Le rêve d'une nuit d'été par William Shakespeare

Despite being one of Shakespeare's most popular works, A Midsummer Night's Dream can be a tough play to follow. It contains four plots, and as Puck's work unfolds, things can get a little strange. With the help of these activities, your students will master this comedy and become pros with Shakespeare!

Diagramme de Parcelle

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Thèmes, Symboles et Motifs

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Personnages

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Vocabulaire Shakespearien

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Conflit Littéraire

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Shakespeare Play Genre

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Des Médias Sociaux

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Essential Questions for A Midsummer Night's Dream

1. What are the different types of love? Could you list them?
2. Would you go against your family to follow your heart?
3. What are the qualities that make a good friend?
4. Consider illusions and reality.
• What do we need to see with our own eyes to believe, and what do we believe without seeing?
• What do we see, but not believe?
• How does this translate to our actions when we are in love?
• We cannot touch love, or taste love, or even see love; how does the illusion of love create our reality?

A Midsummer Night's Dream Summary

A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare is a fanciful comedy centered around Puck (also called Robin Goodfellow), a magical fairy-like creature. The play begins with the Duke of Athens preparing to wed the Queen of the Amazons. During preparations for the festival, two young men, Demetrius, and Lysander meet a young nobleman’s daughter, Hermia. Both men fall in love with her, but her father only gives her permission to marry Demetrius. However, it is Lysander that Hermia loves. She makes plans to run away with Lysander and tells her best friend, Helena. Unbeknownst to Hermia, Helena is in love with Demetrius, and plans to tell him in hopes of winning him over.

Meanwhile, Puck is sent on a quest by Oberon, King of the Fairies, to find a magical Cupid-like flower so that he can punish Titania, the Queen of the Fairies, and force her to give him a changeling for his servant. When the flower is sprinkled on a sleeping person's eyelids, they will fall desperately in love with the first thing they see when they wake up. Puck uses the flower on Titania, who wakes up to see a hapless basket-weaver and actor, Bottom, whose face has been turned into that of a donkey. Due to the mischievous nature of fairies, issues again arise when Puck tries to intervene with the predicaments of Hermia, Helena, Demetrius, and Lysander, who have all run away to the forest. After sprinkling dust in each of the men's eyes, they both fall in love with Helena, forgetting Hermia. This creates intense jealousy between the women, and renewed rivalry between the men, who challenge each other to a fight to win Helena.

After some time, Puck is forced to fix his mistakes. However, while rectifying things, Demetrius truly falls in love with Helena. At this time, the Duke of Athens arrives, finding the lovers in the woods, and is told the story. He insists that they are all wed during his wedding ceremony. After the wedding, Bottom's troupe performs a comical version of a play, Pyramus and Thisbe. In the end, only Puck remains on stage. He begs the audiences' forgiveness for his embarrassing mistakes and prays everyone remembers the play as if it were only a dream.

Don’t Let the Fun Stop! Check Out Our Other Lesson Plan Ideas

1. This play actually contains FOUR plots! Track what the plots are, and when they intersect. Storyboard these four plots and track how they come together.
2. Depict 50 lines from a scene as a storyboard.
3. In a group, read about Pyramus and Thisbe, or the story of Theseus, and create storyboards to present to the class that demonstrate an understanding of the references to these stories in the play.
4. Visually depict a major soliloquy or monologue from the play.

Questions fréquentes sur Le Songe d'une nuit d'été de William Shakespeare

Pourquoi est-il important que les étudiants étudient William Shakespeare ?

Certaines personnes pensent que Shakespeare peut être trop difficile pour les étudiants, mais lire Shakespeare va enseigner aux jeunes la condition humaine. Les pièces de Shakespeare sont remplies d'amour et de haine, de vie et de mort, et de tout ce qui se trouve entre les deux. En plus d'être des pièces bien écrites à étudier, elles apprendront aux élèves à être humains.

Qu'est-ce qu'un soliloque ?

Un soliloque est un discours qu'un personnage prononce seul sur scène et qui offre un aperçu des pensées et des sentiments de ce personnage, ainsi que d'autres éléments de la pièce. Shakespeare utilise des soliloques pour approfondir l'arrière-plan, les émotions, etc.

Comment A Midsummer Night's Dream dépeint-il les illusions contre la réalité ?

A Midsummer Night's Dream a quatre histoires différentes, et tout comme le titre l'indique, l'une des intrigues principales traite des rêves et de la réalité. A travers l'action des personnages, Shakespeare montre que les choses ne sont pas toujours ce qu'elles paraissent !