full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Iseult Gillespie: Why should you read "A Midsummer Night's Dream?"

Unscramble the Blue Letters


The action is set in Ancient Greece, but like many of Shakespeare’s plays it reflects his contemporary concerns. The magical stentig of the woods at night druptiss the boundaries between separate groups, with bizarre results. Here, the bard plays with the rigid class system of his own time, taking three distinct groups and tnunrig their society upside-down in a wrlod where no mortal is in control.

The play oenps with young Hermia raging at her father Egeus and Theseus, the King of Athens, who have forbidden her to marry her lover Lysander. Hermia has no interest in her father's choice for her of dtieerums – but her best friend hneela definitely does. Furious at their eeldrs, Hermia and Lysander elope under cover of darkness, with Demetrius in hot pursuit. This is further complicated by Helena’s decision to fololw them all into the woods, in the hope of winning Demetrius’ haert.

Open Cloze


The action is set in Ancient Greece, but like many of Shakespeare’s plays it reflects his contemporary concerns. The magical _______ of the woods at night ________ the boundaries between separate groups, with bizarre results. Here, the bard plays with the rigid class system of his own time, taking three distinct groups and _______ their society upside-down in a _____ where no mortal is in control.

The play _____ with young Hermia raging at her father Egeus and Theseus, the King of Athens, who have forbidden her to marry her lover Lysander. Hermia has no interest in her father's choice for her of _________ – but her best friend ______ definitely does. Furious at their ______, Hermia and Lysander elope under cover of darkness, with Demetrius in hot pursuit. This is further complicated by Helena’s decision to ______ them all into the woods, in the hope of winning Demetrius’ _____.

Solution


  1. heart
  2. helena
  3. follow
  4. world
  5. setting
  6. opens
  7. disrupts
  8. demetrius
  9. elders
  10. turning

Original Text


The action is set in Ancient Greece, but like many of Shakespeare’s plays it reflects his contemporary concerns. The magical setting of the woods at night disrupts the boundaries between separate groups, with bizarre results. Here, the bard plays with the rigid class system of his own time, taking three distinct groups and turning their society upside-down in a world where no mortal is in control.

The play opens with young Hermia raging at her father Egeus and Theseus, the King of Athens, who have forbidden her to marry her lover Lysander. Hermia has no interest in her father's choice for her of Demetrius – but her best friend Helena definitely does. Furious at their elders, Hermia and Lysander elope under cover of darkness, with Demetrius in hot pursuit. This is further complicated by Helena’s decision to follow them all into the woods, in the hope of winning Demetrius’ heart.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations




Important Words


  1. action
  2. ancient
  3. athens
  4. bard
  5. bizarre
  6. boundaries
  7. choice
  8. class
  9. complicated
  10. concerns
  11. contemporary
  12. control
  13. cover
  14. darkness
  15. decision
  16. demetrius
  17. disrupts
  18. distinct
  19. egeus
  20. elders
  21. elope
  22. father
  23. follow
  24. forbidden
  25. friend
  26. furious
  27. greece
  28. groups
  29. heart
  30. helena
  31. hermia
  32. hope
  33. hot
  34. interest
  35. king
  36. lover
  37. lysander
  38. magical
  39. marry
  40. mortal
  41. night
  42. opens
  43. play
  44. plays
  45. pursuit
  46. raging
  47. reflects
  48. results
  49. rigid
  50. separate
  51. set
  52. setting
  53. society
  54. system
  55. theseus
  56. time
  57. turning
  58. winning
  59. woods
  60. world
  61. young