Lesson video

Hello and welcome to today's learning on Puck's mistake.

So for today you will need your trusted pen and paper.

Make sure you've got those two things by your side for me please.

take a moment to clear away any distractions you might have.

Any tabs that you might have open.

Anything that might distract you from that perfect learning environment.

So when you've got that lovely quiet space, let's begin.

So by looking at Puck's mistake today, we need to start off by reminding ourselves who does Oberon want to help? So is it Hermia, Lysander, Demetrius or Helena? Take a moment to think.

Excellent work if you said Helena, he wants to help Helena.

So Oberon wants to help Helena with the love potion.

Now the question is then why does Oberon want to help Helena? He has overheard that Hermia has stolen Demetrius from Helena.

He has overheard that her father won't let her marry the man she wants.

He's overheard that Demetrius has been spiteful even though Helena completely loves him.

Or he's overheard that Demetrius is in love with Helena and they have to wait to marry.

Have a think.

Excellent work if you said option three.

He's overheard that Demetrius has been spiteful even though Helena completely loves him.

He overheard the conversation wherein Demetrius was willing to beat her, to strike her.

Because she said to him, "I'm willing to be your spaniel.

You can do with me as you will just let me follow you." And he said, don't tempt me.

"Tempt, not the hatred of my spirit." He was willing to do that.

And he said, don't tempt me, 'cause I want to do it.

No option one can't be correct because Demetrius, Hermia hasn't stolen Demetrius from Helena.

And he didn't overhear that conversation.

If you remember, Hermia does not know what she's doing to attract Demetrius.

She hasn't stolen Demetrius from Helena.

Demetrius has changed his mind.

Number two cannot be correct because that's talking about Hermia and Egeus and Theseus from our ancient Athens setting at the start of the play.

And number four is certainly not true because it implies that Demetrius is in love with Helena and they have to wait to marry.

That's actually about Lysander and Hermia.

So it's really important to keep recapping these characters so that we don't get muddled up.

Who is who.

So let's then go to Puck's character.

Puck remember, is mischievous, he's always up to no good.

He does sneaky naughty little things.

He's playful.

He plays tricks on people.

He's a trickster.

And he's comical.

There's a funny element about what he does.

But it's important to remember that Puck is not malevolent.

He is not malevolent.

He does not do things out of spite.

And one of the examples that we've seen in the text is when he pretends to be a stool, and then disappears and the lady falls on the floor.

He's pretended to be an apple, a crab Apple in somebody drinks.

And they dribble all down their chin.

Things that make people laugh, but not things that are intended to be spiteful or malevolent.

And Puck has a huge responsibility.

And his responsibility is that he should find a sweet Athenian lady is in love with a disdainful youth.

And this is what's he's expected to do.

He's expected to find the sweet Athenian lady, which is Helena.

And the disdainful youth, the youth who's saying unkind, hateful things to her is Demetrius.

And Puck is instructed to recognise Demetrius by his Athenian garments.

He doesn't know that his name is Demetrius.

He doesn't know anything more about his appearance than the fact he has Athenian garments.

He has clothing that is worn in ancient Athens.

So therefore Puck's instructions are quite unclear.

So his job is to find a sweet Athenian lady.

The only problem is unbeknown to Oberon and Puck, that there are two sweet Athenian ladies in the magical forest.

They are Helena and Hermia.

So when Puck is looking for this sweet Athenian lady, remember not the person he has to put the love potion on, but the person who is suffering in Oberon's eyes.

Puck has the choice, Helena or Hermia, it depends who he sees first.

And when he is asked to find a man with Athenian garments, that could be Demetrius or Lysander.

So for each of these characters he's got a 50/50 chance of getting the right one.

Unbeknown to him and Oberon that there are two Athenian ladies and two men in Athenian garments.

So our character Puck, despite his mischievous nature, he does follow Oberon's instructions and he does them the best that he's able to do.

But this speech from Puck tells us that he's actually struggling to carry out Oberon's task.

"Through the forest have I gone, but Athenian found I none, On whose eyes I might approve this flower's force in stirring love.

Night and silence! Who is here? Weeds of Athens, he doth wear.

This is he, my master said, Despised the Athenian maid." So we need to recognise here that Puck has actually tried really hard.

He's gone through the whole forest and hasn't found an Athenian at all.

But he has now just come across somebody who is wearing Athenian clothing.

But just prior to spotting the Athenian, Shakespeare reminds us by saying this flower's force.

How powerful the love potion is that Puck is holding.

This incredibly powerful love potion that can make someone fall in love and madly dote with the next live creature that they see.

And our mischievous, playful, comical, but not malevolent Puck is holding this love potion.

He's holding this love potion, ready to use it.

So we recognise that he seen someone in weeds of Athens, in Athenian in clothes.

And Puck said, "This is he, my master said." So he's found somebody in Athenian clothes and he is suggesting from the situation.

"This is he, my master said despised the Athenian maid." And there's a reason for that.

And the reason is as follows.

"And here the maiden sleeping sound, on the dank and dirty ground.

Pretty soul, she durst not lie.

Near this lack-love, this kill courtesy.

Churl, upon thy eyes I throw all the power this charmed doth owe.

When thou wak'st let love forbid, sleep his seat on thy eyelid." So Puck makes his mistake.

And he makes his mistake by putting the love potion on the wrong Athenian man.

So he finds a man in Athenian clothes, but the person that he finds is Lysander.

The reason why Puck makes the mistake is because Lysander and Hermia are not lying side by side.

They're actually sleeping apart.

They're in the same area.

They can see each other from where they are, but they're not sleeping together side by side.

And this is because Shakespeare made it clear to the audience that Hermia doesn't want to sleep beside Lysander before they are married.

She doesn't want to lay beside him and share a pillow because they are not married.

So in Puck's mind, it looks like these two people have had an argument or don't like each other because they're not close together.

And that's how Puck has made his mistake.

One, Oberon's instructions.

For Oberon, they were clear.

But unbeknown to Puck and Oprah and were four Athenians in the magical forest.

And now Puck has come across Lysander and Hermia who are sleeping apart.

Not because they don't love each other, but out of Hermia's choice.

She's asked that Lysander not close to her.

So now Puck has assumed that these two Athenians are in an argument with each other.

Because in his mind, she durst not lie.

She dare not lie near this lack-love, this kill-courtesy.

Churl.

He's insulting Lysander because he has heard from Oberon, assuming that it's Demetrius how cruel this Athenian man has been.

As an audience we know that actually Lysander hasn't been cruel to Hermia.

But Puck doesn't realise.

And Puck has been told that this Athenian man was horrible and nasty to this Athenian lady.

And he assumes that Lysander is Demetrius.

And there's another reminder for the audience.

Look, "I throw all the power this charmed doth owe." It's reminding us again, the power of this love potion.

And we can see that Puck's mistake here is going to have drastic and dramatic consequences.

Because actually Puck's use of the love potion is going to break apart two people that are actually truly in love with each other.

So Hermia and Lysander are truly in love and Puck is going to destroy that love.

But it's a mistake.

, he's not doing it deliberately.

And this intention of Oberon's is that he wants to help Helena.

The only problem is they've got the wrong two Athenians at this point and Puck has made a mistake.

And that's the reason why Puck makes a mistake.

He makes a mistake because they're laying apart.

So not only the Athenian clothes remember, but also the fact that they're laying apart from each other.

And this takes us back in the play when Lysander and Hermia had a conversation about laying apart.

And this is a reminder by looking at this particular extract, a reminder of the conversation that took place between the two characters.

And from this conversation therefore, we can understand that Lysander and Hermia are not laying apart because they despise or hate each other.

They're laying apart because Hermia has requested that Lysander does that out of respect.

So Lysander offers to Hermia, "One turf shall serve as pillow for us both.

One heart, one bed, two bosoms, and one troth." That's Lysander's request, he offers her to share a pillow with him.

He offers her somewhere to lay her head.

He says that they are one heart.

They are so truly in love that they are one heart.

Hermia however says, "Nay, good Lysander for my sake, my dear, life further off yet, do not lie so near." So she wants to protect the fact that she is a maid.

She wants to protect the fact that she is not yet married to Lysander.

So the intentions of Hermia and Lysander are as a matter of respect not as a matter of despising each other as Puck mistakenly assumes.

So on whose eyelids does Puck place the love potion? Hermia's, Lysander's, Demetrius' or Helena's? Have a quick think.

Excellent work if you identify that it's Lysander's eyelids.

That's who he places the love potion on.

That's who Puck places the love potion on.

Lysander's sleeping eyelids.

On whose eyelids however, should Puck have placed the love potion? Hermia's, Lysander's, Demetrius', or Helena's? Well done if you said Demetrius'.

So an Athenian man, he mistakenly put the love potion on Lysander instead of Demetrius.

So let's have a look at these key sentences and then I would like you to pause your video and you'll be able to copy the sentences and complete the key words.

So let's read them through together first.

So number one.

Oberon instructs Puck to put the love potion on an, man's sleeping eyelids.

This man is.

so I've given you some clues there and not only have I given you the letter, I've also given you capital letters.

Therefore we know it's the name of a person, or we know it's the name of a place.

We know it's a proper noun.

So going to read number one again, and when I read number one, I'd like you to say the missing word to your screen please.

We're going to do it with number one and then we'll practise with the other statements as well.

So I'll read number one.

You say the words that are missing.

Oberon instructs Puck to put the love potion on an man's sleeping eyelids.

This man is.

Excellent work if you said Athenian and Demetrius.

Number two.

So I'm going to read the sentence.

And let's see if you can say the words that are missing.

Oberon tells Puck that he will recognise the man by their.

Excellent work if you said Athenian clothes or Athenian clothing.

Number three.

Again you say the word that is missing.

However Puck makes a mistake and puts the love potion on.

Sleeping eyelids! I haven't given you a clue this time because we've already practised that.

But hopefully you recognised and remember that it was Lysander's sleeping eyelids.

That mistake that Puck has made that's going to have drastic consequences.

And number four.

I'm going to say this one first to give you time to think because we've got four, five gaps this time.

So Puck mistakes, for, because, and, are.

Now you might put different phrases at the end of this.

That's absolutely fine.

The first four are character's names.

Two of them I've given you clues on, but not for the other two.

Because number three was our clue for number four.

So I'm going to read the sentence.

See if you can say the words that are missing to fill in those gaps for me please.

Puck mistakes, for, because, and, are.

So well done if you recognised that Puck mistakes Lysander for Demetrius because Hermia and Lysander are sleeping apart or something similar at the end of number four.

So I'd like to pause your video now for me please and complete those sentences.

Off you go.

Excellent work.

Let's just check our answers for those then.

So number one, Oberon instructs Puck to put the love potion on an Athenian man's sleeping eyelids.

This man is Demetrius.

So as you're checking through your answers, don't forget to check your spellings as well.

And your use of capital letters.

Number two, Oberon tells Puck that he will recognise the man by their Athenian clothes.

You might have put clothing there as well.

Number three.

However, Puck makes a mistake and puts the love potion on Lysander's sleeping eyelids.

Number four, Puck mistakes Lysander for Demetrius because Hermia and Lysander are sleeping apart.

Fantastic work if you got those correct and remembered all those key answers that we've practised.

Well done.

Let's look next then at Helena's monologue.

Helena says, "Oh, I'm out of breath in this fond chase! The more my prayer, the lesser is my grace.

Happy is Hermia, wheresoe'er she lies.

For she hath blessed and attractive eyes.

How came her eyes so bright? Not with salt tears.

If so, my eyes are oftener wash'd than hers.

No, no I'm as ugly as a bear, for beasts that meet me run away for fear." So Helena starts to reveal again her inner emotions, how she feels.

And she's out of breath in this fond chase.

This chasing after Demetrius that she constantly does.

And there's a sense of jealousy perhaps for Hermia again.

Because Helena feels inadequate around Hermia.

In Athens, they're both seen as equally fair, equally beautiful.

But in Helena's mind, because Demetrius thinks Hermia is fair and doesn't think Helena is fair, Helena feels ugly and she feels unattractive.

Because she says she has blessed and attractive eyes.

The fact that Hermia's eyes are beautiful.

They're pure.

And Helena's eyes in comparison are full of salt tears because she spends all her time crying.

She even explicitly states to us, "I am as ugly as a bear." She feels that she's an unattractive beast.

For beasts that meet me run away for fear.

That people run away from her because she's so ugly.

She has a sense of feeling worthless about herself.

She's a very low opinion of herself.

And we have to question again whether we feel this sense of sympathy for Helena.

The struggle that she's going through chasing after a man that she dotes upon because he won her soul.

He professed his love for her.

So we again have to question this idea of sympathy.

Do we feel sympathy for Helena? She goes on to say, "Therefore no marvel though Demetrius do, as a monster, fly my presence thus.

What wicked and dissembling glass of mine made me compare with Hermia's sphery eyne? But who is here? Lysander on the ground! Dead or asleep? I see no blood, no wound.

Lysander, if you live, good sir, awake." So we have a shocked moment at this point, we are utterly shocked as an audience.

We know what is going to happen.

Let's take ourselves back a moment.

Because hopefully you've felt that sense of shock there as well.

We as an audience know that Puck has put the love potion on Lysander's eyelids.

Helena comes past across Lysander and says, "But who is here? Lysander on the ground! Dead or asleep? I see no blood, no wound." She's trying to work out if he's dead or injured.

Or whether he's just asleep.

And she then says, "Lysander, if you live, good sir, awake." She is trying to wake up Lysander.

Hence the audience's shock at this point.

We can see what is going to happen.

We can see what Puck's mistake is going to do.

It's going to twist around our web of lovers.

Shock, horror moment! Lysander's reaction.

So Helena has woken up Lysander.

We know instantly what is going to happen.

Because Lysander has the love potion on his eyelids.

He says, waking up, "And run the through fire I will for thy sweet sake.

Transparent Helena! Nature shows art, that through thy bosom makes me see thy heart.

Where is Demetrius? O, how fit a word is that vile name to perish on my sword!" Lysander has woken up.

The love potion has taken effect.

Lysander is now completely and truly in love with Helena.

He is no longer in love with Hermia, the person that he supposedly pours his heart out to.

Absolutely loves and adores.

Because the love potion has taken over.

So his love for Hermia for him is a memory.

He doesn't forget that he's ever loved Hermia.

But as far as he is concerned, the only person who he cares about now is Helena.

And we have to question therefore as an audience, how is Helen are going to react? Is she going to jump in his arms and say, "Oh Lysander, I'm so pleased you love me." And want to be with him? Or is she perhaps going to be shocked? Is she going to be surprised because Lysander has always shown love and loyalty to Hermia.

Lysander hasn't changed his mind from one woman to another.

And let's look now at what he's willing to do to show his love.

So he has a burning passion.

Hence the image on your screen of that burning heart.

He has such a burning passion that he says he will run through fire for her.

So he will run through fire for Helena.

To show his passion, his love, his desire for her.

He's going to run through fire.

So we can say therefore, that Lysander is being melodramatic.

Melodramatic.

Let's have a look at a definition then.

If you are melodramatic, it's being emotional in a way that is very extreme or exaggerated.

Something we're probably all guilty for at some point.

That we've been over extreme about a situation.

We've exaggerated a situation to make our fears, make our situation seem so much worse than what it actually is.

So let's look at melodramatic in a sentence.

Lysander is being melodramatic when he says that he will run through fire for Helena.

He's being so emotional and extreme about his love, and exaggerating that love so much that he says that he is willing to run through fire for Helena.

So he is willing to run through fire to show his love for Helena He's being melodramatic.

But the reason why he's being so melodramatic is because he's under the influence of the love potion.

He's under the influence of the love potion.

Which means that he madly dotes on the next live creature that he sees.

The live creature in this case happened to be Helena.

She happened to wake him up.

And he's madly doting on her.

He is completely and utterly and entirely in love with Helena and cannot see anything else.

So the love potion is the reason therefore, why Lysander is being so melodramatic.

So over the top with his emotions.

So I pose the question to you, How is Lysander been melodramatic? Lysander is being melodramatic because he loves Helena.

Lysander is being melodramatic because he's willing to walk through fire to show his love for Helena.

Lysander as being melodramatic because he woke up.

Or number four, Lysander is being melodramatic because he still loves Hermia.

Have a think.

Excellent work if you said option number two.

He's being melodramatic.

He's being extreme or over-exaggerated because he's willing to walk through five.

That's how much he wants to show his love for Helena.

Number one, he's not being melodramatic because he loves Helena.

That's not extreme emotion to say that you love somebody.

Number three, sometimes we are a bit melodramatic when we wake up.

But Lysander isn't being melodramatic because he's simply woken up.

Number four, he's not being melodramatic because he still loves Hermia.

Because as far as he's concerned, Hermia is a distant memory and all he cares about now is Helena because he's under the influence of the love potion.

He madly dotes upon her.

So let's have a look then it Lysander's reaction.

Let's have a look at some questions.

We'll go through these together first and then I'm going to ask you to complete them in full sentences.

So the first one's easier, the second one's harder and the third one will test your memory also.

So number one, what is Lysander willing to do for Helena? R T F.

Say it to your screen now.

Exactly, he's willing to run through fire.

He's willing to run through fire for Helena.

Number two, who has helped Lysander see Helena's heart? He's actually talked about nature.

He's talked about how nature has shown him Helena's heart.

And actually our M N who is in charge of nature.

Mother nature.

Mother nature has helped Lysander see Helena's heart.

She's made him realise or so he believes.

Because remember Lysander does not know he's under the influence of the love potion.

And what does Lysander want to do to Demetrius? This will test your memory.

He mentions his sword.

What he actually wants to do is he wants to kill Demetrius.

He wants to kill Demetrius.

Because he's so angry with him for the way that he's treated Helena.

So when you're ready, pause your video and complete those questions for me please.

Off you go.

Excellent work.

So let's see if our answers are in agreement.

So number one, Lysander is willing to run through fire for Helena.

I hope you remembered your quotation marks there because we can use that quotation nice and clearly for number one.

Number two, Mother Nature has helped Lysander see Helena's heart.

And number three, Lysander wants to kill Demetrius.

So excellent work if you've got those answers correct or something similar, remember these are a guide as answers.

They are not the only ones that you could possibly have.

So we need to be clear on how this love triangle, square, rhombus.

We've got lots of rectangle, how we can describe these four lovers and the relationships between them and who loves who.

So let's just pause for a moment and make sure we're nice and clear.

So before Puck uses the love potion.

Be really careful whenever you're talking about the love potion always think if it's before or after.

So before the love potion, Hermia loves Lysander, Lysander loves Hermia.

Demetrius loves Hermia and Helena loves Demetrius.

So we can have our arrows to reinforce those relationships.

So Hermia and Lysander love each other.

Demetrius suffers from unrequited love for Hermia, and Helena suffers from unrequited love for Demetrius.

So there are four statements on your screen now.

Pause your video when you're ready and write those four sentences down please.

Off you go.

Well done.

Hopefully you remembered that before Puck uses the love potion, Hermia loves Lysander, Lysander loves Hermia.

Demetrius loves Hermia, and Helena loves Demetrius.

Excellent work if you've got all four of those correct, well done, superb memory.

And bonus credit if you manage to spell those characters' names correctly and remember your capital letters.

Because we're always striving for those incredibly accurate answers.

And they're only half-accurate if you use little letters for names.

So the question, who is suffering from unrequited love? I have mentioned this, think has one-sided love.

And hopefully those names that you're thinking of at the moment are Helena and Demetrius.

Helena is suffering from unrequited love because she loves Demetrius.

He does not love her back.

Demetrius is suffering from unrequited love because he loves Hermia, but Hermia does not return his love.

Now let's look, after Puck uses the love potion on Lysander.

Let's look at our shape, whatever that may be now.

So Hermia loves Lysander.

Lysander loves Helena.

There's a change.

Demetrius loves Hermia.

Helena loves Demetrius.

Now let's look our arrows and see how they are now changing.

So Hermia loves Lysander.

Lysander loves Helena.

Demetrius loves Hermia, and Helena loves Demetrius.

So we technically now do how they love square.

Everybody loves someone who doesn't love them back.

So Puck's attempt to actually help the four lovers per Oberon's instructions of what he gave him.

What his order was for Puck to do has actually caused chaos.

Lots and lots of chaos.

Because now everybody, all four of our lovers are suffering from unrequited love.

What a tangled mess.

It was already a bit tangled and muddled before, but Puck has made it worse.

Don't forget however, Puck had instructions from Oberon to find the man in Athenian clothes.

So therefore he did carry out the task to the best of his ability.

And Hermia and Lysander were sleeping apart.

Therefore Puck made a judgement on the fact that the man despised the woman.

He assumed that Lysander despised Hermia because they were apart.

So after Puck uses the love potion on Lysander, complete the four sentences please.

Pause your video when you're ready, off you go.

So we should now have Hermia loves Lysander.

Lysander loves Helena, change the colour to emphasise that that's a change after the love potion.

Demetrius loves Hermia, and Helena loves Demetrius.

And the question now is, who is suffering from unrequited love? And you should say all four lovers.

Hermia, Lysander, Demetrius and Helena are all suffering from unrequited love.

So poor Oberon he tried to help with his mischievous servant Puck and actually has made matters potentially worse because now everybody is suffering from unrequited love.

All four characters, not just two of our lovers.

So my two questions are then, who suffers from unrequited love before Puck uses the love potion? Have a think.

And hopefully you've remembered that that's Helena and Demetrius.

And the second one, who suffers from unrequited love after Puck uses the love potion? Hopefully for that, you are thinking all four lovers.

All four of them.

So we are reminding ourselves before Puck uses the love potion, Helena and Demetrius suffer from unrequited love.

After Puck uses the love potion, all of the four lovers, Helena, Demetrius, Hermia and Lysander suffer from unrequited love.

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So that brings us to the end of today's learning on Puck's mistake.

Don't forget to take your quiz and try and aim for that 100%.

To really showcase all the knowledge that you've acquired today.

So from me, final words.

Thank you very much.

Take care, and enjoy the rest of your learning.