A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Discussion Director, Post 3, Pd. 1
First off: LAST BLOG! FOREVER! Now that that’s out of the way, here is my actual post. This week we only read one scene, so this will probably be short.
Act V, Scene I
So the main drift of this scene was Bottom and co. performing their play about Pyramus and Thisbe and for the most part being mocked by the couples. But before that, there was an interesting quote from Theseus. As I mentioned in previous blogs, Theseus is the exact opposite of everything else that has been going on in the play: logical, down to earth, and sensible. Here is the quote:
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.
The lunatic, the lover, and the poet
Are of imagination all compact.
One sees more devils than vast hell can hold—
That is the madman. The lover, all as frantic,
Sees Helen’s beauty in a brow of Egypt.
The poet’s eye, in fine frenzy rolling,
Doth glance from heaven to Earth, from Earth to heaven.
And as imagination bodies forth
The forms of things unknown, the poet’s pen
Turns them to shapes and gives to airy nothing
A local habitation and a name.
Such tricks hath strong imagination,
That if it would but apprehend some joy,
It comprehends some bringer of that joy.
Or in the night, imagining some fear,
How easy is a bush supposed a bear!
(By the way, I don’t know why the quote is double spaced. Sorry! The blog hates me.)
Back to the discussion. Basically this quote is talking about how Theseus thinks that lunatics, lovers, madmen, and poets are all the same – they hallucinate, have overactive imaginations, and say crazy things. But if Theseus is in love, isn’t he calling himself crazy? Anyway, I was wondering what you all thought of this quote. Is there any truth to it, considering what has happened in the play? Also, how does this quote sum up the play in general? (Sorry if that question is a little confusing.) That’s really all I could find to write about for this post, unless you guys want to talk about all the grammatical errors made in the “play” the actors put on…
I’d also like you to think about the play as a whole. Not specific details out of the plot, but how the acts fit together. To put it simply, how is the play structured? (Which act is the climax, etc. And do NOT just say that there are five acts with scenes.) Also, how does the overall structure of the play contribute to its being put into the “comedy” category? (That question might be confusing too.)
Recap:
- What did you think about Theseus’ quote?
- Is there any truth to the quote, considering what happened in the play?
- How does this quote sum up the play in general?
- How is the play structured?
- How does the overall structure of the play contribute to its being put into the “comedy” category?
- What did you think of the play?
And that concludes my final blog.
Erin B 
Category: Discussion Director 2 comments »
May 23rd, 2009 at 9:16 am
Just a comment on the grammatical errors… Mr. Shank would not be very happy!
The quote does sum up the play in that the problems of love between Hermia, Helena, Lysander, and Demetrius was not really real in that the people falling in love with the wrong person was at the fault of magical juice. Which, is not very realistic. So, the quote is saying that because of these fairy tales and fantasies, people can go or are crazy.
I thought the play was pretty good, in consideration that it was kind of confusing with the play within a play. But, besides that, the characters were entertaining, even with their grammatical errors! I thought the Bottom and Co. were very funny in the way that they acted during their performance and when they were just talking with each other. Puck was also entertaining because he was the one who funked up with the magic juice incident and then had to go back and tell Oberon and fix it. But, at least it all ended well!
~Sarah L.
May 23rd, 2009 at 10:35 am
1. What did you think about Theseus’ quote? I think that without this quote the play wouldn’t really have been summed up, it explained a lot about what was happening.
2. Is there any truth to the quote, considering what happened in the play? I think that there is truth to the quote because it tells what happened overall in the play
3. How does this quote sum up the play in general? It sums up the play because it explains all that happened throughout the play in a short, sweet and to the point way.
4. How is the play structured? The play has a major theme to it with a lot of returning patterns to what happens.
5. How does the overall structure of the play contribute to its being put into the “comedy” category? I think that it is put in the comedy category because with all that happened in this play, most of it is ironic or in a way already happened.
6. What did you think of the play? I think this way a very good play, it has a good story line, that will probably never in a million years happen in real life.
Kortney Mann