A+Midsummer+Night's+Dream

__A Midsummer Night's Dream __ by William Shakespeare:  A disapproving father, young lovers who run away to wed, a girl who loves a man who does not love her, and mischief in the forest fill __A Midsummer Night's Dream__. When I returned to PHS, I asked permission to teach this play instead of __Julius Caesar__ for two reasons: 1. The Folger Shakespeare Library surveyed a number of scholars and educators years ago to find out which Shakespearean works students needed a working knowledge of later on in life. __Caesar__ was not one of the seven determined through that study. For the record, the seven the scholars say kids need to be familiar with are: __Romeo & Juliet__, __Macbeth__, __A Midsummer Night's Dream__, __Twelfth Night__, __Othello__, __Hamlet__, and __Henry IV, Part One__. 2. I feel students do not have a complete picture of Shakespeare if they only study his tragedies. __Midsummer__ is a comedy, and it students relate to it easily. There are multiple plots at work in __Midsummer__, but the primary one introduced early on is the fact that Hermia loves Lysander. However, her father Egeus does not approve of him, and he wants her to marry Demetrius instead. Demetrius is loved by Hermia's friend Helena, but her love is unrequited. She follows him around like a lost puppy dog, and he cannot stand her. The story is set in Athens, Greece, and it includes allusions to mythology, as well as famous mythological figures. The Duke of Athens is Theseus (Hercules's cousin who battled the Minotaur.), and he will wed Hippolyta (the Queen of the Amazons) in four days time. He captured her in battle.  Hermia and Lysander are faced with a tough choice after Egeus demands Theseus invoke Athenian Law. She has a choice to make. She can marry Demetrius in accordance with her father's wishes, she can become a nun, or she can die for refusing to do as her father says. "The course of true love never did run smooth..." is a line spoken by Lysander as Hermia ponders her fate. In time, they decide to run away, but first they tell Helena of their plans to elope at his aunt's house away from Athens and its laws. Helena, of course, tells Demetrius in hopes that he will be grateful.This is how the four young lovers end up in the forest. Athens is reality. The forest is a dream, so to speak.   In the meantime, we meet The Mechanicals (sometimes also called The Rustics). These are gentlemen who work for a living with their hands. Nick Bottom is a weaver, Snug is a joiner (a cabinet-maker), Starveling is a tailor, Francis Flute is a bellows-mender, Tom Snout is a, and Peter Quince is a carpenter. 