottom is transformed before his friends, Titania mistakes him for her greatest love, and of course everyone falls in love with Helena. Are we all bewitched into making foolish mistakes in the name of love? Or is there a right way to do it? Maybe Shakespeare can help us...
Delete- Rocky Moore
ReplyDelete1. To start off, Shakespeare never seems to say things directly for the first meaning but uses the words to mean something in an underlying way like this part where love is not actually something seen but seen differently through the heart and mind of ones soul. This doesnt mean that we see someone and we love them by sight but by the mere soul a person has that attracts us to them. In Demetrius' case he seems to lust for Hermia becasue it is a known fact that he slept with Helena based on desire with no intent to actually 'see' her in the way that lovers do and Helena is the complete opposite as she blindy loves him through all obstacles even when Demetrius doesnt want her. When Hermia tells Helena that Demetrius will no longer see her face because of her plot with Lysander to flee Athens, she is basically saying that the conflict Demetrius has by seeing her alone will be dissolved. The only one who truly cannot 'see' is Demetrius. Shakespeare creates the perfect worst case scenario to create a fun atmosphere if watching a play. It is pretty humorous.
4. Here Shakespeare takes two worlds and collides them. It may not seem like much but when Titania and Oberon clash with words there is an underlying theme that they control what goes on with the humans there on Earth and they dictate what goes on basically and that ultimately sums up everything that goes on within the play including the multiple love triangles that are going on. This may not seem to have anything to do with the plot but in reality the conflict between Oberon and Titania may have everything to do with the story. Titania basically says Oberon's jealousy is the result of the problems here on Earth. "As in revenge, have sucked up from the sea contagious fogs which, falling in the land, hath every pelting river made so proud that they have overborne their continents." (28).
Great responses...though I think we can argue that everyone is effectively blind in this play. Hermia assumes Lysander will never "lie" to her, yet he quickly does in act 3; and even Lysander blithely assumes that what he feels is true, absolute love. He reminds me of Romeo in Act 1 of that play who pines over Rosaline. The second he sees Juliet, she's never mentioned again by him (except in scorn). In a comedy love confusion is all good fun, but in this play, as you suggest in #4, there seems to be an edge to it. It's dangerous to play the game of love...people get hurt, and in the case of spirits, the world can be torn asunder!
Delete3. The scene with the rustics seems more light-hearted and that it might have been written to appeal to the lower class. Shakespeare effortlessly connects the three seemingly separate worlds. The connection between the upper class and the rustics is that the play they intend to perform will be part of Theseus and his wife’s wedding celebration. Also, Titania accuses Oberon of having special affections for Hippolyta. Shakespeare parallels the disconnect among the lovers with Titania and Oberon’s relationship issues. The worlds seem very believably meshed.
ReplyDelete4. “There are forgeries of jealousy” is the line that Titania opens her speech with this. I think this line displays a much broader theme- jealousy’s harm. Demetrius is jealous of Lysander and Helena of Hermia. This cycle of jealous is throwing everything out of whack in the human world. Just as the lover’s struggles turn everything upside down, so does Titiania and Oberon’s quarreling. She says, “contagious fogs, which, falling in the land, hath every pelting river made so proud, that they have over borne their continents”. So basically, nature is out of balance and the earth is flooding. This is a nice parallel between the natural and the social world to show how jealousy could throw each the humans’ and fairies’ worlds out of their natural balance.
Yes, the worlds are connected because all three end up meeting in the woods secretly in the name of love. Even the rustics are performing a play that bears quite a strong resemblance to the action going on between the 4 lovers, which can't be a coincidence. Shakespeare takes delight in examining the idea of love from every possible class, and the spirits might be emblematic of the highest classes in England (Kings, Queens, etc.). For despite class, love creates a fog that clouds the senses and betrays judgment. No one can 'see' the truth when it comes to love.
Delete1.) I believe that this quote is pretty self explanatory, so let's hope I am right. I truly believe that Shakespeare is trying to say that you should love someone's mind, not their face. Helena believes herself to be ugly, and she believes thay Demetrius should love her anyways.
ReplyDelete3.) The rustics are exactly as I would think they should be. The movie did a great job on them. When I read this part, I woulve have imagined almost an identical scene. I believe everyone is having a comfrontation that has to do with losing their love. Bottom is losing his career and other couples are losing their significant others.
This is Deryk Ronk.
DeleteRemember that nothing in Shakespeare (or probably nothing worth discussing in class) is self-explanatory. Helena doesn't think she's ugly--on the contrary, she says she is "as fair" as Hermia. She can't understand why people see a difference, since love doesn't seem to follow any rules at all. She states the idea that the mind, not the eyes, should kindle love. Yet this play continually states the opposite. The question becomes, why are we told one thing while we feel/experience another? Why doesn't the world work they way it's supposed to? Egeus asks the same question about his daughter: how could someone made in my image act so differently, so defiant? How could Lysander's false love compare to my true love?
Delete2. Puck came off more sinister than in the film. Maybe this is due to my previous dealings with the actor who played Puck in the film we watched. He seems much more devilish in a non threatening way. Also there are passages where characters have to set up the scene by their lines. For instance Oberon announces “I am invisible.” I think these aspects of the play can be more affective via the technology of the movie. Although I think it takes away from the individual performance of the actors/actresses when you rely on the modern technology to establish setting.
ReplyDelete4. Titania’s speech is very strong. She implies that Oberon has some heartache concerning his mistress, warrior love, from Amazon. This speech gives the larger theme of the pain and realities of love. If love is so magical…why are the fairies and Gods so miserable at getting it right? In explaining the disasters that fall upon the natural world she relates it to the jealousy and dissension between these mythical beings. The same jealousy and dissension that was about to beset Lysander, Demetrius, Hermia, and Helena.
Great points--love unites people, yet also destroys them. Not even the supernatural world is above confusion and jealousy, which trickles down to the 'foolish mortals.' Is love just a game, played by rules we don't understand, to amuse invisible spectators? This is an important metaphor, since, literally, we ARE watching them perform for our amusement. The audience becomes the gods in this play, though eventually, we, too, will be watched in turn.
DeleteKelsey Tiger
ReplyDelete1. Love can be tricky. On some aspects it seems it is all about the beauty one portrays on the outside. On the other hand, Shakespeare creates metaphors and ellaborate descriptions that make it seem like it is who the person is on the inside that people fall in love with. Kind of like, they may not be the most beautiful, but you see them for who they are not just their physical attributes.
3. Although the play seems to depict three separate worlds, Shakespeare seems to conntect them. The play seems to appeal to all social classes with the ideas of love. There is the love triangle between Helena, Hermia, Lysander, and Demetrius; then there is Oberon and Titania; and then there is the rustics play. They all portray a common theme on love, a love that can be complex no matter what social class you are.
Yes, each 'world' in the play is about love, desire, betrayal, and loss; even the amateurs are meeting in secret to rehearse, almost like a rendezvous in the woods. In short, everything happens in the woods, which is a metaphor in itself. Yet it's also all an illusion or a dream; so is there anything 'real' we can take away from such spells? Or does it simply reveal our inability to use our senses properly?
DeleteShelby Pletcher
ReplyDelete1) This play and its characters connect at the idea of sight. Lysander and Hermia love based on what they see in each other, and this shallowness is further proved later on when the love Lysander declares for Helena after he falls under the spell of the flower's dust is expressed in the same ways he expressed his love for Hermia, alongside Demetrius in the beginning of the play. And we know that this spell only produces physical attraction in the heart of the beholder since they all fell in love instantly at sight. And they lose it just as quickly when the spell wears off. Titania's "love" for Bottom depicts the intense desire for physical pleasure and fleeting passions the fairies seem to have. It's all about aesthetic beauty, and this seems to dominantly be found in what they see.
4) I think this play, honestly, is a mockery of how we treat love in real life. We are so fickle and easily swayed in and out based on looks, circumstances, quirks etc. towards our lovers. What I mostly got out of Titania's speech was just this, that the mortal human is like the seasons, constantly changing and giving way to the consequence of time. Love makes us spin out of control of what we consider to be our natural order, and the world around us follows suit, thrusting us into the circumstances of our whims. Much like the seasons.
Yes, even though magic is involved, love is also a kind of magic that works in defiance of reason. If love can be so easily lifted, or transferred from one vision to another, than can it ever be anything lasting? Or even a conscious choice? The question is, does the play offer an alternative to the feigning, romantic love of the lovers...is there something that IS more lasting?
DeleteAimee Elmore
ReplyDelete2. I noticed that one passage that was presented differently was the conversation between Oberon and Titania. In the movie Oberon is sweet and he looks at Titania with love in his eyes. In the script Oberon just seems like he doesn’t care. He doesn’t care who she falls in love with. He only sees his agenda. Titania seems soft and caring in the movie but she also seems very strong. In the script to me she was the same.
1. In the first Act everyone falls in love with what they see not who they are. They describes their looks and say they are beautiful. Helena is saying that love should be about their personality not their looks. Looks can also be deceiving so I think the play is saying love can be deceiving. Love come in many forms.
Good responses--the actor changes everything, making us see new and exciting interpretations!
ReplyDeleteIs the painting featured at the top Helena?
ReplyDelete