1. Shakespeare’s Comedies
A Midsummer Night’s Dream Introduction

2. William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, in the year
1564
Let’s start with a quiz!

3. Shakespeare wrote three types of plays. What are they?
Tragedies
Comedies
Histories

4. The name of Shakespeare’s famous theater was
The Globe

5. Shakespeare wrote much of his plays in unrhymed iambic pentameter, also known as
Blank verse

6. Low social class / behavior
Shakespeare has his characters speak in prose to show their
Low social class / behavior

7. Comedies vs. Tragedies Why are tragedies considered tragic?
Comedies, on the other hand, have happy endings.
Comedies often include
Greater emphasis on situations rather than characters
A struggle for young lovers
Deception (often mistaken identity)
Multiple plots
Different types of comedy, including slapstick, puns, practical jokes, and bawdy humor
Pastoral setting
Often ends with marriage
Comedies vs. Tragedies

8. A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Written early in Shakespeare’s career
Intertwined plots: Theseus and Hippolyta’s wedding; the artisans; the lovers in the woods
Set in Athens, Greece
Fairies, sprites, and laborers
A Midsummer Night’s Dream

9. AMND continued What is Midsummer Night?
One of the nights of the year when sprites were powerful
Flowers gathered on MN were magical
People dream of their true loves; sometimes go insane
AMND continued

10. AMND continued Important questions: What is love?
How and why do people fall in and out of love?
Are lovers in control of themselves and their destinies?
Which is more real: reason or passion?
AMND continued

11. “A Midsummer Night’s Dream does not always do exactly what we might expect, and in this way it keeps its audience guessing…” -Catherine Belsey