A Midsummer Night's Dream

Reading Check and Short Answer questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Act I

Reading Check

1. Who is Theseus, the Duke of Athens, marrying?

2. What is the name of Egeus’s daughter?

3. Who is Helena in love with?

4. Who is Hermia in love with?

5. What play are the mechanicals performing?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why is Egeus angry?

2. What does Theseus instruct Hermia to do? What will be the consequence if she does not obey?

3. What do Hermia and Lysander plan on doing to subvert Theseus? Why is this a valid potential solution?

4. How does Helena plan to win Demetrius’s affection?

5. How is Bottom characterized as ridiculous in Act 1, Scene 2?

Paired Resource

“Women in Classical Greece”

• This article describes the relative powerlessness of women in Ancient Athens in terms of their social roles and marital rights, as well as the lifestyle that was expected of them.
• Hermia’s powerlessness in choosing who she loves contributes to the theme The Complexity of Love. This element also drives the plot of the play, as it brings the four Athenian lovers into the woods (with Lysander and Hermia escaping to marry, Demetrius pursuing Hermia, and Helena pursuing Demetrius).
• How do strict Athenian customs, which restrict women’s rights to choose their husbands, contribute to the recurring theme The Complexity of Love in A Midsummer Night’s Dream? 

Act II   

Reading Check

1. Who is Titania?

2. Who is Oberon?

3. With whom does Puck chat at the opening of Act 2?

4. Which two characters receive the love potion?

5. Who does Lysander proclaim he loves when he wakes up from his sleep in the forest?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What are Oberon and Titania arguing about in Act 2? Explain both sides.

2. Describe the various missions on which Oberon sends Puck in Act 2.

3. What is Puck’s reputation among the other fairies and creatures of the forest?

4. What is Oberon’s goal in interfering in the situation of the Athenian lovers?

5. What happens instead of Oberon’s desired outcome?

Paired Resource

“Character Interview: Oberon and Titania”

• This humorous character interview between Oberon and Titania outlines the reason for their dispute.
• Oberon and Titania’s dispute highlights both The Complexity of Love as well as their role in creating or disrupting The Balance of Order and Chaos, particularly in the natural world.
• What role does Oberon and Titania’s relationship play in maintaining order? How does their feud illustrate the complexity of love? 

Act III

Reading Check

1. Which group of people are the mechanicals worried would be scared by the lion’s roar?

2. Does the mechanicals’ play take place during the daytime or the nighttime?

3. What does Puck change Bottom’s head to?

4. Who does Oberon place the juice from the flower on in Act 3, Scene 3?

5. Puck removes the effect of the love potion from which character’s eyes in Act 3, Scene 3?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. How do Bottom’s friends respond to him when he reappears with a new head?

2. Helena does not believe Lysander and Demetrius’s declarations of love; what does she believe instead? What is her emotional reaction?

3. Why is Hermia upset with Lysander’s actions?

4. What does Oberon instruct Puck to do? Why?

5. How does Puck separate and confuse Demetrius and Lysander to stop them from hurting one another? What is the result?

Paired Resource

“Character Interview: Puck”

• A humorous interview reveals Puck’s impending mistake.
• The Complexity of Love is further exacerbated by Puck’s humorous mix-up of Lysander for Demetrius.
• How does Puck’s mistake contribute to the comedic action; how does it contribute to The Complexity of Love between the four Athenian lovers? 

Act IV

Reading Check

1. Who falls asleep in Titania’s loving embrace?

2. What does Bottom feel like eating?

3. Who removes the spell from Titania?

4. Who wakes up Lysander, Hermia, Demetrius, and Helena?

5. Why are the mechanicals in mourning?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why is it humorous that Titania has fallen in love?
2. What price does Titania pay to have the potion’s effects removed?
3. Why can’t the Athenian youths explain clearly to Theseus what happened?
4. What shocking news does Snug bring to Quince’s house?
5. What do the mechanicals resolve to do once Bottom reappears?

Paired Resource

“Bottom and Titania”

• This image focuses on Bottom and Titania; Alan Scarfe as Bottom and Maggie Smith as Titania are featured in a 1977 Stratford Festival production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
• In terms of the recurring theme The Balance of Order and Chaos, the Forest is a place where chaos rules; this is epitomized in the bizarre sight of the beautiful Titania with the foolish Bottom. 
• How does the sight of the beautiful fairy Queen Titania with Bottom emphasize the chaos of the forest; how does this chaos create humor? 

Act V

Reading Check

1. Where are the celebrations held?

2. What activity does Theseus suggest?

3. Who is charged with organizing the celebrations on the night of the weddings? 3.4. Who does the lion maul in the laborer’s play?

5. Who cleans the palace after the revelers have gone to bed?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why does Hippolyta maintain that magic might have been involved in the four lovers’ time in the woods?

2. Does the laborers’ play come highly recommended? Give an example of someone’s opinion of it.

3. What assurance does Snug give to the audience after he roars? Why is this a comedic moment?

4. What do Oberon, Titania, and the fairies do at the end of the play?

5. Paraphrase Puck’s final message to the audience.

Recommended Next Reads 

As You Like It by William Shakespeare

• Rosalind, a witty and beautiful woman, falls in love with Orlando. When Rosalind is banished with her father from the city, she disguises herself as a male shepherd to remain close to Orlando. Her identity is revealed at the end, and Rosalind and Orlando marry.
• Both texts feature comedic situations through identity obfuscation, chaos, and romantic attraction.
• Shared themes between these Shakespearian romantic comedies include: The Complexity of Love and The Balance of Order and Chaos.
• As You Like It on SuperSummary

The Darkest Park of the Forest by Holly Black

• Humans and fairies coexist in the town of Fairfold. A glass coffin in the woods, where a bewitched, horned boy slept, is broken, waking the boy within.
• Suspension of human law in the forest is an important symbol present in both texts, as is the magical intervention of fairies into the lives of humans.
• Shared themes include The Balance of Order and Chaos, The Blurring of Dreams and Reality, and The Complexity of Love.
• The Darkest Part of the Forest on SuperSummary