Lesson video

Hello, and welcome to today's learning on the weddings.

So for today, you will need your pen and your paper by your side for me, please.

Ensure that those are there.

Also take a moment to clear away any distractions you might have, so you've got that lovely, perfect learning environment, that is super quiet and super focused.

So when you are ready, let's begin.

As our play is a Shakespearean comedy, then we would expect our marriage at the end, we would expect our play to end with marriage.

And "A Midsummer Night's Dream" is no let down for that.

It actually gives us a triple wedding at the end.

Let's remind ourself, first of all then, of our couples.

We have Theseus who is marrying Hippolyta, and Hippolyta was his trophy from war.

He brought her back from his battle.

So he almost won her as a result of the war.

Demetrius and Helena.

Another one of our couples due to marry as a result of the love potion.

So Theseus and Hippolyta are as a result from the war, the battle, and Demetrius and Helena are as a result of the love potion.

And our final couple, Lysander and Hermia, are a result of true love.

They might have had conflict, chaos and confusion along the way as a result of our mistaken identity and Puck's mistake within that, but they are our couple of true love.

So each of our couples have different circumstances of why they are together.

So our lovers are now allowed to be together.

Theseus has overruled Egeus and decided that Hermia and Lysander can marry, and Demetrius and Helena will marry also.

So the reality is now setting in for our lovers.

They left Athens in a state that Hermia and Lysander left because they were not allowed to be together.

Helena was told that they were going.

She then betrayed Hermia and told Demetrius.

Demetrius then went chasing into the forest after Hermia.

Helena went chasing after Demetrius.

Then we have our events that happened in the magical forest.

The only catch is, as a result of our love potion and the herb being put on Lysander's eyes, that for our lovers, the events in the magical forest are a dream, a fruitless vision, a meaningless dream.

They have memories of what's happened, memories of the past, but those things aren't important to them now.

So we have to, before we move into our weddings, just remind ourselves of the reality for these lovers.

So let's have a look at what they say to each other.

"These things seem small and undistinguishable, Like far-off mountains turned into clouds." "Me thinks I see these things with parted eye, When everything seems double." "So me thinks, And I have found Demetrius like a jewel, Mine own and not mine own." So these characters are now sinking into the reality of what's actually taking place.

And these things that have taken place are memories, they're distant memories for these lovers.

What they are living now, Demetrius's love for Helena, Helena's love for Demetrius, Hermia's love for Lysander, Lysander's love for Hermia is what they now know.

That's what they now know.

So that everything that's happened in the past has been a memory, an unimportant memory.

Something that isn't a huge part of their past.

And it's very dream-like.

Everything seems double as like there's lots of things going on, things that can't quite be explained, this dream-like experience that these lovers actually had.

And Helena had described Demetrius like a jewel, something that's precious, something that's to be treasured.

So these lovers are slightly confused, but they are also accepting the reality that they now have.

The reality that they can marry and be together in ancient Athens, the place of rule and order and patriarchy.

And they can now be together.

And that's the reality for them that they're now trying to grasp, that they've moved from a place where they couldn't be together, and now everybody is happy.

There's nobody suffering from unrequited love.

The only person that perhaps is unhappy at this stage is Egeus because he hasn't got his wish.

He wished that Lysander should be killed for disobedience.

And we are waiting for the wedding.

We're waiting for the weddings, all three of them to take place.

That sense of resolution to the play, where everything gets resolved and brought together at the end.

But once again, Shakespeare disrupts the narrative.

In the past, he's disrupted the narrative by breaking the tension, breaking those dramatic moments into comedy.

What he's doing now, though, he's breaking the dream-like state of our four lovers who are now happily with the person they want to be with.

And we are left waiting for this final resolution, this wedding to take place.

But he interrupts the narrative, and he interrupts the narrative again with our mechanicals, particularly with Bottom and this ridiculousness, this comical nature of this character.

Which we expect to see in a Shakespearean comedy.

It's one of the conventions of a Shakespearean comedy, one of the features.

So we're introduced again to the ridiculous Bottom, and his comedy, once again, does not fail us.

He is still entertaining the audience, he's still making us roar with laughter with the things that he says.

And he wakes up, he's had his ass head removed from himself, by Puck, ordered by Oberon, and Oberon told Puck to do it, but Puck said, "You'll still see with your fool's eyes." And Bottom says, "Man is but an ass if he go about to expound this dream." So he would be an ass.

He would be an idiot.

He would be a fool to go around telling everybody about this dream.

And he doesn't want to miss out on the opportunity of it at the same time.

And he says, "I will get Peter Quince to write a ballad of this dream: it shall be called Bottom's Dream, because it hath no bottom." Because there's no end to it, there's no resolution to it.

So even now, Bottom is playing upon this idea of being an ass, even now.

And there's still this huge comedy value of the fact that he acts like an ass, metaphorically he is an ass, and he physically got transformed into one.

He literally got an ass's head.

Of all the animals Puck could have chosen, he chose the most apt one for our ass that is Bottom.

So our ridiculous Bottom, we're breaking this sense of resolution that we're waiting for from the lovers with the ridiculous character, and that comedy value is heightened.

And Flute even says, "He hath simply the best wit of any handicraft man in Athens." This high opinion of Bottom, Flute is saying there is no better person to play the role than Bottom.

In the whole of Athens, there's no one better that could play the part.

And again, the deep irony that's there, that Bottom is actually a terrible actor.

He's a terrible actor, he's a terrible singer.

He's not wise, he's not intelligent.

But there's this huge amount of comic value that we have here from Shakespeare.

The dramatic irony that we have that creates that humour for Bottom talking about being an ass.

The comical element of implied upon the idea of Bottom and having no bottom.

And the irony of Flute's praising of Bottom's acting, and that no one could act better in the whole of Athens.

Huge comedy value here for the audience.

And we then switch ourselves back to our Theseus and Hippolyta, our Duke of Athens and our soon to be Duchess of Athens.

So we're switching this story now.

Shakespeare's moving us between the lovers and he's moving us to our ridiculous character, and he's moving his back to Theseus and Hippolyta.

Remember, he's tying up all the loose ends.

We're moving towards the end of the play.

So he's tying things up.

He's finishing things off for us.

We're switching around a lot more with all these different parts of the narrative that he's had running that he's now bringing together for us.

And Hippolyta says, "'Tis strange, my Theseus, that these lovers speak of." And Theseus says, "More strange than true.

I never may believe These antique fables, nor these fairy toys.

Lovers and madmen have such seething brains, Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend More than cool reason ever comprehends." So they're discussing these weird things, these weird dreams that the lovers are speaking of.

We've just heard Bottom say about his vivid dream that he wants written as a ballad, and Hippolyta comments upon how the lovers are talking about these strange things that they've experienced.

And what Hippolyta finds that makes it even more believable is they're all telling each other, they're all saying the same story.

So it's not like they have a different version of events each, and then it's trying to make sense of those different versions.

Actually, all four of them are agreeing with each other's story.

What Lysander says matches Demetrius, matches Helena, matches Hermia.

So for Hippolyta, she finds this quite strange, not only strange what they're talking about and the stories that they've told that they remember as a distant memory of happened, but also the fact that these stories match.

And therefore for her, there's this possibility that it's actually believable, that it actually could have happened because they're not contradicting each other.

Theseus, on the other hand, is much more of a man of logic and reason.

He is the Duke of Athens, he maintains order.

He has authority, he is the voice of law.

He's a man of reason and logic.

And he says he doesn't believe these things.

He doesn't believe these.

He doesn't believe these things have happened because they don't suggest reason.

They don't make sense.

Therefore he cannot believe them.

And what's really strange at this point for us, is that what Theseus is saying he's saying these fairy stories, they're ridiculous.

Ridiculous what they're talking about.

What he doesn't realise as the Duke of Athens is that actually, Athens needed the fairy world.

This ordered place of ancient Athens of rule, order that's traditional, actually needed the disorder and chaos, the mysteriousness, the wildness of the magical forest to actually fix the problems within their own society.

But here we're clear that Theseus doesn't believe that any of that's the case.

He doesn't believe in all this fantasy, all these fairy stories.

He only believes in logic and reasoning.

As far as he's concerned, these stories don't relate to reason, therefore they are not believable.

But in actual fact, Athens needed the fairy world.

And because of Shakespeare's use of dramatic irony, we know that Athens needed the fairy world.

Oberon's desire to help Helena has actually helped Hermia and Lysander and Demetrius.

The fairy world, the chaotic disordered world has actually fixed the ordered world of ancient Athens.

So disorder ordered order.

There's a confusing statement for you.

Disorder, the disorder of the magical forest ordered the order of ancient Athens.

Let's take ourselves then back to this idea of Shakespearean comedy, and remind ourselves of what we expect from a Shakespearean comedy.

So let's take ourselves through.

So a Shakespearean comedy has the following key parts; one, a happy ending, often a marriage, a romantic plot, a group of ridiculous characters, and confusion over who is who.

So I'd like you to pause your video now, please and complete those four statements.

Off you go.

Excellent work.

Hopefully you have managed to get a happy ending, often a marriage, a romantic plot, a group of ridiculous characters, and confusion over who is who.

Let's now start to break these elements down slightly.

So let's break them down into the four key elements.

We'll look at one element at a time and we can start to think about how far the play can be recognised as a Shakespearean comedy based upon what has happened.

So the first key part of a Shakespearean comedy is the fact that it has a happy ending and often a marriage.

Let's think about then how that fits into what we've seen happen during the course of the play.

So we have Theseus and Hippolyta, Demetrius and Helena, and Lysander and Hermia.

We have a triple marriage.

So in terms of meeting the idea of a happy ending, nobody has died and we have a triple marriage.

Not just one, we have three marriages taking place.

So we've certainly ended with marriage.

We've certainly got that impression of a happy ending.

That we have three happy couples at the end of our play.

So we have Theseus and Hippolyta.

Let's just break that down into how far this is a happy ending.

So for Theseus and Hippolyta, they're planning a wedding when the play begins.

So there was always the suggestion that they were going to get married by the end of the play because they were already planning it right at the beginning.

That was the first thing we heard about, that Theseus couldn't wait at the start of the play for his wedding to Hippolyta.

He just couldn't wait.

We then have Demetrius and Helena.

Now, Helena has the man she loves.

She loves Demetrius.

He professed his love for her in time gone past, he won her soul, and as a result, she dotes upon him.

So she has the man that she loves.

Demetrius loves Helena.

That's undeniable, he loves Helena.

But is still under the influence of the love potion.

And that's a huge factor here to consider.

He is still under the influence of the love potion.

So we then ask the question, is Demetrius truly happy and in love with Helena? And we also have to consider that he doesn't know any different.

The love potion has meant that he madly dotes on Helena, so he knows no different than loving Helena.

So in theory, he is happy, he is content with Helena.

And we have Lysander and Hermia, and their relationship is based upon the idea of true love, and they can marry as they've always wanted.

So it's certainly a happy ending for Lysander and Hermia.

They could have been killed, both of them, but thanks to Theseus wanting love to triumph and Oberon wanting to help Helena, and therefore wanting love to triumph, Lysander and Hermia could be happy at the end.

So if we're thinking of a happy ending, often a marriage, the best example is Lysander and Hermia because Theseus and Hippolyta, she's a war trophy, Hippolyta is to Theseus, but Lysander and Hermia are based upon the idea of true love and the only reason their love faulted and changed in the play was temporarily because of the love potion.

So let's look at the one that we're most in doubt of in terms of a happy ending, Demetrius and Helena.

So to say again, Helena has the man she loves.

Demetrius loves Helena, but is still under the influence of the love potion.

So is it a happy ending? Is it a happy ending for Demetrius if he's not with the person he loves, Hermia? Doesn't know he loves Hermia anymore, though, does he? So that's a factor too.

And is it a happy ending for Helena if Demetrius does not love her without the love potion? Does she know any different? Does she know about the love potion? No, therefore, is that going to have an impact upon her? So it's a happy ending as far as the characters are concerned, but for the audience, we have more information.

Because of Shakespeare's use of dramatic irony, we have more information.

So we're questioning this happy ending more than the characters would.

So let's take Demetrius first of all, then.

So Demetrius is no longer suffering from unrequited love.

So that's a good thing.

That makes it a happy ending for him, he's no longer in pain.

He described unrequited love like being stabbed through the heart.

That's a really graphic, violent, horrible image.

So he's no longer suffering, so he's better off now.

He truly believes that he loves Helena.

So he truly believes that he loves Helena, doesn't know any difference, so in his mind, he's happy.

Hermia loves Lysander.

So Hermia doesn't love him anyway, so that wouldn't make any difference.

And this question is where we elevate our thinking even further.

Does Shakespeare want the audience to see it as a happy ending for Demetrius? Are we meant to believe that Demetrius is happy? For me, personally, I believe that Shakespeare wants us to see the play as a happy ending.

Because Demetrius is no longer suffering from unrequited love, he truly believes he loved Helena and he couldn't have Hermia anyway.

So there's the suggestion that Shakespeare wants the audience to see it as a happy ending.

There's a sense of resolution where everybody has got what they want, or at least what they think they want, because of the love potion, at the end of the play.

Let's take that same idea then for Helena.

So Helena is no longer suffering from unrequited love.

She was willing to be beaten, she was willing to be neglected, she was willing to be treated like a spaniel in order to be allowed to follow Demetrius and be close to him.

She was willing to completely demean herself, degrade herself, to be treated like an animal for the sake of unrequited love.

She no longer has to do that.

So that's a positive for her.

She truly believes he loves her.

So she believes that Demetrius truly loves her.

She doesn't know any different.

She knows nothing about the love potion, nothing of that at all.

So for her, she truly believes he loves her.

And she no longer has such a low opinion of herself.

She no longer seems to view herself as an animal, someone who's not worthy.

She describes herself as unworthy in the play.

"Unworthy as I am." So the question again, does Shakespeare want the audience to see it as a happy ending for Helena? Considering it's Helena that we seem to feel most sympathy for as the play has gone on, Oberon's intention was to stop Helena suffering from unrequited love.

His intention has worked.

She's no longer suffering.

So therefore, does Shakespeare want the audience to see it as a happy ending for Helena? I think perhaps he does because she's no longer suffering.

She's no longer going through what she did before.

She has now got the man that she loves.

Whether we believe that's true and genuine based upon the fact he's under the love potion, does that make any difference if, for her, she believes that he loves her and she feels happy? Therefore, does Demetrius and Helena's love story have a happy ending? You might say, yes, Demetrius and Helena are happy.

There's no unrequited love.

They are in love, as far as they're concerned.

The cruelty stops and Helena values herself.

They're valid reasons, certainly valid reasons to say yes.

And I would say this is where Shakespeare is asking the audience to sit on this.

That he's asking us to believe that Demetrius and Helena's story does have a happy ending.

Because that adheres to the conventions of a Shakespearean comedy.

You might say, no, Demetrius is not truly happy.

He's still under the influence of the love potion.

If it wasn't for the love potion, he would still love Hermia.

And technically Helena is living a lie.

She's living a lie with a man that technically, in his heart of hearts, loves somebody else.

But because of the love potion, he has no understanding of that.

Or you might say, partly, Demetrius and Helena's love story has a happy ending because Demetrius believes he is truly happy.

There is no unrequited love.

Helena believes Demetrius loves her.

Not saying Demetrius is truly happy, Demetrius believes, and that would leave us thinking that their love story partly has a happy ending.

So your task then, does Demetrius and Helena's love story have a happy ending? You're going to have a go at writing your response to this.

I've given you some opening idea in the blue box on your left, and I've given you some sentence starters in pink.

And those sentence starters in the pink box encourage you to weigh up your options.

Although Demetrius.

Helena does.

but she.

However.

On the other hand.

And that last sentence is really key.

Shakespeare wants the audience to believe.

And I think that sentence needs to come into that paragraph, definitely.

What does Shakespeare want the audience to believe? So I'd like you to pause your video, please and complete your paragraph.

Off you go.

So your paragraph is down to your opinion.

I've already told you where my opinion sits.

I believe that it is meant to be a happy ending and we are meant to accept that Demetrius loves Helena and Helena is happy with Demetrius.

So let's look then at our next convention of a Shakespearean comedy.

So our next one is that it has a romantic plot.

And our romantic plot lies with Lysander and Hermia.

There is true love.

They run away to be together, and at end they are allowed to marry.

So in terms of a romantic plot, we certainly have that running within "A Midsummer Night's Dream." So our first convention of a Shakespearean comedy, the idea of a happy ending, often a marriage, yes, it is open to debate, but in terms of romantic plot, I think it's quite clear that we tick all the boxes for that convention.

Number three, my favourite characters, a group of ridiculous characters.

They are fools, they get muddled, their performance is a disaster.

Pyramus and Thisbe at the end of the play is an absolute mess.

It's a tragedy that actually becomes hilarious in the way that they fumble and get things wrong all the way through.

But we do have our group of ridiculous characters.

We certainly meet this convention.

An ass in terms of Bottom and his ignorance to that creates a huge amount of humour for the audience.

So we certainly have this element of a Shakespearean comedy with our mechanicals.

And number four, confusion over who is who.

We certainly have this.

The diagram on your screen with the boxes and the arrows, this has changed many times.

And it has changed many times due to the fact that Puck made a mistake and then had to fix his mess.

So we've had unrequited love, more unrequited love, and left with no unrequited love.

We've certainly had confusion over who is who.

We've also had our element of Bottom as well in terms of whether he's an ass or whether he's simply a fool.

So that confusion over who is who, we've certainly had that element in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" as well.

So we've met that convention of a Shakespearean comedy.

So, big question now, really big question.

To what extent does "A Midsummer Night's Dream" fit the conventions of a Shakespearean comedy? So to what extent? So how far do you believe that "A Midsummer Night's Dream" has all the parts, the conventions of a Shakespearean comedy? So we've talked through what those four key parts are, and I've put them in the blue box on this screen for you now, for a reminder.

And on the left-hand side, in your pink box, I've given you some ways in which you can simply start off your sentences, your key ideas.

So firstly, the play can be identified as a Shakespearean comedy because.

Secondly.

Thirdly.

Lastly.

That allows you to talk about each of the conventions.

So in your response, I would expect you to talk about what the play does for that convention.

So a happy ending, often a marriage, I'd expect you to talk about how far it's a happy ending and the marriages that take place.

And by the end of your writing, I would expect you to be able to come to a conclusion of whether you believe that "A Midsummer Night's Dream" is completely a Shakespearean comedy and has every part absolutely perfect, whether you think it does most of it, some of it, or only a little of it.

So when you're ready, please pause your video and complete your writing.

Off you go, please.

Excellent work, that was a huge task.

So what I've got now is an example of what you can compare yours to.

Remember, this is my opinion.

So you might have a slightly different answer.

But what I've done is I've put in bold each of the conventions.

So you can see where I move on with my ideas.

So "A Midsummer Night's Dream" follows the conventions of a typical Shakespearean comedy.

Firstly, the play has a happy ending and there is a triple wedding.

Ultimately, this is a happy ending because Helena marries the man she loves, but Demetrius is still under the influence of the love potion, so the audience may question whether it is truly a happy ending for him.

Without the love potion, however, he would still be suffering from unrequited love, so his pain is no more.

Secondly, the play has a romantic plot with Hermia and Lysander, and these two lovers are allowed to unite their true love at the end of the play and marry.

So that's the first two conventions of a Shakespearean comedy.

Let's have a look at three and four.

Thirdly, the play includes a group of ridiculous characters, the mechanicals.

These comic characters provide entertainment for the audience, with their bumbling and foolish behaviour.

So that one's definitely met.

Finally, the play includes confusion over who is who, which is triggered by the love potion and Puck's mistake.

Overall, the play mostly adheres to the conventions of a Shakespearean comedy.

If we believe that Demetrius is not truly in love with Helena, that means it's not a happy ending entirely if we believe Demetrius is not truly in love with Helena.

Last sentence, if we accept his happiness is true, however, then we can say that the play fully adheres to the conventions of a Shakespearean comedy.

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

So well done on your amazing learning today.

Don't forget to showcase all of that learning in your quiz.

Really strive for 100% by reading those questions really carefully.

So from me, thank you very much.

Take care and enjoy the rest of your learning.