Lesson video

Hello, and welcome to today's learning on Puck and The Fairy Ending.

Our last lesson on A Midsummer Night's Dream.

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So when you are ready, let's begin.

So we're really focused on today's lesson, on how the play actually ends.

And when we think about how the play actually ends, we need to remind ourself of our two settings.

Because Shakespeare could have picked lots of different ends.

He had lots of opportunities when he could have ended the play.

Obviously it's all his choice anyway.

He can end it any way he wants, but there's lots of points in the play where the play could have just stopped there.

And it would still have given us that sense of resolution.

It would have still maintained its idea of being a Shakespearean comedy.

But we're going to think about today, why he specifically chose to end it in the way that he did.

So let's remind ourselves again of those settings.

Ancient Athens; ordered, traditional, severe, has rules, men have power.

Our Magical Forest is disordered, it's chaotic, it's mysterious, it's wild and men and women have power.

But ancient Athens needs the Magical Forest in which to get order.

So without the magical forest and Oberon and Puck's intervention, then Hermia and Lysander would be sentenced to death, particularly Hermia because she did not follow her father's instructions.

So ancient Athens are ordered, traditional, severe place with rules, where men have power, where patriarchy is followed.

That place needed the chaotic magical forest in which to regain order, in which to prevent the deaths that were destined to happen, if not.

What Shakespeare is also done in the course of A Midsummer Night's Dream is he's changing the perception of fairies.

And he changes the perception of fairies into what we know them to be like today.

Ones that grant wishes, ones that are positive.

Ones that are seen as nonthreatening, they're not seen as a threatening, frightening force.

They're seen as something that's helpful.

Even down to the example of the tooth fairy.

So Shakespeare changes the perception of fairies using A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Because the Elizabethan audience watching the play would be familiar with the idea of fairies.

They would be familiar with the idea of fairies being beautiful, but also associated with the devil.

So they would see them as something to be feared, something that's evil, and they would leave offerings of bread for example, dew and milk to ensure that the fairies wouldn't do harm to them.

So Shakespeare completely changes that perspective of fairies.

And he uses the idea of Puck and his mischief to show the audience how fairies aren't something to be fed.

They're just something that is playful.

And something that is not malevolent, that doesn't want to inflict harm upon humans.

So we move from beautiful fairies linked to the devil, and associated with the devil and evil into something that's much more playful, mischievous.

Something that is not malevolent.

And Shakespeare's play changes this perception of fairies, not just in Elizabethan society but after that as well to what we now have today.

So the power of fairies in the play is hugely important.

Without the interception of the magic and the fairies in the forest.

We would not have the outcome of a Shakespearean comedy.

We would actually end up with the outcome of a tragedy because Hermia would be killed, and then so would Lysander, for his disobedience as Egeus asks for.

So the play's ending is significantly important.

And when we think of the end and we also always have to refer back to the beginning.

And we start the play in ancient Athens with the Athenians.

We start off finding out very early on what kind of place ancient Athens is, this is a place of rule, of order, patriarchy.

We find that out very quickly, what kind of place it is.

But we actually end the play with the fairies in ancient Athens.

And this is quite significant.

We end the play with the fairies.

We do not end the play where we began.

Even that in itself could be quite important.

That we start off with ancient Athens, we're left with the message of the fairies.

So therefore within the play and what has happened actually.

what the fairies have done is that suggest and that's perhaps more important.

The role of the fairies within the play is completely changed what was going to happen in ancient Athens.

So the fairies would become hugely significant in actually saving the lives of Hermia and Lysander.

Oberon, Titania and the fairies bless Theseus and Hippolyta's house.

That's what they do at the end of the play.

They don't cause cruelty.

They're not malevolent.

They don't play cruel nasty tricks.

They don't portray as something to be feared, Shakespeare portrays Oberon and Titania and the fairies as something that will protect humans.

And that's completely changing that perception of fairies.

And that's one of the lasting messages in the play.

Its one of the last things that we actually see taking place.

It's right near the end.

So that's one of the memories that the audience will have.

Those last events are really key.

So the audience will be left with that message of fairies being something that helps humans and doesn't harm them.

So fairies helping humans is significant in the play's ending.

And not only in the end of, in the course of the play, how Oberon and Puck, despite Puck's mistake, has helped the love of Helena and Demetrius, and also Hermia and Lysander.

And allowed that triple wedding at the end.

Without the intervention of the fairies, that triple wedding would not have taken place.

So we ask ourselves that, why does Shakespeare and the play with the fairies? These are ideas.

There's not a set answer to this.

This is something that people are still thinking about when they study the play.

When they write about the play.

Why does Shakespeare end the play with the fairies? Is it because he is trying to suggest that order needs disorder? That you can't have everything ordered all the time.

That's not how it works.

You have to have a bit of disorder to enable you to have order.

Is he saying that love can not be solved with reason.

Love is this uncontrollable force.

But love and reason just don't work side by side.

You have to accept the fact that love is something that is outside of your control.

So this reason and this logic that Theseus strives for just isn't possible because love doesn't allow itself to be put into boundaries in such a way.

Is it because he's changed the perception of fairies and he wants to leave us with that last impression, so there's no longer this fear in Elizabethan culture, that fairies are something to be frightened of.

And is it more than just about the lovers happy ending? Because if it was just about the lovers getting together at the end, then Shakespeare could have stopped the play earlier.

He could have stopped the play when Theseus agrees that the lovers are allowed to marry.

So this play therefore must be more than just about the lovers and their happy ending in their marriage at the end.

So your task then, why does Shakespeare and the play with the fairies? Shakespeare may have ended the play with the fairies because, another reason might be, perhaps Shakespeare, It may be that Shakespeare wants to.

I've used words like perhaps and maybe at that point because, then we're suggesting that it's not the only answer, that possible ideas, possibilities of what he might have done.

We can't ask Shakespeare what he did.

We can only guess, we can come up with ideas.

We can use logic to think of them, but we also have to use an element of imagination as well, don't we? Of what he might have intended.

So, you'd like to pause your video please and complete your task, off you go.

Now, deliberately not giving you an answer to that question.

And I've done that because that's a matter of opinion.

They're possibilities, I've given you some possible answers, possibilities that you could have written about.

But that is your answer.

What you think is the case.

And that's what's great about English, that you can give your opinion.

If you can back it up, your opinion is valid.

So let's look then at multiple endings.

So technically there's multiple points where Shakespeare could have ended the play and it would have still done the tasks that you need to do.

It's still a bit of Shakespearean comedy, but we need to keep thinking of why does he keep adding that little bit on? And then he moves to the point that he ends with the fairies.

So multiple endings, we actually have an ending within the play when Pyramus and Thisbe is performed.

This play is absolutely ridiculous.

There's misused punctuation in the play.

They don't even punctuate the speech properly.

So therefore the meaning is entirely lost.

This is where the play could have ended.

Quince actually says, "If we offend, it is with our goodwill." That you should think, we come not to offend.

So your teachers might say to you a lot about remembering punctuation and ensuring that you punctuate your work clearly.

So you're meaning is not lost.

Quince obviously wasn't listening.

If we offend it, is with our goodwill, because he punctuates that wrong and puts a full stop at the end.

When this play is performed to Theseus and Hippolyta and he addresses Theseus and Hippolyta.

He's actually saying this before the play starts, "If we offend, it is with our goodwill." So if we offend you, it's because we want to offend you.

So his meaning is lost, and remember the power of punctuation.

And actually, he ends up insulting Theseus.

What he meant to say was, "If we offend, it is with our goodwill that you think we come not to offend." So if we do offend you, it's important that you realise that we didn't come to offend.

We didn't mean to do it.

So that's quite important.

So that's one possible end.

We have the end of that play, and therefore we could have ended the play toward the end of that performance.

That could have brought A Midsummer Night's Dream to a close.

And, Pyramus and Thisbe being performed near the end of the play itself is significant.

Pyramus and Thisbe both die.

Pyramus and Thisbe is based on offered.

And it is based upon two lovers that have to speak through a wall and have to run away.

And they kill themselves for love.

It is a tragedy.

And the fact that this is performed near the end of the play is quite significant in A Midsummer Night's Dream.

And I think it's a way that Shakespeare reminds us of the potential outcome that we could have had if we were not watching a Shakespearean comedy.

So the performance itself is humorous.

It's an absolute mess.

They're all over the place.

They're getting words muddled up, lines muddled up.

Actions are all going wrong.

It's an absolute disaster, It's humorous.

But there are similarities with Lysander and Hermia.

And we have to remember the link between Lysander and Hermia and Pyramus and Thisbe.

So the performance itself of the mechanicals during the play makes it funny.

But what they're dealing with is actually a really tragic play.

Where two people die over love.

Therefore, the performance of Pyramus and Thisbe perhaps is Shakespeare's warning that Lysander and Hermia's romantic plot could easily have resulted in tragedy.

So if it wasn't for the playful mischievous nature of the fairies, of Puck.

If it wasn't for Oberon's intervention from this mysterious fairy world.

Actually we could have ended up with a tragedy at the end of our play, and we could have ended up with the deaths of Lysander and Hermia.

So Pyramus and Thisbe perhaps acts as a warning and a reminder of what could have happened without the intervention of the fairies.

And what is quite interesting at this point is ordered Athens.

So our ordered place of Ancient Athens is actually entertained by what was nearly reality.

They're watching the play of Pyramus and Thisbe it's a disastrous performance.

But actually they, Pyramus and Thisbe do die at the end in the performance.

It's just the way that they die is so ridiculous.

And it makes it funny.

But our characters in ancient Athens watching the play are actually finding it funny.

They are being entertained by what was nearly reality.

What nearly could have happened to Lysander and Hermia, they're sitting there laughing and watching.

And that in itself again is quite significant.

Because that's the reality of Athens, but it's reminding us of the need for this disorder to create order.

So we had Pyramus and Thisbe.

We had that performance.

We could have ended the play there, Shakespeare didn't.

He also could have ended it with Theseus.

So Theseus gives us an option of how we could have ended the play.

He says, "The iron tongue of midnight hath told 12 "lovers to bed, 'tis almost fairy time.

"I fear we shall outsleep the coming morn "As much as we this night have overwatched.

"This palpable-gross play hath well beguiled "The heavy gate of night.

Sweet friends, to bed.

"A fortnight hold we this solemnity "In nightly revels and new jollity." So we could have ended, this is a way we perhaps could have come to a conclusion in our play.

Theseus reminded us that it's late, the celebrations have taken place and that everybody should go to bed, sweet friends to bed, and that they will continue celebrating this night for time to come.

The play could have ended here.

It's nighttime, all three couples are married and there's a celebration.

So it could have ended at this point.

It could have ended with ancient Athens with the Duke of Athens end in the play.

But we know that Shakespeare is going to end the play with the fairies.

We can't end it at this point because that then reminds us and suggests that ancient Athens is in control.

Whereas actually the fairy world and the importance of that cannot be forgotten in the course of events in the play.

We could have also ended up with Oberon.

Oberon gives an opportunity where the play could end.

He says, "Every fairy take this gait, "and each several chamber bless, "through this palace, with sweet peace.

"And the owner of it blest.

"Ever shall it in safety rest.

"trip away.

Make no stay.

"Meet me all by break of day." So Oberon instructs the fairies to go round and bless the house of Theseus and Hippolyta.

So we're again reminded of this changed perception of fairies that they're there to help the humans.

They're not there to hinder.

They're not there to harm them.

So again, the play could have ended here.

Oberon blesses his Theseus's and Hippolyta's house and their future children.

He blesses those as well.

So we could have ended the play at this point, but we don't.

We have the final speech.

There was a speech after Oberon.

So who is left to finish the play? Think of which characters we've actually got.

Who's left to finish the play.

And this picture may be a reminder of who is going to end our play.

It is of course Puck, our mischievous fairy.

Our playful fairy.

And that is significant, isn't it? Our mischievous naughty fairy who gets up to no good, gets the final speech in the play.

He's mischievous, he's playful, he's a trickster, he's comical, but he's not malevolent.

He doesn't cause harm.

He just gets up to no good.

That's not the same thing.

So it's introduced a new term then 'Epilogue'.

So an epilogue is a final section or speech after the main parts of a book, play or musical composition.

In Puck's epilogue, he addresses the audience.

So Puck's final speech we can say is Puck's epilogue.

So he addresses the audience.

It's after the main part of the play.

It's after the main part of the story is finished and he addresses the audience.

Let's look at some of the things that he says.

So this is direct to the audience, "If we shadows have offended, "think but this, and all is mended, "That you have but slumbered here.

"While these visions did appear.

"And this weak and idle theme, "no more yielding but a dream.

"Gentles, do not reprehend." So let's think what he's saying at this point.

He's a performer out of role.

He's taken himself out of his character to address the audience.

So we've lost that sense of imagination and immersing yourself in a play now, because he's taken himself out and he's talking directly to the people sitting and watching.

So almost got another play running now haven't we? And he's trying to suggest us, the audience has encouraged the chaos and mischief.

So he starts to suggest that perhaps the audience have a little bit to blame in what has happened in this fantasy and this dream that they've watched unfold.

And he says, "if we shadows have offended" in the way the shadows, he means the characters, the actors and actresses.

And he says, if they're offended, that sense of imagination, they're shadows.

They're not real.

They're things that we have seen.

We've been lost in this world temporarily.

Just like the four lovers in the magical fairy forest.

We've been lost and immersed in this different world that we're not really a part of.

Just like the lover's dream.

And he says, this sense of avoiding blame is the idea that this is a dream, that you have but slumbered here while these visions did appear.

So if we've offended you and you don't like it, then you can just pretend that you've slept here.

And these were dreams and they weren't even real.

He also says, there was no intention to offend the audience.

He did not want to offend the audience.

He hopes that no one has been offended by the actions that have taken place.

He then goes on to say, "If you pardon, we will mend.

"And, as I am an honest Puck, "if we have unearned luck, "now to escape the serpent's tongue.

"We will make amends ere long.

"Else the Puck a liar call.

"So, goodnight unto you all.

"Give me your hands, If we be friends, "and Robin shall restore amends." So he's actually making an apology this point, if we have offended you, we'll try and fix it.

We'll do our best to try and fix it.

And he genuinely hopes the audience have enjoyed the play.

The serpent's tongue.

The idea they're going to hiss at what's happened and they're not going to enjoy it.

They're not going to like it.

So we hope they've enjoyed the play.

You can always hear a little bit of Shakespeare's voice perhaps coming through here.

Hoping that the audience have enjoyed what they've watched.

And Puck insists he's truthful at this point, "I am an honest Puck".

He might do playful tricks, but he said, at the root of it, he is honest.

And in his final address, order is restored.

Robin shall restore amends.

"Goodnight unto you all.

"Give me your hands, If we be friends "and Robin shall restore amends." In that final address, order is restored.

Order is put back to normal.

And it's mischievous Puck that's allowed to finalise the play and bring that order to a close.

So let's have a think then, why does Puck end the Shakespearean comedy? Of all the characters Shakespeare could have picked, he chose Puck.

Let's think why.

So Puck helps all the conventions of the Shakespearean comedy work out well in the end.

So let's think, happy ending, often a marriage.

If it wasn't for Puck, putting the love potion on and getting things a little bit muddled along the way, which actually kind of helped in the long run.

Then Demetrius and Helena wouldn't be together and neither would Lysander and Hermia.

So actually he helps resolve that at the end.

When it comes to a romantic plot, he helps Hermia and Lysander unite.

When it comes to a group of ridiculous characters, he makes them more ridiculous.

He adds to the ridiculousness of the ridiculous characters.

And confusion over who's who, he does cause the confusion.

But then he also fixes the confusion at the same time.

And once he's fixed it actually, it's better than it was before.

And ultimately he does provide entertainment for the audience.

And we have that reminder at the end.

So let's have a look at some sentence starters then.

So Shakespeare chooses Puck to end the play because, although he causes the confusion, Puck makes the ridiculous character seem more ridiculous by, ultimately Pucks epilogue focuses on.

So I'm going to ask you now to have a go at writing your answer to, why does Puck and the Shakespearean comedy? This is building upon the writing from the lesson The Weddings.

So you can either choose to have your screen on your sentence starters, or you can choose to have your screen on the key ideas.

So pause your video now please.

So let's have a look at an explanation.

So you can have a look at yours alongside this, so let's read through this together.

So, "Shakespeare chooses for Puck to end the play "because, despite his mischievous behaviour, "his character ensures the play is a comedy not a tragedy.

"He does restore amends.

"Although he causes confusion amongst the lovers, "without his interference, "Demetrius would still suffer unrequited love for Hermia "and Helena would suffer unrequited love for him.

"If he didn't use the love potion, "Hermia and Lysander would not be married." "Although Bottom is an entertaining character.

"Puck's ironic ass' head made him even more ridiculous "and foolish to watch.

"Pucks epilogue focuses on the importance of theatre "and our enjoyment of magic and comedy.

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So that brings us to the end of today's learning on Puck and The Fairy ending our final lesson in A Midsummer Night's Dream.

So don't forget to take your final quiz.

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So for me, thank you very much.

I hope you've really enjoyed learning about A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Take care and enjoy the rest of your learning.