|
Structure
Interesting Questions, Facts and Information
- There are a total of 60 general entries. We are selecting 30 for display.
Special Topics
|
 Interesting Questions, Facts, and Information
 Midsummer Night's Dream
Francis Flute. Francis Flute, the bellows mender, played Thisbe (bear in mind that spelling may differ in alternate translations). Snug played the lion and Starveling played Moonshine.
Robin Goodfellow. Robin Goodfellow was the Hobgoblin who served the King of the Fairies.
Helena. Helena doted on and chased Demetrius through the wood. Demetrius had once loved Helena, but was inconstant and pursued Hermia instead. Hermia, in turn, loved Lysander, but her father, Egeus, did not approve of their love.
| What was the name given by some historians, instead of Hippolyta, to the Amazonian Queen conquered by Theseus? | A Midsummer Night's Dream
|
Antiopa. Perigenia and Aegles were two of Theseus' several mistresses. Ariadne was the daughter of Minos of Crete who helped Theseus thread the labyrinth to kill the Minotaur and was abandoned by him on an island when he returned to Athens.
Peter Quince. The Duke's Oak was the wood where the play was to be rehearsed.
May Day. Shakespeare refers to Midsummer's Night as the eve of May Day. Ordinarily, Midsummer's Night is held to be June 23, while May Day is held on May 1. Some critics point out that May Day may not necessarily refer to May 1, as people went maying at different times.
"I know not why Shakespeare calls this play a Midsummer-Night's Dream, when he so carefully informs us that it happened on the night preceding May day" (Johnson 1908:71).
From Samuel Johnson's note to VI i 103 (the line number is adjusted to correctpond with the Arden edition).
| Who said, 'What though I be not so in grace as you, so hung upon with love, but miserable most, to love unloved'? | A Midsummer Night's Dream
|
Helena. Of course it's Helena! She's whining about how Demetrius doesn't love her throughout the whole play!
He found Thisbe's bloody mantle.
She thought Hermia was playing a joke on her. Helena thought Hermia told Lysander and Demetrius to pretend to be in love with her as a joke, but really it was a result of the magic flower.
Nedar. Nadar is never seen in the play but they do say, 'Helena, Old Nedar's daughter'
Puck. The last line is, 'Give me your hands if we be friends, and Robin shall restore amends'.
Oberon. Puck: 'Believe me, king of shadows, I mistook.' Act three, scene two, line 353. Puck has just made a big boo-boo: he put the juice of love on the wrong guy's eyes! Now Lysander's in love with the wrong girl and everything's screwed up.
A Bergomask. Since 'Pyramus and Thisbe' doesn't take the entire evening to perform, Theseus selects a Bergomask dance to follow, instead of the 'epilogue' that Bottom would have been delighted to perform.
Nedar. This is mentioned by Lysander (I, i, 109).
Snug. Snug, playing the lion, asks for his part early (I, ii, 59) because he's 'slow of study'. Quince assures him that he doesn't need his part, because it's all roaring.
Hermia. This is said by Helena when the two guys are in love with the wrong girl (well, one of them is) and Helena thinks they're all playing a mean joke on her.
Tailor. This is again spoken by Puck, II, i, 54.
Puck. '...I am sent with broom before, to sweep the dust behind the door'. V, i, 385.
Snout. Robin Starveling was a {tailor;} Snug was a {joiner;} Francis Flute was a bellows-mender.
1595. Scholars believe Wil may have written the play in honor of a noble wedding, possibly that of the Earl of Derby (who had connections to Shakespeare's theatre company) and Elizabeth Vere.
'Now, fair Hippolyta, our nuptial hour draws on apace.'. 'How now...' is the first line in the second {act;} 'Thisby, the flowers...' is the first line spoken in the mechanicals' rehearsal in the {forest;} 'Gentles,...' is from Puck's epilogue.
No one. In the middle of the play she's loved by two men, and by the end she's down to one.
He wants her changeling boy. Oberon wants him to be his henchman.
| Who speaks this line: 'O spite! O hell! I see you all are bent to set against me for your merriment!'? | A Midsummer Night's Quiz
|
Helena. When a love-spell causes both Lysander and Demetrius to love her, she thinks they are playing a cruel joke on her.
|
Fun Trivia | 
Quizzes | 
Games
| 
People | 
Services | 
Help | 
Me
