William Shakespare

a cura di J. Pignet
 
 Elves, fairies, fairytale woods, supernatural kings and queens are some of the characters of Shakespeare's most magical comedy. It presents three stories connected by the celebration of the wedding of Theseus, Duke of Athens, and Hyppolita, Queen of the Amazons. Four young people have to deal with the mysteries of love and passion and their changing moods, unaware of the actions that supernatural entities perform against them, while a group of "rude mechanicals" stage a rough comedy, a play within a play…
 A comic-strip version accompanied by inserts on the sources of the play, its fortune, symbols and themes as well as its film and musical versions. 
 
 Teacher's Resources available online: Answer Key - Audioscripts - Key to Summing-up Activities.
 
 Versione a fumetti dell'opera teatrale in cui Shakespeare libera maggiormente la sua fantasia: folletti, elfi, fate, foreste intricate costituiscono alcuni degli elementi della commedia più misteriosa e magica del drammaturgo inglese. Essa presenta tre storie intrecciate, collegate tra loro dalla celebrazione del matrimonio tra Theseus, duca di Atene, e Hippolyta, Regina delle Amazzoni. Quattro giovani sono alle prese con i misteri del sentimento e della passione, con la loro assoluta mutevolezza, mentre entità soprannaturali agiscono a loro insaputa e un gruppo di manovali inscena una rozza commedia, teatro nel teatro...

William Shakespeare

Chapter 1 - The price of disobedience

Extension: Sources and dates

Chapter 2 - A plan for revenge

Extension: The Globe

Chapter 3 - The charm begins to work

Extension: The fortune of the play

Chapter 4 - A great confusion

Extension: Film versions

Chapter 5 - Is that all a trick?

Extension: A Midsummer Night’s Dream in music

Chapter 6 - A new dream begins

Extension: Symbols and themes

Summing-up activities

A passage for acting

Glossary

E X T E N S I O N SOURCES 1 AND DATES In A Midsummer Night s Dream Shakespeare offers a glorious celebration of the powers of human imagination. The title refers to the arrival of summer which the English still2 celebrate with music, dances and entertainment. The story-line and some characters 3 come from many different sources: literature, folklore, and personal observation. The legend of the two unhappy lovers, Pyramus and Thisbe, and some other details4, including Titania s name, come from Ovid s Metamorphoses; the rites of May, the story of Theseus and Hippolyta from Chaucer s Canterbury Tales; the transformation of Nick Bottom into a donkey5 from Apuleius  The Golden Ass 5. And certainly, the conception of the wood with fairies and elves6 ready to celebrate May day comes from local legends and popular tradition. Shakespeare also reproduces the courtly pageants, forms of entertainment with music and dances used to break the monotony of life of the Queen and her court. Reading and observation gave the initial material, but the creation of characters, scene and atmosphere depended on the power of Shakespeare s unique imagination and his dramatic and poetical abilities. Opinions vary about why the play was composed: to celebrate an aristocratic wedding or as a compliment7 to Queen Elizabeth on the feast of St. John? The date of composition of the play is also uncertain. Critics place it between 1595 and 1596; in 1598 Shakespeare s company, The Lord Chamberlain s Men, registered A Midsummer Night s Dream for publication, after acting8 it at The Theatre and for private entertainment. Two more editions appeared in 1618 and in 1623, the First Folio9 version by John Heminges and Henry Condell. Ovid Apuleius 1. sources: someone or something that provide information for a story. 2. still: to our day. 3. characters: the people in a book, film or play. 4. details: smaller facts. 5. donkey / ass: G. Chaucer 6. fairies and elves: small imaginary creatures with magical powers. 7. compliment: tribute, homage. 8. acting: performing. 9. Folio: so called for the format of the page. 20 

2  A plan for revenge Chapter BEFORE READING 1 Use the words below to show the relationship between the characters: future wife, daughter, sweetheart, fiancé, rejected love. a. b. c. d. e. 2 Hermia is Lysander s ..................................................................................................... Hippolyta is Theseus  ..................................................................................................... Helena is Demetrius  .................................................................................................... Hermia is Egeus  .............................................................................................................. Demetrius is Hermia s ................................................................................................. What do you think happens next? Tick true (T) or false (F). T a. b. c. d. e. f. 3 Hermia goes to the wood. Egeus discovers Hermia s plan. Lysander changes his mind. Helena tells Demetrius about the wood. Demetrius kills Lysander. The Duke doesn t wait four days to get the answer. F c c c c c c c c c c c c Find the correct definitions for the words below. a. wood b. river c. clearing d. lucky e. jealous f. quarrel (v.) g. punish (v.) c c c c c c c 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Wanting to have what is not yours. Area in wood with no trees. Make a person suffer for an offence. Place full of trees. Have an angry argument. Natural current of water. Having or bringing fortune. Oberon and Titania (W. Blake, c. 1790) 21 

Una commedia misteriosa e magica di Shakespeare. Fumetti con folletti, elfi e fate, intrecciano storie d'amore e teatro nel teatro.

A Midsummer Night's Dream Collana RAINBOWS

Level A2 • Elementary - Collana RAINBOWS

A Midsummer Night's Dream

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