Discussion+questions

__A Midsummer Night's Dream__ Discussion Questions.

One or more of these questions will show up on your unit test for this play. You may want to take the time to attempt them on your own, so as to have them straight in your mind before the unit test...

Interpretation: 1. Where is the climax of the play? Explain. 2. What are the main conflicts in the play, and how are they resolved? 3. Recall (or find) as many examples of imagery of eyes and seeing as you can. What is Shakespeare saying about the nature of perception? 4. Wittgenstein once said, "A dream is all wrong...and yet at the same time is completely right." How well does //A Midsummer Night's Dream// manage to be both dream-like and realistic at the same time?

Critical: 5. Which character is responsible for causing most of the action in the play? How? 6. Compare and contrast the female characters in the play: Hermia, Helena, Titania and Hippolyta. 7. Compare and contrast the male characters in the play: Lysander, Demetrius, Oberon and Theseus. 8. What parallels are there between "Pyramus and Thisby" (the play within the play) and //A Midsummer Night's Dream//? 9. The moon is often associated with lovers. Identify several examples of moon imagery from the play, then explain the moods that these images suggest. 10. The following quotations are important in this play. Identify who said them (and to whom), and tell why they are important:
 * "Rather your eyes must with his judgement look"
 * The course of true love never did run smooth."
 * "Lord, what fools these mortals be!"
 * "Methought I was enamour'd of an ass!"
 * "The kinder we, to give them thanks for nothing."

Critical/Personal Response: 11. Would you like to have a father like Egeus? Why or why not? 12. Which minor character is most important to the play? Why?